Our Trip to Scotland

Glamis Castle outside of Dundee

The Royal Mile in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

My sweet friend Elaine. She's so pretty!

Dungeon time for Collin

Hunter and Elaine outside of Edinburgh Castle

Looking at Edinburgh Castle

Church in Buckie, missing five from this evening. Yes, that is the famous Bill Pirie.

Loch Ness

Nessie

Me, Samantha, Louise, and Elaine

Hilton Caldonian Hotel in Edinburgh

   We had a great visit with our friends Hunter and Elaine in Buckie Scotland. By the time we arrived on Saturday afternoon, we ended up having a total of five and a half days before we had to head on our trip home. We squeezed quite a bit of sight seeing into those five days! Especially for two jetlagged little boys. Earle had never been to Scotland, and since this area of the world is so special to me, we had decided that we would plan to go there to celebrate our ten year anniversary. So a couple of years ago we started planning for it so that it would really happen. Our anniversary was in July, but we decided to book the trip in November because there was such a difference in plane ticket prices. We ended up having to shorten the trip at the last minute due to Ben's strict school absence policy.

     The minute I walked into Hunter and Elaine's house it did not feel at all as if eleven years had passed since I had been there. The smells were the same and brought back such wonderful memories and warm feelings. We got to spend time visiting with some of the people I knew from the college trips that I took to Scotland. It was great to see life in the highlands of Scotland  from this angle of my life. I feel like when I was there with Harding there was such an agenda, while it was great, I think I was too busy 'doing' to soak in some of the perspective and culture that I could have paid more attention to. The character and history of the architechture of the buildings is so unique and beautiful. The cobblestone and windy roads and stone fences that don't have any cement in them that are hundreds of years old stretch for miles. We attended church there in Buckie and there was so much to appreciate. Songs passed down through generations sung by rote, in their original form. Folklore that would be found only in the most rural areas of the United States are just the way of doing things in the Highlands of Buckie even with all of the modern ways that they live and things that they have.  The people even in the shops stop and ask about you and where you are from and seem to truly want to know. Life is not too fast for a cuppa (cup of hot tea) and a biscuit (cadbury choc. cookie) multiple times a day.

Perspective on Christianity in Buckie is also different to me from the angle that I see it now. So many people are kind and warm. Not many talk at all about God. Very different from the atmosphere of churches and Christians in Houston or Nashville or places that seem to be in the Bible belts of the United States. It definitely made me think about how easy it is for the ones of us that have Christan friends, churches, and resources at our fingertips. Mr. Bill Pirie told me that Buckie's church is the farthest north church on the Western Hemisphere. That is pretty cool. They are down to 10 members, people who have just had died and some that have moved away and others that have just gotten busy with other things in their lives. But to those 10 people I have so much respect, for meeting and continuing even if to the ones around them it seems that they are weird or strange for doing so.  They seem so intrigued about what kind of things we have going on in our own churches and in other larger ones in Scotland, but I am terribly intrigued and silenced with respect for these people and their dedication to their faith.  Hunter and Bill run the services every week. Hunter is away to sea every six weeks for six weeks and Bill runs the services with an occasional guest speaker from Aberdeen or another congregation an hour or more south of Buckie. Bill is 79 years old. He still has his Harley, and still makes a mean pot of Cullen Skink Soup. They do not have a hired preacher, but they own a church building. They have been looking for a preacher ever since I can remember and the members have said that they would pay someone out of their own salaries to lead their little church. The few members there get along great and truly encourage each other.  Just a situation of persistence worthy of respect. I think something not many of us have ever had to worry about.

    We had a great time visiting with Hunter and Elaine's daughters, Louise and Samantha. Louise has been married for many years to Stuart Cowie who dives in the north sea to fix oil drills near the bottom of the ocean. They have twin daughters Courtney and Teegan. Samantha is working at a bank and living in Inverness. Just bought her first flat! So neat to see these girls become grown up ladies!

    We arrived on Saturday afternoon and I drove from the airport to meet Hunter and Elaine in Huntly and follow them to Buckie. That was definitely an experience because I had never really driven in the UK and have an issue with distinguishing my right from my left when I am tired or confused. Our car rental was a manual, and Earle was not sure about driving it...but we survived and made it. Saturday evening Hunter made pizza for us and we just sat around and visited until Earle and I were falling over from jet lag. Sunday we got up, went to church, came home and Elaine made beef wellington, nips, tatties, yorkshire puddings with gravy, and a Pavlova for dessert. OH MY WORD! So good! The afternoon we had many cuppa's and visited with Samantha and Louise and Courtney and Teegan. That evening there was church again in the town and I got to see Tracey Johnstone and later at Elaine's house Alan and Grace Johnstone. On Monday we left late morning to head to Edinburgh. We stopped at Glamis Castle and took a tour. Ben absolutely loved it and soaked it all in. We then to Hunter's sister, Ruth's house, about 30 minutes outside of Edinburgh. She made us an elaborate tea and then as a special surprise to us, her husband drove us all in a Limo into Edinburgh and dropped us off until the next evening. When we got there Hunter directed him to the Hilton Caldonian which is just in the town center and you can see the castle from it. Hunter and Elaine surprised us again because they had booked us to stay the night there as our 10 year anniversary gift! It was so special and really cool! We spent the next day doing the Edinburgh Castle and seeing the crowned jewels and also going to as many of the shops as possible:). We were home Tuesday evening and Wednesday we spent the day just hanging out in Buckie. We went to Cullen for ice cream, even though it was cold, I told Earle it was a must and we walked around some shops in Buckie. Thursday we went to Inverness. We drove out to Loch Ness to visit the famous home of the Loch Ness Monster, "Nessie". Then back to the shops at Inverness. After that we met Samantha and had dinner in her new flat.  Friday morning Earle, Hunter and Stuart went to tour a distillery, and I got our things together then spent some time with Louise at her house and had lunch with her. It had started to snow and the news was saying that the road to Aberdeen had been closed. So we decided that we would leave later that evening and try and spend the night in Aberdeen to make sure that we would make our 8:15am flight out to London. That evening we had dinner and Bill and Eleanor's house. Bill made his Cullen Skink and it was awesome! When we left the snow was coming down by the bucketfuls! We arrived back to Houston a day late, you can read the details in my next post.

       We so loved our time in Scotland! I wish we had had another 2 weeks to travel to Stirling and Peterhead and see everything there and visit with all of the other people I have such great memories of. Oh well! We will just have to go back much sooner! Eleven years is way too long, especially to go without all of that magnificent chocolate!!:)

CB