Monday, August 07, 2006

Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the UK at 4406 feet. On Friday, Peter, me, Helen (Australia) and Sarah, (Scotland) climbed it!! It is located about 2 1/2 hours south west from Blairmore. We got up at 5:30 on our day off, and headed to Fort William. It was a realtively nice day, with no rain, but it was pretty cloudy. It took Peter and I 3 3/4 hours to get up and 2 1/2 hours to get back down. After about an hour and a half, you reach the clouds, and from that point on we were walking in a thick mist. We got a bit wet, but not too bad. The hard part was not being able to see where you were headed, and it got a bit discouraging. However, once we got to the top, it was amazing. The clouds lifted and we got a beautiful view of the gorge below. It was so steep! These pictures don't do it justice. There were alot of people climbing as well...including on little girl who could not have been older than 9...That was my motivation to keep going!!! The next day, most of us were so sore! My calves and my hamstrings felt like they were on fire, and it isn't until now that I walk normal again! In all, tit was a fun time and I am so glad that we got to do it!!!


Saturday, August 05, 2006

Cherries!!!!

I must tell you, I love cherries! When we arrived, and it was so dark and winter was really going, people told us about the garden. Beautiful flowers, yummy strawberries, and a host of other goodies. What no one knew about was the 6-7 cherry trees that we have on our property. Peter has been busy picking and sharing them. Fresh cherries are so much better. yummy!!!!

I find it amazing that we can go into this massive walled garden and have a hundred different flowers all blooming at different times. In addition, there are strawberries, raspberries, black currents, red currents, and cherries! plus we have spring onions, potatoes, different lettuces, and spinach...Peter is starting to work more in the garden....He is dirty and happy.

My Birthday!!!

Well, I know this was now a few weeks ago, but on my birthday, Peter and I left for a work trip to St. Andrews. We had to get up at 7:00 and pack the van to leave. So, my birthday celebrations were not too crazy, that early in the morning. Peter was very sweet and gave me a few candle holders he had carved out of wood and then the last gift was this pretty jewelry box. It is so pretty and the mirror reflects the colored rose. It is very beautiful in the sun.

It was a fun birthday, even though I had to get up early!