rainy days in edinburgh

well this is the first time Ive had a chance to be on the computer in a wee while. Jamie has taken to myspace like a duck to water and so our wee computer has been very busy. You can check out his stuff on www.myspace.com/jamiewilsonmusic you can even hear his music. It'll not be long till the CDs are out and he has 2 gigs in the offing just now so its all go on the music front.

I must admit im having a rather grumpy day. I woke up sore and it got worse. I realised i had left my jacket with the hood in the car (i.e. sitting outside Jamie's work) so i had to wear my wee rain jacket. It was only a light drizzle so I made my way out of the flat and up to the park. The rain got heavy and the wind blew and the water ran dripping from my face. Then I saw the bus in the distance - like a beautiful mirage or refuge and safety. I thanked the Lord and reminded myself of how he blesses his children. I ran like an eejit with arthritis across the park and over the road and jumped (in a rather slow jumping fashion) onto the bus. the bus driver was smirking and I was laughing at the state of myself... until it became apparent that i had no money on my bus pass and was going to have to get off the beautiful bus of refuge into the rain once more. I reminded myself how the Lord never said he'd keep his children dry from the rain (it would be pretty wierd if he did!) and walked the whole way to the bank and then the post office to get my wee card topped up. Ten minutes of standing at the bus stop meant that i had a pretty good river running down my head and out my shoes - excellent for annoying fellow (dry!) passengers. The guy next to me laughed at me and asked what star sign i was. He then proceeded to read me my stars - apparently I was having a "brilliant day"! Dead on!

sunny days in Northern Ireland

I just wanted to finish posting about the trip to NI.
When we first arrived on the sunday we went to glenabbey (my mums church) and then a quick detour to see my nana who was in her usual fine form. Then we headed up to belfast for a quick tour of all the tourist sites (??? tourist sites i hear you ask... stormont, lots of murals, and maggie may's for lunch... not much else to see!). From belfast we went to my bro's house and he drove us to Coleraine, along with his weeks supply of confectionary!
On the Monday night we went to a ceilidh - well it was called a ceilidh but the callers had made up the dances. Very hard to do a strip the willow the wrong way! i did however enjoy spinning my 15 year old partner till he fell over (revenge is mine - its the first time i've been the taller of the pair!). It was a good laugh though and had all the important bits - loud music, banter, sweat, random screams and confused foreigners!

Kirsty with a Poor Bear Ice-cream (or Pooh bear as it is still known- stupid disney and their stupid lawsuits!)

On the Tuesday we went to Portstewart for a Mauds Ice-Cream... mmm... the taste of home! It was really hot and we went a walk round to the strand (big beach). Largely to get away from the karaoke people in the bandstand!

the strand from the convent (you can prob just make out the line of cars on the sand)

Tuesday night brought a double treat with Louise coming over to visit. It was very cool to see her and catch up on her news. It was also very useful to have her around as she can save 6 seats at a time in the big tent (that girl is tall! - wish i had taken a photo!). i have to rely on my body odour to keep the hoards away. Julia also came along after I bumped into her at my mum's church on sunday. It was so exciting to see her again and especially to be with her and worship God together - what an encouragement she is!

Being in Northern ireland certainly has its benefits as you bump into old friends. I have to say though that there were a few gut wrenching moments as i bumped into my old maths teacher Miss Carson (now married with 3 kids) at the causeway and my old french teacher (Mrs McIllhatton) in Coleraine. For some reason, that I still havent worked out, I felt sick when I saw them. I wonder if its guilt from being so cheeky in their classes or just that i dont want to think about school days? Miss Carson told me that I had grown up - I would hope so too - its been 10years since I was in her class!!

Giant's Causeway

so Rahel, Kirsty and I went to the Giant's Causeway last Monday. its my umpteenth time there but I still find it mesmorising.

This time armed with my new camera I prayed for mist and large waves and perfect photo ops but was met with dull light and no wind at all :-( . Still... the rocks are amazing and at least it wasn't raining. the whole thing makes me feel very small - which I am of course... but sometimes I forget!

After a long wait a small wave lapped over the rocks - yay!

I was trying to get an arty shot of Kirsty sitting at the pinnacle of the rocks. As she was getting ready to pose I saw this little face appear in my viewfinder! there was a little voice saying "help... help me please... I tried to go down the wrong way... help". Kirsty had to help the poor women back up again. i found the whole thing hilarious :-)


Can you spot little Kirsty playin the organ?

New Horizons

Kirsty and Rahel at the Giant's Causeway

I'm just back from my latest trip to the great norn iron and I have lots of photos to share with you. Kirsty and Rahel (Kirsty's friend from Australia) went with me. We stayed in the university halls at Coleraine (UUC) - the poshest halls I've ever seen - all ensuite and nice furniture! I even thought they had furnished it with a brand new coffee maker until i realised that mum had brought one - i guess it was one of mums essential travel items - hope she can get it to india ok!! We were staying with Mum and Margaret and Alan

it was so good spending time with these guys. I think that made the trip for me. It has been a while since i've see Margaret! We went along to bible readings on Joseph in the mornings and "evening celebration" in the evenings (worship and bible teaching). The evenings were on suffering and how important suffering is in a christian's life. It certainly has flipped a lot of my thinking on its head... still pondering a lot of what was said!

I was also challenged on being more environmentally conscious. Will keep trying on that one!

We spent time in the afternoon doing some touristy things which i'll blog about later...

happy birthday to me!!!

its my birthday!! it has been a fab day. it started by several wake-up texts wishing me a happy birthday :-) I woke up to lots of cards - one of them from my aunt cathie had pictures of my 2nd birthday - our family on a cruise up the zambeeze river!!
then i mosyed into work where they gave me a card and a pressie and the usual banter. Had some lovely texts from friends through the day. Now Jamie is home to cook me dinner. Birthdays are so cool!!

Hazel and Peter's wedding

well in an effort to catch up on recent events I will upload a few pictures from last week's wedding. It was a fab day - much fun and emotionalness for all. Scariest moment was trying to fit into the bodice top which was bought before fat found me in a serious way. I thought i had broken the zip!! eek! anyway... embarassment avoided... i have never prayed so much for a garment of clothing in my life.
Feeling very chubby just now - either need to lose some serious weight or buy a new wardrobe of big clothes! Any ideas on weight loss anyone!?!

I hope my silly poses bring you a smile :-) This is Sarah and I sprinkling confetti over the happy couple (making sure to get some down Peter's neck!). The obligatory picture of Jamie, Finn and Sarah being posh...

Nethybridge & Beyond

Just thought i would post some pics from the holiday. it seems so long ago now but the memory is a happy one :-) Here's some of the highlights:


Cara swimming in the river - She absolutely loved it


Jamie's mum and dad coming to visit


walking on the glenlivet estate


visiting my aunt Cathie and Uncle Willie

seeing my old flatmate Giles

we spent a large amount of time watching the world cup and being lazy round the house but we didnt take any photos of that! It was fun having time to play with the new camera. I'm thinking about doing a photoshop course next term. Hopefully I'll get a bit better!

Hazel's hen party

So Hazel has dropped the ban on hen party photo sharing and here are some of the highlights of silly photos... wedding photos to follow! ( i think i am now a month behind in blogging! will make a concerted effort to catch up this week as I have less on - hold your breath...)

Hazel and Sarah popping champagne at the beauty salon - think there is a dent in their ceiling now!

Me and Hazel hugging trees on the meadows

Hazel, Lizzie and Janell hugging greyfriars bobby

Emily and Hazel thinking at McEwen Hall

Sarah and Hazel cleaning David Humes feet with their hair

Hazel on the aforementioned globetrotter

sorry lindsey the program wont upload you ceilidh dancing - your network premier will have to wait! well done hazel for completing all the challenges set before her! if she can handle a day with us lot then marrying peter will be wee buns!