Fat & Handsome

I spy...

Scotch wisky tasting

drying laundry

Linus going to the vet ...

an attempt to recreate the taste of home

old love.

monstrous illustrations

inspirational messages

examples of urban foraging

wild rose hips

stone cross in Duddingston

skittles at the Sheeps Heid Inn

fancy-dressed Halloween house partiers

beard removal

Matthew's classroom at night

St. Giles at night

vending machine in the ladies' loo

Old Dollar Bill

Autumn!

Autumn is in full swing here in Edinburgh. The air is crisp, and the days are getting shorter. The change in seasons, both dramatic and subtle, is fascinating to me.  In Los Angeles, autumn comes and goes without much notice. 

So here are a few pictures of the seasonal cheer. This first one is from the shop at the Royal Botanical Gardens. They have a whole corner dedicated to wreaths, garland and ornaments made from dried fruits and spices. It smelled heavenly.

Here's a close up- If I had loads of disposable income, I'd buy enough to deck the whole house out with citrusy-cinnamon goodness, but I've had to significantly cut my 2012 garland budget to accommodate the financial strain of moving overseas. I thought I'd try to make it, but I am afraid I would just end up with several dozen half rotten oranges on a string... Maybe I'll go back to the Royal Botanical Garden's shop and buy a mini ornament or something, so I can enjoy the smell without the hefty price tag! 

Outside, the leaves on the trees have all started to change into shades of yellow and fiery orange...

and then fall, leaving the branches sparse. I imagine, in a few weeks, they'll be naked.

It is perfect soup weather. I enjoyed this delicious bowl of vegetarian Harira soup from Ecos, a little Moroccan cafe down the street from my flat. The combination of tomato, cinnamon, lemon and chickpeas makes for a very hearty and satisfying autumn meal.

And, of course, it is the season for apples! A couple of gal pals and I went to an apple festival last weekend. I was picturing apple crafts and apple cider, apples in pies and covered in caramel, apples in buckets for kids of bob for... you know, a proper celebration of the crisp sweet fruit we all love! Instead, there were two plastic tables, one with a variety of apples displayed with tags telling names and origins, the other table had a few paper plates of sliced apples to sample. It was fairly underwhelming, but also very sweet. And the older ladies that tended the tables know their apples! I think my friends and I all liked the Golden Pippin best. Not only does it have the cutest name, it was also the smallest and the crispiest of the bunch.

And as a autumnal treat for the boys, I got them a toy turkey. It makes gobbling sounds whenever it is touched, which is quite entertaining for them when they are swatting at it, but can startle the pants off of you when you accidentally lay down on it ;)

Truth be told, this toy is not intended for autumn... it is a Christmas toy. I guess turkeys are a 'symbol' for Christmas here in the same way they are for Thanksgiving in the US. But, since our kitties are still quite American, I thought they ought to get their turkey early.

Autumn also means Halloween, but that will get a post of its own (since I believe Edinburgh is the most Halloweenie place I've ever been! I mean, it can feel spooky here in the middle of June, so I can't wait until Samhaim!) but there are also other holidays and festivals that mark the season. Last night, Matthew and I were snug in our flat and heard a series of loud booms! From outside our window, we saw this happening on top of Calton Hill-

The burning the effigies of demons on top of Calton Hill, Dushurra festival 

It was the burning of effigies for the Indian Dushurra Festival. It was amazing! What is it about burning things in the night on top a hill that is so exciting?! The effigies didn't make the loud booming noises though, that was the accompanying fire works display. I tried to record a bit from our bedroom window...

So, I'd say that autumn is off to a great start! I hope you are all enjoying the season as well!

"I don't even own a TV"

I've heard people say that my whole life. Friends and acquaintances that could proudly tout their televisionary independence. I've gone through peaks and valleys when it comes to TV watching. I've had crappy little TV sets that only carry 2 or 3 clear channels and I've had gigantic flat screens with complete cable packages. I've killed a whole day vegging out in utter laziness and I've had months where I've watched nothing but a rented movie or two.  But I have never been totally weened off of the boob tube. Until now.

So, what do you do to pass the time when you don't have a television? I mean, no screen-based entertainment at all (this includes internet people... no Hulu, no YouTube... I swear, I've had much more dramatic withdrawals from our lack of internet access than I have from not having a TV, but I digress...).  You go out, right? To the pubs! Or on a chilly evening stroll.

Right. But what about the evenings in? When its dark outside, you've finished dinner, and the chores are done... but its not quite time to get ready for bed? Then what do you do??

Well, you uke.

Or put together puzzles.

(this picture taken the morning after a crazy night of puzzling.)

Or knit.

(and unravel it all... and knit again... and unravel it all...)

You mess with the cats

You do a little finger pickin'

You bake apple/pear pie

(sans recipe... Tried to make it 'healthy' so I used minimal sugar. It was quite tart, but easily remedied by adding copies amounts of vanilla ice cream)

You stare at the ceiling

or out the window.

And, of course, you read.

At least, that's what we do! And for the most part, I don't really miss TV at all (although it would be nice to get the broadband hooked up so we could stream a show or two, I mean, I didn't move to the UK to stop watching Downton Abbey!) Most of all,  I'm getting used to the quiet. I had the habit of turning on the TV just as background noise, and I find I am happier without the constant bombardment of chatter and adverts. And Matthew and I are having some delightful fireside chats... OK, that took it a little too far, but we are a lot more present with one another, if that makes any sense!

I'd love to hear what any of you do when you're not plugged in- in case we run out of ideas here we can steal yours!

Flat cats*

Obie declines puzzle play-

Sherpa and his balloon dance the night away-

Linus waits for more food-

* because you can never share too many pictures of your cats!

Our Days

We don't have internet in our new place, yet. And that has caused me to fall behind in all sorts of things, least of all, this blog. (Its a little sad how much I depend on the interwebs!) But, I've brought my trusty laptop to my local branch of the library and I'm all set and ready to post.

That said, I don't have any time or patience for a particularly thoughtful post. I do have a few in the works, I promise. Posts that are more than "this is what we've been up to" and "look at the pictures". But for now, that's exactly the kind of post I've got to share. I'm going to blame the following lazy post on my sore throat and achy body. It's barely autumn and I already have a cold. (It might be a loooong winter!)

But don't let my general grumpiness fool you, we've been having a great time. Really! Each day we discover something new- some days is a medieval chapel, other days its a good place to buy cheap towels- events which, sadly, caused me to feel nearly equal amounts of excitement.

So, feast your eyes on the following pictures showing what we've been doing with our days, and know that I'll be adding a little more substance to my posts in the very near future!

One day, we went to Roslyn, and disregard my previous comment comparing the experience to buying towels, because this place is all together otherworldly. Photos are not permitted inside the chapel, so you'll just have to come visit it yourself to see what I mean. It is intricately carved- almost every inch of it- with flowers and stars and figures of angels and musicians (there is even a piper!). Most of these carvings have some mysterious connection to the Masons, or the Knights Templar, or the Holy Grail, or... well, the list goes on and on.

The area surrounding Roslyn is beautiful, and mysterious in its own way. We spent some time following the advice of Sir Walter Scott... hiking in the woods, exploring the old castle and delighting in it all.

 Another day, we headed to the Scottish Parliament  building. It has a strange yet inviting design, and it is neighbor to both Holyrood Palace and Arthur's Seat. We did not take the tour, but we will one day. I picked up a pamphlet that outlines the powers of the Scottish Parliament and its relationship to the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster. Which answered a lot of questions Matt had been asking me (as if I somehow know about these things!)

Inside the lobby area, placed in lighted display cases, are gifts that foreign governments have given to Scotland. It is usually something significant to the giver's culture. There were beautiful pieces of art and pottery, things made from jade, or glass beads, and ancient-looking carvings. From the US, there was, what looked like, a white candy dish. I couldn't help but feel a bit underwhelmed. C'mon, America!

But our visit was more than just checking out the local government and seeing foreign bric-a-brac, we wanted to see the William Wallace Letters exhibit, before it headed out of town. The exhibit was small, but beautiful. And if your only understanding of William Wallace comes from the movie Braveheart, as mine did, you'd probably find it very informative.

(Photo credit and more about the letter)

On a different day, we strolled down a particularly lovely footpath, where people walked their dogs and pushed their baby buggies without the worry of traffic. Along this path, we found several hills of allotment gardens. What wonderful, wonderful sites! They looked like their own little towns, where all the citizens are veggies and fruits and flowers. Only my strong will (and the 6 foot stone wall) kept me from running through the plots trying to claim one as my own!

And maybe later that day, or another day altogether, I had my first ginger beer. It's alcoholic, but mildly so, and it has the same bite to it as a quality (nonalcoholic) ginger ale. Since this first one, I've had a few others. I think my favorite is the one with Gimli on the label.

On one of our many nights out to dinner, we got burritos. Our first Scottish burritos. They weren't fantastic, but they weren't bad (I had heard not to expect much when it came to Mexican cuisine in the UK). And, they came with instructions- which, as burrito-eating experts, we did not need. Obviously.

What else...? Oh, one day, we took the train to South Queensferry and we followed this awesome trail to get from the train station to the town. It was covered in blackberry brambles and long wooden steps... I was a bit behind Matthew when I got out the camera and yelled, "hey, Matt!" and instead of turning around to pose (he knows what that kind of "hey, Matt!" means) he just gave me the "whoo-hoo" arms and continued running down the stairs. 

Other than that, we've spent our days and our nights just hanging around Edinburgh, getting used to sites like this one:

and this one:

Oh, and I almost forgot, one day, we moved! We are tenants, with a real home address and house keys and all!

The move itself might warrant its own post, but here you can see the guys taking in their new place...

Where we moved to is called Leith. And, (We)

Because it is pretty, and a bit gritty and has a little more flavor than the neighborhood we were in before (which we do miss already, but was, undoubtedly, vanilla).

And just last night, I saw the moon rise outside of our new bedroom window and there was the strangest look to it. I don't know if it was just a reflection from the clouds, or from my rainy window, but it looked like there were two moons! You can't really tell in this picture...

But this one shows what I saw a little bit better. What is that all about?