Stylish Blogger Award, and Observations of Scotland.

I've actually just started becoming resigned to the fact that I'm here, back home in the good old U.S. of A., instead of in Scotland. My life has felt quite topsy-turvy since I've gotten back, and I've been very very very remiss in my blog posts. Apologies on that!

However, I found quite a pleasant surprise today in the comments on another post. I received the Stylish Blogger Award from Dawn Brazil, over at her Brilliant Babbles about Books. Thanks so much for the award, Dawn! I appreciate it so much.

In order to receive this award, I must now list seven things about myself that other people might not know about me. Having done this several times before, I'm beginning to run out of things to say! However, here goes.

1.) I am primarily a Fantasy writer.

2.) If possible, I will listen to conversations, but I'd really rather not engage or participate in the conversation, thank you.

3.) After the first few gasping minutes of pain and "giving-up-itis", I love to run. Once I get into my stride, running is the best thing ever!!

4.) I can be very melancholy, and down on myself.

5.) I don't notice when guys "check me out." I usually have to be clued in by my family members. :-)

6.) If I have a Borders coupon in my purse, I have to use it. I have to. It's an obsession.

7.) I have five stories that I've completed, but haven't revised yet. This is now Something I Must Do!!

Now, I need to pass on the award to some other bloggers that I feel thoroughly deserve it. These are:

Amanda at Old Fashioned Girl.
Maria at Fire, Fleet, and Candlelight.
Christine at Reading, Writing, and Random Thoughts.
Lynne at Making Stuff Up and Writing It Down.
Anne at Critically Yours.

All right, now on to random things about Scotland.

1. First of all, they drive on the wrong sides of the road. Unless you've actually experienced it, you've no idea how bizarre and wrong that feels. I caught myself a couple of times from correcting the driver by telling him he was on the wrong side of the road. I mean, duh! In Scotland, the wrong side is the right side.
2. Their steering wheels are on the wrong side, too... which is to say, on the right side. The first day I was in Scotland, I looked out the back window at a car that was alongside us, and my heart stopped. The driver was sitting and reading the newspaper, paying absolutely no attention to the traffic! When my brain finally kicked in, I realised I was looking at the person sitting on the left side of the car, and he was the passenger, not the driver. Whew!
3. Their stoplights go from green, to yellow, to red. Then, they go from red, to yellow, to green. When you are the pedestrian waiting to cross, watch out and pay attention to the lights, because as soon as the red turns to yellow, all the engines rev up. If you happen to be in the middle of the street, taking your chances by crossing before the light has turned green, your chances are slim. When the light turns from red to yellow, the drivers wait for no man!
4. All of their houses are made of stone. At least, all the houses in Edinburgh are. Even the great big hotels, hostels, and malls are made of stone. Most of the rows have iron railings about them, too.
5. The streets are narrow. NARROW! I'm glad I wasn't the driver in Scotland. I'd have done some serious body damage just by driving on the road. Cuh-razy!
6. They add a "U" to words like honour, armour, and humour. I confess, having read a lot of British writings, I generally write these words with the U. It was just nice to see that, in Scotland, I fit in. :-) They also spell words like theater and center with the "R" first and the "E" after, thusly: theatre and centre. And tire is spelled tyre.
7. F*** is not a BAD bad word over there. Neither is b***ch. In fact, that word, the female dog word, is used as a term of endearment. How very odd.
8. Scots don't usually say hello. They say "Hiya." And, when you're leaving, they don't say goodbye. They say "Cheers," or "Cheerio."

And a blog is just not complete without photos. So, here are some purty pictures of the world of Scotland.

So mon, thanks for reading, like. It was good, eh? I appreciate your interest. Until later, cheers. God bless.

What To Take With You When Travelling...

... And, what not to take.

I went to Scotland, completely unsure exactly what I would need while travelling. This is the list I came up with, and how I'm going to travel next time I go out of the country.

Take a duffel bag, or a satchel, something big with a strap that you can loop over your shoulders. A duffel is important, because you can carry a sweater with you, should you need a sweater, a travel journal if you've brought one, your wallet if needed, your camera, and your sketchbook. It's also handy to have when you've purchased something and you don't feel like carrying it around in your hands for the rest of the day.

Do not take a purse. You'll find this only becomes an added weight that you really don't need to cart around with you.

Take your wallet. You can shove a lot into a wallet, especially if you are particularly talented at organizing space.

Don't take TOO too many books. If you're any sort of traveller, you're going to be spending more of your time writing in your journal and taking pictures than just reading.

Take a travel journal. Please, do yourself a favour and take a journal! You'll regret it if you don't. A travel journal is handy, because you can write down what you feel at a certain time, and it's also handy for holding any brochures and postcards you happen to collect for a scrapbook collage later.

Don't take more than one pair of shoes. If you've got a good, sturdy pair of walking shoes that don't give you blisters and you know you're going to be doing a lot of walking, one pair of shoes is more than ample. More than that, and you're simply going to be taking up valuable luggage space.

Don't take superfluous clothes. If you need to dress up an outfit, splurge and get yourself a fancy scarf or necklace later. Heck, the whole reason you're travelling is so that you can relax, take in a whole new lifestyle, and treat yourself. The less clothing you take (and you'll be surprised at how few clothes you can bring to create a whole two-week wardrobe) the more space you have for gifts.

Take initiative. If you see something you absolutely love and you don't think you ought to buy it, seriously seriously seriously consider buying it anyway. How many times do you think you're going to make it to such and such a country? Believe me, you don't want to live with "If only" remorse.

Take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Even if you're not a picture taker, FORCE yourself to take pictures!! There's nothing like having those memories to look back on, and remember that, "I stood here, and I put my hand on this cannon, and I looked over this country. I was here."


So, that's what I learned, anyway. I hope you liked all my travelling tips! Hope you all have a good trip too, now that I've inspired you to travel. (I have inspired you, haven't I? ;-)

God bless! Talk to you next time.

I'm back... reluctantly. :)

Yes, I've come back home from Scotland. I got back Saturday the seventh of May, and I've been too jet-lagged and homesick for Scotland to think about posting. For the first time, I'm feeling a rekindling spark of writing interest, so I guess it's time for me to return to reality.

There may be some people who can blog AND journal as they travel. Perhaps if I hadn't been quite so giddily busy every single day I could have done both, too. As it is, I relied heavily on my camera, and my trusty travel journal. I will now proceed to transfer my journal notes onto my blog.

So,for the next few weeks I'm going to post entries from my travel journal, sharing my experiences with you all. Believe me, it was an experience worth having. The best part is the setting for a story I've been thinking about has come vividly to life. That's a bonus.

The first post I do will probably be a post on what to bring with you when you travel. There were some items I didn't realise I'd use quite so frequently, and some items that I didn't use at all.

Another Award

It was terribly exciting to see this. I'm here in Scotland. Local time is 8:45 in the morning, and I got a Powerful Woman Writer Award from Deirdra Eden Coppel over at a Story Book World. Thanks so much, Deirdra!

Scotland is very beautiful. I saw Edinburgh Castle yesterday, and today Stirling Castle is on the agenda. I'm looking forward to it. All those old castles and stonework is fantastic. I just love castles. :) I believe Scotland's appearance is going to be the foundation for a story I've been thinking about. It has the right flavour and look that my story needs. Isn't it fun when things like that come together?

Again, thanks to Deirdra for the award. It is so very much appreciated. And thanks to everyone for checking in. I'm still a little thrown timewise, so it is Thursday today, right? The 28th? I think so. Heavens, but I'm not SURE!! It's disconcerting.

Lovely writing to all youse all. When I start getting pics on the 'puter, I'll try to post some. Until later, then, God bless!

April 27th, 2011

Wednesday, April 27th

Went to Edinburgh Castle today. It was amazing! We went and walked all over the top of the castle, and leaned on a couple of the cannons. Shoot, we even took pictures of the cannons, and took pictures OVER the cannons, checked out Mons Meg, and ENORMOUS cannon.

As we were 'sploring, a very, very nice older Scotsman took a picture of the four of us girls, as a memento. Very sweet and kind of him. He chatted with us for quite a while, asked us where we were from, raised an unbelieving eyebrow when we told him we were from California. (If you look at the picture below, you'll understand his disbelief. I mean, do we look Californian to you? I ask you... where are the sunglasses? and the shorts? Ya know?)

After walking all over the battlements, we went into this place called the War Memorial that was situated inside the castle. Awesome! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I soaked in the feeling and the aura as best I could, and I'm trying to chronicle it as best I can right now. Looks like something from a story. It's an enormous hall with three adjoining rooms, one straight ahead, the others on the left and right.

Along the whole length of the halls are alcoves with high, wide sweeping ceilings. In the alcoves are stained glass windows above large, high counters. On each counter there's a huge leather-bound book, embellished with the insignia of a Scottish regiment, containing the names of all those who fell in battle.

Each book rests on a missal-like holder made of marble that is sometimes so richly engraved and carved the marble looks like petrified lace. Sometimes two books and two stands sit side by side on the same counter. Some books are thicker than others.

Regimental flags stood above the books on little jutting stone shelves, and intricate sword displays and buttressed statues added to the magnificence.

High on the walls are engraving marked directly into the stone, engravings in the shapes of shields. Each shield is painted with each regiment's insignia.

In the adjoining rooms the walls are circular, and contain no books. Instead, there's a wall-high engraving that commemorates fallen soldiers.

In the abutting room, the walls hold a large pewter triptych that lines three sides of the wall; left, center, and right. Underneath were words of a prayer that I can't remember as I sit here in the Edinburgh castle courtyard, mentally recreating the Memorial in my head. I'll wait until a little later, perhaps when I'm at home, to fully sit and map the Memorial out in more vivid detail. The biggest impression of the Memorial was that it was so solemn and still and quiet. It almost sounded like a cathedral inside, with that stillness and reverence echoing amongst its cambered ceiling. It was the most amazingly beautiful place ever!!

After the Memorial we visited the Royal Chambers of the castle. Queen Mary's chamber was a large room painted dark blue with a soft brown carpet on the floor, and huge paintings on the walls. There was a large fireplace straight ahead, and two dark brown wood-and-wicker chairs stood near it.

In the adjoining room there were three light sconces on the wall opposite a really grand fireplace. The fireplace is made of stone and grey marble, and above the marbled mantle piece is a depiction of a chained silver unicorn and a gold lion - the Scottish Insignia.

The whole palace is very grand and quiet. There was a museum that you could peruse at your leisure as well, through the entire castle. It was so much to take in, it was almost exhausting.


It really was a long, gorgeous day, but it was an awful lot of fun. There were hundreds of gift shops - well, only about four or five, really - that we popped into and explored, and many different adjacent "Military Regalia" museums that we explored. There was a POW section that we went into. It was very dark and dank,
with a musty, sickly-sweet, rotting-earth smell. There were hammocks strung up from a platform "top bunk" type structure, with unpleasant-looking squashed bedding on a long platform below the hammocks. (This POW section was still in Edinburgh castle, by the way. :-) It was also really neat, because as you went through the POW bit, there were these "shadow plays" that lit up on the wall, and if you went through the sections you got to hear a story play out, that gave you the history of the prisoners and how they came to Edinburgh in the first place. Really, very interesting. (You can see a clip of one of the shadow plays on the video here. It was pretty neat.)

After the POW section, we made our way through the castle grounds, took TONS of pictures - except for the War Memorial, which did NOT allow pictures, blister them, and the Royal Chambers, blister them too - then walked back to our flat, stopping at a place called Giulianno's for Fish and Chips. (I know, Fish and Chips from an Italian restaurant... weird!! However, the owner was a very nice Italian.) We brought the Fish and Chips home and at them.

It was amazing fun. I also bought Mom a Hieland Coo to add to her collection. I think tomorrow, if we go to Stirling Castle, I'm bringing my duffel. I just took my camera today, and it was too hard lugging my journal around in my hands the whole day.