Home sweet home

We are home!  Now it is time to reflect back, and I'm finding myself to be particularly sentimental.

Last night, during the Maundy Thursday service, I spent some time thinking about tables.  I pondered the tables at which I'd sat during the previous ten days... airport tables, airplane tables, tables on the train, tables in various restaurants and distilleries, the table in the home of dear friends.

It struck me (again) that just like when we come to God's table for communion, these different tables didn't "belong" to somebody in particular.  It didn't matter at all where we happened to be at that very moment.  The time spent around those tables was sacred and meant something because of the people who were present and the relationships between us.  What a gift it was to sit at table with those people.

Ken mentioned in one of his posts that Seth and I were "geeking out" at the John Knox house, and I will absolutely fess up to that!  As a cradle Presbyterian (coming from many generations of Presbyterians before me) and as someone with Scottish heritage, it was pretty incredible to be standing on the ground in Scotland, thinking about all the people who have come before me.   Looking back on it now, it almost feels like a dream that I was really there.  Good thing I have HUNDREDS of pictures to prove it!

While it is good to be back in my own home and bed, I am missing being across the pond! Here’s the pic we sent to the Lovell family from the JFK airport...

As we were flying into RDU, the sky looked appropriately like this:

The sun was setting on an amazing trip... I will carry those memories with me for a long, long time... and I have this Heilan coo sitting next to my bed to remind me...

Thanks for following along on the journey! Until next time...

Can’t believe it’s been 10 days...

We made plans last night to go to the Lovell family flat for breakfast this morning once we were all up and going. It wasn’t early, but it was another yummy breakfast of fried eggs, fruit, scones, and avocado toast for those who wanted it. 

Seth and Brittany had been thinking about whether there was anything we’d missed seeing so far and realized we hadn’t yet been to Holyrood Park. It’s only about a ten minute walk from their flat, so we headed out to see the Crags and Arthur’s Seat. 

On the way back down, we looked at this view of the city! Edinburgh Castle on the left... then The Hub, Old College, St. Giles Cathedral, the Scott Monument, and then another spire that is yet to be determined. :)



After spending time at Holyrood, Brittany took the kids home, and the rest of us headed toward an art store. Seth and Brittany had mentioned that they have beautiful cards that could easily be framed. I bought four of them and look forward to putting them in my house!

We were still on the lookout for a scone with clotted cream, so we headed to The Larder, and it did not disappoint! 

After that we did some more shopping and then headed to the John Knox House. I was pretty excited about this stop, and Seth hadn’t been there yet either. We offered for Ken and Pauline to go sit in a pub instead, but they were troopers and came along. 

There was a “costume” upstairs, and it was clear Seth needed to put it on!



From there we headed to a bar called The Royal Dick, because they are known for their gin options, and that’s another of Ken’s favorites. 

We stopped at the grocery store for a few supplies for a fun after-dinner surprise and came home to another amazing meal (pasta with hot smoked salmon, asparagus, and cream sauce) prepared by Brittany. We told the kids we had something fun to do once we all finished eating.

The kids got in their pajamas and Pauline and I prepped. We  brought along decorating tips and gel colors for icing to do cookie decorating with the kids. We never had a rainy day, so we ending up saving it for tonight and buying store- bought “biscuits” (cookies).  The kids LOVED it!!

Once the kids went to bed, the adults hung out a bit longer and laughed a LOT, not wanting our time together to end. 

It’s hard to believe our adventure is coming to an end, but what an amazing one it’s been. I will never, ever forget my first trip to Scotland (there will be more!), and I am so grateful for these friends I call family. 

It was another banner day... and definitely a banner trip! 

From the west to the east in just a matter of days

Just a few days ago, we were on the west coast of Scotland. Today we journeyed to the east coast! We met up this morning to journey to a small coastal town the Lovell family has come to love - North Berwick. It was charming and beautiful!

We met at the bus stop at 9am this morning to catch the bus to Waverly Station where we would catch the train. We bought our tickets, headed to our platform, and were on our way.

Beautiful views out the train window...

We arrived in North Berwick and hadn’t walked far when we came to a golf course. The kids ran and rolled around for a few minutes before we walked to catch our bus to Tantallon Castle. 

When we were walking along, we stopped at the beach for a few minutes while we waited for our bus to arrive.

First time touching the North Sea

Once our bus came, we boarded it and headed to the castle. We have seen several castles on this trip (I think this was our  5th), and each is stunning in its own way. 

Here are a variety of shots from Tantallon Castle... The rock to the left of the castle is called Bass Rock, and those white spots are sea gannets. This is the location of the largest colony of sea gannets in the world!

We knew it was going to be windy today... but wow!

And some of the many views from the top...

We were killing time, waiting for the bus to come back to get us...

A bus came along (going the wrong direction for us), and the same driver, Linda, who dropped us off asked if we knew we still had a while to wait. She told us it would still be over an hour until our bus came. We had incorrectly read the schedule. She invited us to get on her bus (where we would be out of the wind and the cold) and ride along, and we agreed. Soon after we were on the bus, she said she could drop us off at a coffee shop in a small village, and after the shift change, another driver would come back to get us. Perfect! Another happy accident, because the scones there were delicious!

We moved back our booking for “linner” from 2:30 to 3:15, and the schedule worked out great. We headed to Rocketeer for a meal, and I got the seafood chowder, which came highly recommended by Seth. It was excellent! 

After our meal, we went back out to the beach for a bit before walking around North Berwick. 

One place we came to was a cemetery. This is on the property along with ruins from a church (Kirk Ports). Apparently people aren’t allowed to put their cemetery grave markers back in place by themselves... they have to pay to have it done, and it’s expensive and doesn’t often happen.

We walked by another cute church with a bell with a very cool story!

We continued walking, seeing beautiful homes and flowers around North Berwick.

As we were walking along, we came across a lighthouse statue. I have a thing for lighthouses, so of course I was willing to pay 20p to have it light up. Well, two tries and it didn’t work, but we took a picture there anyway. 

There were windows on the side for you to get a glimpse of what a real lighthouse looks like on the inside, and Asher really wanted to see in!

More walking around, on our way back to the train station...

We ended up having to wait at the station for a while, because our train was delayed, then cancelled, and then another one was delayed. 





By the time we got back to Edinburgh, it was 7pm. Seth took the kids home, and Brittany came with Ken, Pauline, and me to find a place for drinks. On the way we got a great view of the Scott Monument.



We struck out twice (first place was closed on Mondays; second had no room to sit) before ending up at The Old Bell again. We were all happy with that decision!





They were playing trivia in there tonight. We arrived too late to officially play, but we played along on our own and had a great time. One of the questions tonight was “Who was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland during the 1500s?” Shall we say it was providence that we ended up at this pub tonight? :)

Another banner day... hard to believe tomorrow is our last day before heading home!