Saying Hello and Saying Goodbye

We just had the best weekend! Shauna flew in late Saturday afternoon...a little detour on her way to Zurich for work. Tobi, Chris and I picked her up at the airport. The best way to beat jet lag is just to power through it, so when we got back to the house she jumped in the shower and then we took off for the Gellions to hear the guys play. I drug her around and introduced her to soooo many people. When Schiehallion finished playing we went to MacCallum's for a pint and some more music and from there to the Glenalbyn. I had promised Marion, who runs the Glen, that I would bring Shauna in while she was here. Of course, there were more people at the Glen for Shauna to meet...and more beer to consume! After the Glen we went over to McNab's where another of Inverness's local favorites was playing. Andy plays a combination of traditional music and rock. We stayed and danced until just before midnight. We wanted to take Shauna to Johnny Fox's and Inverness has a funny rule. Even though the pubs are open later than midnight, you can't get in after midnight. most are open til 1am but Fox's is open til 3am so everyone who wants to stay out late makes a mad dash for Fox's just before midnight...including us. Poor Shauna was really running on reserve battery power by this time so we didn't actually stay long but we managed to drag her to 5 pubs that night before she finally hit the wall. One of the fun things about Inverness nightlife is that everything downtown is within walking distance and whatever pub we go into we're bound to run into several friends. Shauna was just swimming in names by the time we called it a night and all piled into a taxi for home. Yesterday we just lazed around the house until the chip shop around the corner opened at 4:30p. Shauna and I went over and picked up fish and chips for ourselves and the boys and we had a fishy feast before we called a taxi to take us into town for another evening of fun.

Schiehallion plays at Findlay's on Sunday's from 5p-8p. So there was more dancing to do and people for Shauna to meet...and meet again! When the guys were done playing we hung out at Findlay's for a bit while Stuart took his equipment home and then caught a ride back into town from Sandra. When he got back we all walked over to the Gellions. I love the Gellions on a Sunday night. Andy (who played at McNab's the night before) plays the Gellions every Sunday night and the crowd is always the usual suspects. Like I said we all kind of migrate around the same few pubs. When we got to the Gellions that's when the party really started! One of the best parts of the evening (besides having Shauna here!) was getting to know Stuart's girlfriend, Lauren. I had met her just briefly one time but she doesn't come out very often so I'd never gotten to know her before. She was so much fun! Shauna and I just fell in love with her! Between the six of us...Shauna, Tobi, Chris, Stuart, Lauren and me...we had quite little party at the Gellions. Not to mention all the other friends who were there!

After the Gellions closed we brought the party back to our house where we all ravaged the kitchen. Leftover fish and chips, cereal, scrambled eggs, crisps and tequila! Then for some reason Stuart decided he wanted to juggle. Shauna looked around and found the onions! I really don't know if Stuart is any good at juggling balls but he can't juggle onions for shit! We were all cracking up as he kept throwing them in the air and they all kept crashing to the floor! When he finally gave up we could only find two onions. Stuart and Lauren made their way back to Stuart's around 2am (about 2 blocks away) and the rest of us toddled off to bed. LOL! I should have made him come back over today to sweep my kitchen floor. Onion skins everywhere! I found the third onion, this afternoon, under the couch in the sitting room.

Shauna had to fly out at 7 this morning so she and I were up at 5:15am! Amid hugs and more giggles I pored her into a cab for the airport about a half hour later. Her visit totaled 38 hours and 20 minutes from landing to takeoff and we had such a good time. I was so happy to get to introduce my beautiful little Sugarbear to so many of my friends. She was a hit...of course! Next time she visits hopefully we'll have more time and can expand our activities a bit but this was just a quick drop in. The only bummer was that Iain wasn't able to get a night off. When we were at the house he was either asleep or at work. When he was home and awake we were gone to the pub. She did get to meet him for a little bit yesterday morning after we got up and before he went to bed. But there will be more visits in the future!

On a sad note, as I'm writing this, Chris and Tobi are packing. They were only here for one semester of study and tomorrow they leave to go home. We are all upset. Even though we all just 'rent a room' in the house, we don't lead our separate lives and just share the common areas. We've made the house our shared home. We hang out together at home and in town. Sandra and I were talking one time and she laughed and said, "Oh, that's right. I forgot. You have family night on Wednesday." Iain is off on Wed and Thurs nights so we all go out together on Wed night. Tobi and Chris have become a part of our regular group of friends. At Findlay's yesterday Kenny brought it to the pub's attention that they are leaving and we all gave them a round of applause. When we went to the Gellions, Rory gave them each a Gellions shirt to take home with them. The boys wore them for the rest of the night. Chris decided he looked like staff and went behind the bar like he was going to start pulling pints! We all cracked up and had get out our cameras. Everyone knows that you don't go behind the bar, even at your favorite pub. It just goes to show how much a part of the Gellions crowd the boys have become that Rory and the staff let him do it.

I'm so glad Shauna came this weekend so she got to meet the boys before they leave. We had a really good blow out to end their Scotland experience with. We have been looking at last night's pictures and laughing all day...until they had to start packing this evening. Now we're all pretty somber. They are loading the car right now so they won't have to do it in the morning.

Tobias Waschek and Christian Herrmann, I will miss you, my friends. Come back soon......

Hey Baby! Wanna Ride?

This is so cute....

Spam

I've just recently started getting spam in the form of 'comments' on the blog. The first one was a few weeks ago for a website that sold Viagra. I just deleted it and thought no more about it. Then another spam comment for something else popped up and then another one. This last one today was for some kind of 'get rich quick scheme'. So I've turned on the word verification' setting for the blog. This means you'll have to type in the funny little word that shows on the screen before you can leave a comment. Since most spam is automated and it takes a human to read the verification word and reproduce it, this should (I hope!) eliminate the problem. If you read my blog through Facebook then this won't apply but for those of you who are not on Facebook and check up on my Journey To The Highlands directly this just means one more little 'pain in the ass' step before you can leave a comment. Thanks a lot you asshole spammers!

The Little Things...

So I'm hot and heavy into this paper that I have to write for one of my classes and I found myself writing this sentence, "William Gilpin came to the Highlands in search of..." not "William Gilpin went to the Highlands...." but "came" to the Highlands! This sentence would only be written by someone writing from the Highlands! It's just one of so many little things that make me smile or tear up (or both) on a daily basis...