Our Little Pumpkin

Addison mistakes his pumpkin costume for an orange straight jacket.

As a sidenote let me add that I thought he would love the costume. He is obsessed with fleecey things, like pullovers and pajamas, and he adores his winter hat. So why...why...I ask you, does he hate his pumpkin fleece and hat so much?

And then the tears.

I'm sure in a few years' time we will all laugh at this.

Much happier once we took off that blasted costume.

I promise to tell you all about our Halloween tomorrow, and I have an adorable picture from the Halloween party that we went to tonight which I will also post. And for those of you who do not celebrate this holiday, Happy Reformation Day! Apparently Addison's not a fan either.

Nuptials

I believe I've mentioned in past blogs that almost every Saturday since we've arrived we've seen a wedding or even two up at King's College Chapel.

They also frequently have them up at St. Machar's Cathedral. Since we try to get out on Saturdays as a family at some point during the day to enjoy the park or soak in the city, we often witness these weddings in progress. I've noticed a couple of things about how they do weddings here. First of all, they will typically have a piper playing outside the church as folks arrive for the ceremony often even an hour before it begins. People will congregate on the lawn rather than wait in the church while he is playing. This is such a bonus for us since we get to enjoy the playing without even being invited guests. Also, all the men in the wedding party and even some of the male guests usually wear tartans with tuxedo jackets. It's a very smart look, I must say. Another interesting feature is that these weddings seem to be fairly small and intimate affairs. I rarely have seen more than about 50 guests waiting outside the church after the ceremony. Generally, weddings seem more relaxed and natural without a wedding coordinator barking orders or a small army of photographers swarming the bride. From start to finish, they may remain at the church for 3-4 hours altogether, taking pictures and socializing. Sometimes they will have the reception at beautiful Elphinstone Hall adjacent to the chapel. The pictures above are from weddings this past Saturday. Trey photographed the piper in the afternoon during a brief moment of sunshine. Later in the afternoon I took the other photograph of the wedding party about to leave the church after the ceremony.

And for your listening pleasure, I'm including a brief video I took a couple weeks ago at St. Machar's of a piper playing out in the churchyard while the wedding guests arrived. I wasn't going to post this since I took the video sideways not realizing that my digital camera couldn't orient the video from vertical to horizontal. I'll try to do better next time. So while you crane your neck to the side, enjoy this little taste of Scotland! (click the link below)

http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q167/hollowayb/Video/?action=view&current=AddisonandMorgan042.flv&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

Taking Things for Granted

Today was our first blue sky day in eight days. The rain has gotten a little bit much for all of us. I think it rained at least once a day every day during those 8 days. The up side is that the grass is so green. The down side is that it is very difficult to do even simple things like grocery shop. We've all been a little stir crazy to get outside, and then this morning when we woke up, God blessed us with the most amazingly beautiful day imaginable. Trey went out this morning with Addison and shot some breathtaking photos. I've added them to the sidebar for your enjoyment (Seaton Park in Fall). There are also a few new Addison photos in his album from today as well.

What am I learning from all this? Never, ever take a beautiful day for granted. With the sun now setting at 4:30 pm (thanks to the clocks changing) and all the soggy gray weather, I feel my soul revive on a day like this. Every day I am learning to take pleasure in small wonders and tiny triumphs. Today is a triumphant day!

Edinburgh

What a fabulous trip! Trey and I thoroughly enjoyed our first venture outside of Aberdeen. Although the day was gray and rainy at first, the countryside was so picturesque. The fields were intensely green, a tribute to all the rain we've had lately. The fields were dotted with sheep and even the occasional herd of Angus steer. Much of the bus route followed right along the North Sea coastline, which was so rugged and beautiful.

It took about three hours to reach Edinburgh since we had to change buses in Dundee. We arrived around lunchtime. After a quick bite to eat and a stop to buy an umbrella (we are quickly learning not to ever leave the house without an umbrella regardless of whether it is currently raining), we walked over to the Assembly Rooms on George Street so Trey could peruse the book fair. While he enjoyed the ancient volumes, I wandered around the shops on Princes Street and read in a Starbucks. It is both comforting and disturbing that no matter where you go in the world there is always a Starbucks and when you walk in they are all the same.

Around 2:30 we met up again for some sightseeing and -- what a blessing! -- the rain had stopped and the sun was popping in and out. We wandered through the Princes Street Gardens, a beautiful sunken garden right in the middle of the city. It reminded me of a miniature version of Central Park. We then made our way up the Mound to New College Divinity School where Trey was also accepted at the same time that he had applied to Aberdeen. It is a beautiful building, but unfortunately we could not appreciate the full effect due to ongoing restoration of the building. After New College it was on to St. Giles, an ancient cathedral originially built in 1120! Her most famous preacher was the great Reformer John Knox, and you will see in our photos that Trey had the privilege of having his photograph taken with this learned divine. Sadly, we did not have more time to explore the city before our bus left, but in our remaining half hour we quickly stopped into the National Gallery of Scotland to view some of the paintings.

This whirlwind trip has only whet our appetite to go again. We are hoping that this summer we can go down with the kids and really get to explore all the beauty of Scotland's capital.

Scottish Humor

I have to share this joke with you. It made both Trey and me laugh very hard.

When God created Scots he brought the angel Gabriel around to check out the handiwork. Gabriel was amazed, "Look at the country you are giving them; mountains and valleys, rivers and coasts, woodlands and fields. You have given them the best country in the world!" Then God said, "And look at what I've given them to drink. I call it whiskey." Gabriel drank it and his eyes popped out, "Wow! This stuff is incredible! You've given them the best drink in the world!" Then God said, "And look at how adventurous and brave their men are. And see how fair and loyal their women are." Gabriel said, "Yes, you've certainly given the Scots the best men and women on earth. But Lord, now that you've given them the best of everything, don't you think they will become spoiled and ungrateful?" God said, "No. Just wait and see what neighbors I give them."

Off to Edinburgh

Tomorrow Trey and I are leaving Aberdeen for the first time since we arrived on August 29th. We're taking the bus down to Edinburgh for a fun-filled day of book fairing and sightseeing sans the little one. We are very excited to see more of Scotland and get a rare opportunity to spend some time just the two of us. I promise to take lots of pictures while we are there and post them over the weekend. You will not be hearing from me tomorrow as we leave bright and early, or rather I should say dark and early, and we will not get back until late in the evening. This is a little birthday escapade for Trey. Sunday is his real birthday.

Update: I decided to cancel my private scan down in Edinburgh. I thought about it for a long time, and actually blogging about it a few weeks ago was quite therapeutic. I have come to peace with not knowing and would rather spend the 95 pounds in other ways. So our trip to Edinburgh tomorrow will not entail finding out the sex of the baby. You'll all just have to wait a little while longer on that one.

The Scottish "No"

And so it begins. At the ripe old age of 20 months Addison is already adopting the accent of his new home. I have no idea how this happened, and part of me is hoping that it's mere coincidence although I have completely resigned myself to the fact that when we do return to America Addison will be speaking in a Scottish accent. Let me explain. When we first arrived here, Addison had one way of saying "no". It was a total South Jersey "no", roughly transliterated something like "nah". While Addison has not completely discarded such a melodic version, he has reserved it only for his most defiant and ugly moments. Instead, now when he means "no" in the pleasant way to respond to "Addison would you like some more Cheerios?" he responds "noooooo." Again, my transliteration does not do it justice, but for those of you who have seen Braveheart, Addison's "noooooo" rhymes with the young William Wallace's plea to accompany his father to the clan meeting at the beginning of the movie, "I want to goooooo."

What am I going to do? At least I can take comfort in the fact that he will probably never know the pain of the question, "Are you from Joisey?"

The New Webcam

Just a little update for all of you. I wrote last week that we were going to get a webcam on Saturday, and, indeed, we did (here is a lovely picture of it). So, if you download Skype, you can now see us as well as talk to us. My Skype username is hollowayb. Trey's is trey_holloway.

Eid ul-Fitr

What is it, you ask. Good question. Little did I know yesterday as I walked to the grocery store with my friend that we were going to be swarmed by Muslims in full garb. It's not uncommon to see a Muslim here or there on the street. It is, afterall, a very cosmopolitan city. However, this was different. Whole groups of men in white linen robes and women fully covered started passing us. We realized it must be some sort of Muslim holiday. Sure enough it turns out that yesterday marked the beginning of the 3 day festival of Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of their month long fasting period known as Ramadan.

Talking to the Belly

OK, this is slightly embarrassing, but it's also so funny that I just can't resist sharing it with all of you. When I was pregnant with Addison, Trey had this habit of occasionally talking to the baby through my belly. I know it sounds silly, but if you know Trey, you know he has this hidden silly side that comes out every once in a while. So, sure enough, this time around, he's started doing it again. Except this time Addison being on the outside has found Daddy's antics quite fascinating and worthy of imitation. Trey will lean in and say, "Hellooooooo little baby," in a low, rumbly voice. Addison will follow suit by putting his lips right up against my belly and repeating, "Woooooowooooooo," in an almost equally low little boy voice. He's even come over to me while I'm in the middle of doing something and lifted my shirt, pointing at my belly and saying, "Baby! Baby!" I say, "Yes, Addison, baby!" And then he puts his mouth to my tummy and repeats, "Wooooowooooo!" He's also discovered that he can blow raspberries to the baby, which makes me laugh very hard. He loves it when we blow raspberries on his tummy, so now he gets to reciprocate. I know he doesn't really understand that there actually is a little baby inside, but he is definitely fascinated by my expanding stomach and makes frequent comparisons to his own Buddha belly.

The Tattie Holiday

For the past two weeks, the children of Aberdeen (and, I think, the rest of the UK) have been off from school. They are celebrating what they call the "Tattie Holiday", short for Potato Holiday of course. As you can probably guess, back in the "olden days" this was the two week period in October when the children were let out of school to help harvest the potato crop.

Nothing like continuing a holiday that originally centered around child labor...(wink, wink).

You Will See Us Soon!

We have been inspired. Last night Pop-pop skyped us (yes, skype is now a verb) using his brand new webcam. It was so amazing! To be able to see someone thousands of miles away while you have a conversation...it left both Trey and me speechless. So this Saturday we're taking a trip to Curry's (the UK Circuit City) to get a webcam so that all of you who are also on Skype can see us while we talk. And my sincere hope is that you will do the same! I can just picture the look on Addison's face when he sees all of you. You know how much he loves all things electronic.

The Medieval Town of Old Aberdeen

Since we arrived in Aberdeen, Trey has become increasingly interested in the local history, particularly in the medieval city of Old Aberdeen. He recently acquired a two volume set for his birthday entitled The Annals of Aberdeen. It was published in 1818 by William Kennedy and relates the history of this city from the time of King William the Lion up until 1818, paying special attention to the cathedral and university. I have included an engraving from the book of King's College Chapel, which was published on April 1, 1792 by Peter Maxell. Note that the engraving does not include many of the later structures that were added onto the chapel, which you have seen in our photographs. The other picture shows the royal mark of distinction bestowed on Aberdeen by William the Lion. According to Kennedy, Aberdeen was probably one of the earliest boroughs entitled to such a royal mark, receiving it around the year 1179. The charter granted and confirmed to the burgesses (a representative of a borough, corporate town, or university in the British Parliament) of Aberdeen certain rights to freely conduct trade and business. The medallions are two seals of Scotland that were affixed to the charter in green wax. You can see on both of these medallions the Latinized form of the name William, which is Willelmus.

Brownie Monster

Addison helped me lick the bowl yesterday after I made brownies. Check out the other chocolatey photos just added to Addison's pictures.

And to answer your question, yes, that is the homemade haircut that Addison received a couple of days ago. After the unsuccessful attempt at the barber's last week, we figured we might as well give it a shot. It didn't turn out badly at all. Other than a little choppiness in front thanks to one wiggly little boy it turned out surprisingly well for a first go. Hats off to Trey for his valiant effort. Hey, and we saved 5 pounds. Not bad at all.

Autumn Colors

The autumn colors are just starting to turn. This is a small tree in our next door neighbor's front garden whose leaves become more brilliant with every passing day. I've added a link in the right-hand column of some of the other fall foliage we encountered today on our morning stroll around Old Aberdeen. I'm sure in the next couple of weeks the colors will be even more resplendent. I promise to share!

Flat Stanley in Aberdeen

We have had our first official visitor -- Flat Stanley. For those of you unfamiliar with Flat Stanley, I refer you to http://www.flatstanley.com, the Flat Stanley Project website. Our neice, Christy Holloway, is participating in this Project and mailed Flat Stanley to us for a photograph of him in front of some of the famous places in Aberdeen. Here is a picture of him this morning in front of King's College Chapel.

A Beautiful Fall Sunset

In the absence of anything terribly interesting to post about, I thought I would share with you the sunset we all enjoyed last night out our bay window. A pictures is indeed worth a thousand words.

The Sound Up Above

Almost as common as the sound of gulls overhead is the sound of helicopters. Strange but true, Aberdeen is home to the busiest commercial heliport in the entire world. On certain days you will hear helicopters overhead what seems like every 15 minutes or so because they serve as the main mode of transportation for oil workers going to the off-shore platforms. In fact, little Aberdeen, with a population of just over 200,000 people, is the oil capital of Europe.

There are several oil workers at Gilc (our church's nickname). A few weeks ago we met a man who is a chef onboard one of the rigs. He works in 2 week intervals -- 2 at sea, 2 at home. We've also met a chemist who works on one of the rigs. We were told by a local that if you see an Escalade with the steering wheel "on the wrong side" of the vehicle, you can bet it belongs to an American oil executive who's had it shipped over from the US. Makes me smile. We like our cars big, don't we?

The Fading Light

The days are getting noticeably shorter all the time. Just to give you an idea of the amount of sunlight we had when we arrived on August 29th, the sun rose at 6:04 am and set at 8:14 pm for a total of 14 hours and 10 minutes of daylight. Now, the sun rises at 7:33 am and sets at 6:17 pm for a total of 10 hours and 43 minutes of daylight. In just 6 short weeks we've lost nearly 3 1/2 hours of daylight. To give you a little comparison, the amount of daylight Philadelphia got on August 29th was less than Aberdeen at 13 hours and 11 minutes while currently in Philadelphia they are getting 11 hours and 20 minutes of daylight, a loss of just over 2 hours of daylight. We lose approximately 5 minutes of daylight every day for a total of more than a 1/2 hour every week.

Now let me really knock your socks off. The shortest day of the year will be December 21st when we will only get 6 hours and 40 minutes of daylight. The sun will rise at 8:46 am and set at 3:27 pm. On the flip side, the longest day of the year, June 21st, we will get 17 hours and 55 minutes of daylight with the sun rising at the inglorious hour of 4:13 am and setting at 10:08 pm. We will definitely need to invest in some heavy drapes for the kids' room.

One further interesting point of note is the location of the sun at noon time. It sits about the middle of the sky where you would expect the sun to be at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. This, I'm sure, has to do with our longitude. I've also noticed that the sun here is intensely bright, but I wonder if that's because it's just positioned right at eye level during the brightest part of the day.

Paleography

According to Wikipedia, my favorite online source for all sorts of information, paleography is defined thus:

Palaeography (British) or paleography (American) (from the Greek παλαιός palaiós,
"old" and γράφειν graphein, "to write") is the study of ancient and medieval manuscripts, independent of the language (Koine Greek, Classical Latin, Medieval Latin, Old English, etc.) In a more general sense, palaeography is the practice of reading manuscript text, and of learning how to do so.

In laymen's terms, it's the study of fancy and hard-to-read handwriting (see the example above). Trey began a semester-long course on Scottish paleography yesterday, a course which will assist him in his archival research on the Scottish reformation. Next semester, he will continue his studies of paleography, specifically looking at Latin manuscripts, which will also be very helpful for his archival work.

Make That 11

We've done it again! Aberdeen has won the 2006 Britain in Bloom competition in the city category for an astonishing 11th time. In fact, the Britain in Bloom competition was just one of three major wins for the city in the past month. We captured the Scotland in Bloom city title for the 39th straight time as well as the International Communities in Bloom.

Yet another reason you have to come visit!

The New Do

When in Rome do as the Romans, literally do. This is a late update, but last week I got my haircut in the process of letting it grow out. I know on the face of it that doesn't sound like it makes any sense. However, when you're going from a highly stylized, layered cut like I was, the regrowing process involves getting it all one length. So I went to a little salon nearby called Mokoko. And as it turned out, the bob that I ended up getting is "the haircut" to have in the UK right now. They're everywhere. Hmmm...lucky me. It was a fun experience. I love talking to people from Aberdeen about their city. They couldn't be more bored with it. When I told her how much we were enjoying our time here and how beautiful we thought the city was, she looked at me like I was crazy.

Oh and an interesting tidbit for any of you if you ever find yourself getting a haircut at a UK salon. You don't have to tip. It's all included in the price. I ended up calling one of my American friends here from a payphone outside the salon right before my appointment to doublecheck. Good thing I did.

Addison's New Garb

Only 2 of the 5 boxes we shipped 6 weeks ago from the US have arrived. In one of the three that are still outstanding is Addison's winter coat. In the meantime, with temperatures as chilly as they are these days, he desparately needed a new coat. So today I bought him a medium-heavy fleece jacket. He loves it! I could hardly pull it off of him long enough in H&M to let the lady ring it up at the till (cash register). He howled for me to put it back on. On the way home he fell asleep in his buggy cuddled up in his new jacket and winter hat. When he woke up from his nap, he wouldn't let me take it off even as toasty as it was making him (see the red cheeks).

Fear

Apparently, the fly from Wednesday has unhinged pandora's box for Addison. We never did manage to kill the small pest, and this Methuselah of all flies has been periodically terrorizing one small boy in the Holloway household for the past two days. This morning, in particular, I was washing up the breakfast dishes while Addison enjoyed a cup of milk (yes, a cup, not a bottle). All of sudden the same shrieking that pulled me away from my blogging the other day interrupted my washing reverie. In response, we've been trying to help Addison with his fear of the fly by showing him how to bat at it and say, "Shoo, fly. Go away!" He laughs hysterically until the fly reappears and then all the fun is forgotten.

Later this morning I took Addison to get a much needed haircut. After the morning's antics, I was a bit pessimistic that this outing would end well. My suspicions proved justified. Although Addison has had numerous haircuts before, as of late he has developed a fear of the stranger with the scissors and most especially the buzzer. He never even made it to being fully smocked. I apologized to the lady with the maroon and black hair and said, "We'll try another time."

While these episodes are, I'm sure, humorous for you to read about, they have not been so funny to experience. However, in the absence of comic relief on my way home from the failed barbering attempt, I began to contemplate the lesson staring me in the face -- the lesson for me to learn from my young son. As many of you know, I had a lot fear in coming to Aberdeen. My number one fear was loneliness. The prospect of trying to survive in a foreign country in a strange house with a toddler all day long sent shudders through my spine. How would I ever find friends? How could anyone understand what it's like to pick up and leave everything? It was the kind of fear that made my stomach sick and my heart ache. And then I think about Addison and what he does when he is afraid. He cries out for me, and I scoop him up and hold his shaking body. He lays his head on my shoulder, wraps his arms around my neck and hugs his legs to my body. And then he settles. Why do I have such a hard time doing this to God? My fears are every bit as irrational as Addison's fear of a fly or the hairdresser's shears, and yet my instinct is to grit my teeth, pull myself up by my boot straps, and muscle through. Where is my childlike dependence on God? Why do I struggle so with throwing myself into the arms of the One who loves me like I were His only child?

It never ceases to amaze me how much our children teach us, sometimes lessons far more profound than what we teach them. What to do about the fly and the barber? I don't know. We'll figure something out. In the meantime, Daddy will cut Addison's hair in the bathtub, and we'll invest in a decent fly swatter. And I will continue to ponder the meaning of it all.

Dr. Holloway's Constitutional

My husband has a mistress. Her name? Aberdeen. More specifically her architecture and history. Many evenings a week he can be found enjoying what he playfully calls "Dr. Holloway's Constitutional". You might think it odd to take a walk in the dark, but according to him, "I like to see the buildings illuminated at night." Here's a little overview of where he goes.

He walks down our street to University Road and over to High Street. He then proceeds up to his favorite building in all the United Kingdom, King's College Chapel. He'll stop and admire the chapel's crown and Elphinstone monument wandering into the internal quadrangle for a closer view of the armorial bearings all of which he has photographed. Back on High Street, he proceeds up to the Old Town House ever mindful of the uneven cobbles, something of a pitfall for someone who is constantly peering down the side alleys for a glimpse of a new, undiscovered building. Past the Old Town House he proceeds on up to the Chanonry, the road which leads to his second favorite building, St. Machar's Cathedral. Once there, he turns around, retraces his steps down High Street, past the University, and continues on to New Aberdeen and Marischal College. At Marischal he likes to count the spires, touch the granite, and otherwise fully experience the majesty of the building. After spending some time at Marischal, he'll move on to the Sheriff's Court and then over to Castlegate. Tonight he disocvered the names of all of the Scottish kings and one queen carved at the top of the Mercat Cross, a gazebo-like structure built in 1686 situated in the center of Castlegate, which he recited for me with great relish upon his arrival home (James I-V, Mary Queen of Scots, James VI, Charles I-II, and James VII). The final leg is a straight shot home up King Street and back to 30 Orchard Road all the while admiring the numerous stone walls that can easily be found throughout the Granite City.

The Fly

I know many of you read the blog for Addison tid-bits, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to share a little story with you that just happened a few minutes ago. I typically blog while Addison is napping in the early afternoon. However, today he decided he didn't need to sleep for more than 45 minutes. No sooner had I started to write about the gulls than I could hear thump, thump, thump upstairs in the pack'n'play. Oh well, I thought. I'll give him a little while. I could hear him laughing to himself, talking to his stuffed animals, otherwise lost in Addison land. All of a sudden I could hear terrified crying. Every mother knows her child's different cries. This was not the "I'm bored with being in my pack'n'play...please come get me" cry. This was sheer terror. At first I ignored it, but it wasn't going away. So I trudged upstairs to find out what could be so tragically amiss. I opened the door to his bedroom expecting to find a monster towering over Addison ready to devour him when what do I find? It's a fly. That's right. My son was terrified of a fly that had come in through the open window this morning. See, in the UK they don't believe in screens. Never heard of them actually. So when you open up the windows to get a little fresh air, you also get a few of God's flying critters as a bonus. This unsuspecting fly, about the size of a pinky nail, had so petrified Addison that when I scooped him up in my arms he was shaking and sweating. Good night! I can only imagine how the fly felt.

Gutsy Gulls

One of the first things I noticed stepping out of the cab from the Aberdeen Airport in front of our little house was the sound of seagulls. Between that and the fresh North Sea breeze that can be felt all over the city, you never feel very far from the beach. I have always loved the sound of seagulls even if they are a bit of a nuisance when you're trying to eat a sandwich on the sand. However, the Aberdeen seagulls make the Jersey seagulls seem like mere infants by comparison. Let me share with you a little excerpt from a brochure called "Walking on the Wild Side: A Self-Guided Natural History Tour of King's College" which we got when we arrived here. Incidentally, I have stolen the title of this blog from the title of this excerpt:

The most common species you will see is the pale grey herring gull. Although laothed by many, these birds have a statuesque presence and an impressive intelligence. Originally coastal birds, thousands have moved inland to towns -- to them buildings are simply undisturbed cliffs with few predators and an abundance of food.

Their behaviour is intriguing. Rain simulating, grass paddling is a technique used to catch worms. 'This is my patch' calls start with one bird throwing its head back and 'crying' -- others usually join in. But watch out during Summer -- gulls take parenthood seriously. Your first warning will be a ka-ka-ka call. Stay around and you will experience the 'go-away' head swoop, followed by the not-so-lucky guano attack. Be warned!

I soon learned from the locals that these birds are utterly despised here. In fact, the reason the city put out the money for hard top cans for all businesses was the gull problem. Like the Jets or the Sharks they would gang together and on trash day make their way down the major thorofares ripping open one bag of trash after another littering rotten food, wrappers, and bottles everywhere. Now that their main food source has been taken away their numbers have decreased, but they are still an Aberdeen staple, making their presence very much heard.

A Little Ray of Sunshine

Attn: Everyone who reads this blog (both regulars and irregulars)

If you come visit us in Aberdeen, this is the face that will greet you every morning at the breakfast table. Need I say more???

Our House in Pictures

This is our lounge. The bay window would be on the left side of this photo looking out onto our front garden. It is a lovely, cozy room in the late afternoon.

Here are two photos of the kitchen, my favorite room in the house. It is so bright and cheerful in the morning. The island counter is where we sit and eat our meals. There are three high back chairs around it.


This is Addison's room. The window faces east and on sunny days gets full sunshine in the morning. It's hard to tell how large the room is from this one picture, but I'd say it's about double the size of what you're seeing here -- a really nice size room.

This is Trey's and my room. It's the front bedroom facing west. From this picture you can't see, but on the left hand-side is a very large window looking out front right onto the NBC bowling green. You can even see the top of King's College Chapel. We also have a large wardrobe located approximately where the picture is being taken.

We don't have a picture of the loft because right now it's in disarray. We've been using it a lot on rainy days to hang laundry, but we'll fix it up nicely for guests once we start having visitors.

Welcome to Scotland

Almost every Friday and Saturday since we've arrived, there have been weddings held at King's College Chapel. This past Saturday, in particular, which was one of the most clear blue-sky days since we've arrived, we got to see the bride and groom having their photos taken on the quadrangle right outside the chapel. We were on our way up to Seaton Park to run Addison. (Yes, much like a puppy, Addison requires a lot of room to run off his excess energy.) On our way back we saw a piper in full Scottish get-up (see photo), presumably part of the entertainment for the wedding reception. It is not uncommon on the weekend to see pipers walking around the quadrangle or up High Street piping away. It adds amazingly to the atmosphere of this ancient place. It almost felt intrusive to take a picture, but I had to show you. I mean, c'mon. Cobbled streets. Granite buildings. Men in kilts. Does it get any more authentic than that? It's enough to make even the most hardened Englishman dewey eyed.

The Many Faces of Addison

These photos were taken on Saturday at Seaton Park. Addison -- ever the ham. No idea where he gets it from. Check out the link with photos of Addison in the right-hand column. I've added new ones.