Wedding!!

Okay so, no we haven't forgotten the wedding, we just don't have enough time to do too much! So what have we got done or planned? We've chosen a venue http://www.culcreuch.com/ and put down our first deposit...which is part of the challenge, and so that obviously means we have a date!! We've chosen Sat August 8 2oo9.

The venue is a 14th century castle, and can accomodate 110 people for the wedding. So although that may seem like a lot of people, I've got a lot of family, and there's quite a few friends to invite as well. Not everyone will be able to come to Scotland for the wedding so that will make life easier, but I reckon 11o is going to leave us having to make some difficult decisions....we'll see.

We're hoping to spend more time focussing on wedding stuff once most of the stuff in the flat is done...which hopefully will be by the time my parents get here!! The other option is that we just run away to some foreign country and get married...don't think we didn't consider it!!

We very much want the wedding to be about friends and family so we're hoping you guys enjoy the wedding as much (or more) than we do!! The castle is a novel start, so for those of you visiting from overseas...you should have a blast!

So far wedding party is my brother Jay and Dean, and Pen's sister Kelly, and one of her best mates from Oz Stacey. We haven't chosen an MC yet...but will keep you posted. We're not taking things too seriously yet, don't know if we will...but yes I'll be wearing a kilt...as will Deaner and Jay. Too many sexy legs I hear you say? What can I say...it's all that cycling!!

Honeymoon? Yes we'd planned that before I even proposed. We both wanted to travel again so the plan is to take 6 months if Pen gets her way, or 9 months if I get mine...and go to India, Africa, and South America before landing somewhere to live. We'll be selling the flat shortly after the wedding and taking off. We won't be living in Scotland, we'd like to live in BC (British Colombia, but Vancouver is silly expensive so maybe it will be Kelowna further north...or maybe we'll move to Thailand and start a youth hostel...you may laugh but we've actually looked for property prices in Chiang Mai in the north!! So we don't know where we'll end up, but we still have buckets of time to figure it out.

That's it for now...we'll keep you posted as we progress....but hey, hopefully we'll see you before then!!

Fotos phrom the phringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival!! What a way to see Edinburgh. The festival runs every August and brings performers of all sorts to the city. Pen and I took a much needed but guilty weekend off the flat. We visited friends of ours John and Vicki and their 4 boys (insane I tell ya!) Friday night for a cheeky wee chinese meal, then I went for a bike ride in the pouring rain with a few friends as we'd planned, however we did cancel the BBQ as it was wetter than the ocean floor outside. So we put the BBQ away and had a fantastic dinner (thanks Fi!), a few drinks and just relaxed at Fiona and Al's. It was all good.



Sunday we met up with Jen and Cairn and headed into Edinburgh for the festival....it was pretty cool. We just wandered around for a while looking at the street performers, and then stopped for lunch in a place called "the last drop" in the grass market. Story goes that as folk were executed in the grass market they'd go to this pub for their last pint of grog. True? Who knows...good story though. We then went in search of a show. We also caught up with Kiwi Dan and his gal Sally. I met Dan in Thailand and so it was good to catch up, but we didn't have much time to catch up as we immedietely jumped in to see a show called Greedy for £10. There is all manner of shows available. Ballet, comedy, plays, music or combinations of all of them plus much much more ranging from the strange and exotic to classic and expected. Greedy was quite funny and left us with a bemused smile on our faces everytime someone mentioned T-Rex's. The show was a series of short sketches, similar to chewing the fat or kids in the hall...not quite as funny....but not far off either.

Afterwards we all went for a final pint or 3 and a bite to eat. Pen, Jen, Cairn and myself left as we had other commitments (can anyone say renovations?) and took the train back to Stirling, with Dan and Sally promising to check out Stirling's history and pubs when Pen and I get our flat sorted....cool. The festival is definetely worth checking out, it really goes off and there is stuff to do of every description. So get your butts over here for the festival next August...we'll have a room for you!! Awesome weekend, but definetely felt guilty about doing virtually nothing with the flat....ah well, all work and no play makes Penny and Scott grumpy...and we're definitely smiling at the moment!

Definetely Edinburgh!

Definetely the Fringe!

How ya going mate?

This fellow was tied up when we went by ;o)


Wee Bobby Greyfriars, achieved immortality by staying by his masters side...even after his master died! Bobby slept and stayed near his master grave when his master was buried....I think Bobby did this till his own death...talk about loyal!

Lunch stop with Pen and Jen and Cairn

Pen got a bit hung up by the name....

Cairn and Jen

He'd certainly make doing the dishes a tad more interesting!

To top off a great day...a great sunset. Ahh what a weekend...now where did I put the toolbox, back to work we go.

Italy, the bright side

So although visiting Italy for my uncle Robert's funeral was sad, the upside was that I got to spend some time with family. One particular highlight was seeing Larry's new "project". He bought an old estate, I think it was built in the 16th or 17th century. He's not entirely sure what he's going to do with it, but he'll be restoring it and developing it for sure, probably as a hotel or something similar. There were some party invitations to balls and stuff dating back to 1785 and onwards, just lying around...pretty cool!

Some pretty cool paintwork in this room, a beautiful old wardrobe....

and a secret doorway into another room....how cool is that!

Here's another feature, a wardrobe on the other side of the room...with another secret entrance to another room....awesome!

An old military rife with Bayonet that he inherited....well you do need security!

The wine cellar, how many glasses of wine has this cellar put out over the years?

A collection of the old wine jars....

And one lonely little jar all on his own.

The outside of the newer extension, don't ask me how much newer, it's still probably older than Canada.

and older than this little gem. Can anyone say retro?

So this is Italian style...what era I wonder?

More shots of the outside, see the fountain on the side of thewall? Cool.

Larry pointing out one of the many fruit trees....I think this is a fig tree?

Sad news...

In July I got word that my Uncle Robert died. It was a bit of a shock for most of us. We knew he wasn't well, and had been ill since Easter. He was then diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and seemed to be okay, up and down. Then in a matter of days he just got progressively worse. Although it was only a few days from the doctors diagnosis to the day he died his family were able to be there for him. He was brought home and his wife Alma (my mom's sister) and son Larry and daughter Marita (yes same name as my sister!) were all with him until he passed away. They were all very grateful and appreciative of the opportunity they had to be with him right through till he passed away. We don't always get that chance. Although it's sad that Robert has gone, it's Alma and my cousins that I felt most for. They all loved him so much, and will miss him incredibally, and it's hard to be around that sadness.

So although the funeral was arranged within a few days I was able to arrange a flight and time off work to go to Italy for the funeral. It was sad to be around so many people who loved Robert so much, and I certainly will miss him on my next visit out, but the silver lining to this cloud was seeing so many friends and family together providing support for each other and laughing, and remembering Robert. There was a feeling of togetherness that was comforting.

Robert said somethig to me a few months before he died that I'll always remember. Something that I appreciated at the time, and more so now. I'd called to see if it was okay for Penny and I to come out and visit Alma and Robert at Easter if we could get cheap flights. It was the first time I'd spoken to Alma or Robert since I'd gotten back from my year of travelling. Robert and I had a bit of a chat and he said to me "You know Scott, I'm impressed, that was a hell of a thing you did last year, it must have been some experience." He didn't quite say he was proud of me, or anything quite like that, but the effect was the same. It was cool to hear, and made me feel kind of proud that he thought so. It was just cool.

So now that I've rambled on here are a few photo's of my Uncle Robert, and I think they show his humerous side, even though his 9 grandkids nickname for him was "grumps" it was always with love because they knew him so well.

Definetely a Scottish Connection!
"Merry Bloody Christmas" T-shirt...classic Uncle Robert with my Aunt Alice one of my mom's other sisters

Uncle Robert Crooning to Danny Boy somewhere in Scotland....long ago