Easily Entertained

Being in the country is entertaining. Mainly because there is little entertainment, so you have to get creative and/or find entertainment in simple things. For instance, I let out a laugh as I ran past a sign with a cow on it yesterday [not a sign I'm used to seeing on a run]. Or, the fact that I give James updates on what Lucy, the neighbor’s horse, is doing throughout the day…”oh oh, Lucy’s eating again” (she’s apparently on a diet), or “ooh, look she’s getting a training session.”

Country Livin’

After our fun weekend in Edinburgh, we drove down to James’ parents’ house, in northern England. This is the view we wake up to every morning. Not a bad way to spend the next 2 weeks! The only way to improve it would be to see Eugene out there running around (we miss our little guy!). I bet he would make good buddies with the neighbor’s sheep.

Scotland - Day 3

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we ventured out to do a bit more sightseeing, this time with James’ parents, Andy and Gill. We walked from the New Town to the Old Town, so I got to learn a lot about the history of the city. Then, for lunch, we picked up sandwiches, and sat in the Princes Street Gardens, which overlooks the Edinburgh Castle (first photo below).

Scotland - Day 2 (Wedding)

Saturday was Simon and Karem’s wedding. Simon is Scottish and Karem is Ecuadorian, so there was a mix of people there from all over the world - one of the readings was even done in an African dialect. Some of you may remember Simon from our wedding - he was the one who performed our ceremony! He and James went to school together from the age of 9, here in Edinburgh.

The wedding was held at St. Giles’ Cathedral in the Old Town. It was the only formal cathedral for 2 periods during the 17th century (thanks, Wikipedia), and it is a gorgeous place to be married! The reception was across the plaza in a beautiful, old library. For dinner, we started with a Scottish tapas trio, which of course included haggis (sheep’s intestine), a very popular Scottish dish. I know, it sounds awful, but it’s so good! Then we had guinea fowl breast for our main course, and toffee Ecuadorian quinoa for dessert. The food was really, really good!

After dinner, there was a lot of Scottish dancing, which is always good fun. I love cultures where dancing is such a huge part of celebrations - almost everyone was on the dance floor for most of the night! Congrats to Simon and Karem, a beautiful couple - inside and out.

Scotland - Day 1

James’ childhood friend got married in Edinburgh this past weekend, so we flew in Friday afternoon and headed straight out on the town for a look around to keep ourselves awake. James moved from England to Edinburgh when he was 9, and lived there until he was 18, so I had a pretty decent tour guide.

The city is split up into 2 areas: the Old Town and the New Town. I find it entertaining that the “New” Town was built in the late 1700’s because in America we’d call that “Ancient” Town. The Old Town dates back to the 1500’s! Amazing history all around the city.

We stayed at a quaint little hotel called The Bonham, which is the first photo below:

Girls’ Weekend

Michelle flew up from San Diego this past weekend for a fun girls’ weekend. On Saturday, we decided to do a day-trip up to Calistoga for some wine tasting and dinner, and then got a bonus surprise by witnessing a proposal at Sterling Vineyards! We walked outside on the patio, saw him get down on one knee and instantly whipped out our cameras. Some other folks caught it on camera too, so we collected the newly engaged couple’s information and emailed them the photos. They were both shaking - it was so cute!

Then we had dinner at Solbar, and sat outside by the pool, which was perfect because it was hot, hot, hot! Goodbye SF summer fog, hello hot summer evening. When we left Calistoga at 8:30pm it was still 85ºF/29ºC and when we rolled into SF, it was 58ºF/14ºC and foggy. Hm…thinking we should spend every weekend in wine country!

4th of July

We celebrated 4th of July with friends and family down in Mountain View. We got to see the progress of the playhouse (a.k.a. mega-pimp playhouse) that Ehren is building for Olivia, and got to enjoy the sun, good company, great food and festive sparklers. Oh, and special mention to the PB&J cake (yes, cake) that Stacey made!

King of the Castle

Yeah, I got a new bed. My old, crap bed is a thing of the past…with all of its holes and stitched up bits from my puppy days. My new FYDO bed is big and comfy, covered in velvety microfiber, and has puffy edges to rest my weary head after a hard day of ball-playing. Yes, I am the King of the Castle.

Switcheroo

Eugene is quickly recovering from his ear wound. I’m sure I was more traumatized than he was, although he’s got a pretty good scab to show for it, which makes him look even scrappier.

I think the quick recovery is due in part to Keoni being here this week. There’s not a free moment for Eug to stop and scratch at the crustiness because there’s always playing to do. Play, play, play….sleep, sleep, sleep (in each others’ beds of course).

Ouch :(

After a week of late nights and early mornings, I was looking forward to going to bed early tonight, so I took the dogs out for their last walk of the day (James is in Vegas for work), and we met our neighbor and her lab, Skye, in the park. Eugene and Skye have met plenty of times before, but as Eugene went up to sniff Skye, Skye lunged towards him pretty aggressively, and next thing you know Eugene let out a bloodcurdling squeal. This is the 2nd time I’ve heard that horrible, heart-breaking sound, and instantly my heart started racing. The neighbor asked if he was okay, and I said I thought so and that he was probably just scared, because he didn’t seem to be hurt…but then I saw blood. Meanwhile, Keoni, who wouldn’t stop barking at Skye, managed to slip out of his collar. Oof. Thankfully he just stood there barking, so I was able to grab him and get his collar back on, while Eugene stood there shaking and bleeding. *sniff*

I immediately took them both back inside to assess the situation, and sure enough…his ear was cut on both sides, and bleeding pretty badly. He also has a small graze on his nose, so not sure if he got bit, or just caught in Skye’s choke collar. After spending an hour cleaning him up, crying on the phone to James and taking both dogs back out (since we hadn’t accomplished our original goal), my evening didn’t go quite as planned. His ear has finally stopped bleeding, and I’m thankful it wasn’t worse, but I think a vet trip will be in order tomorrow morning.

My poor little pup.