sunset

Last night, very late, as David and I were crawling into bed after a long day, I received the news that my grandmother, Page Tillett, died very suddenly yesterday.  She was feeling unwell and went to the doctor's office, and while in the office she went into cardiac arrest.  They tried for hours to revive her, but she was gone.  My dad flew up to Baltimore immediately and is there making arrangements.  Please be in prayer for my aunt and uncle, my dad and the rest of my family, my cousins and extended family who have all been really shaken by my grandmother's very sudden and unexpected death.  And pray for those who do not know Christ, that they would be driven to seek Him during this time of grief and pain.

 This was the view out of our bedroom window two evenings ago.

 

Heidelberg Catechism Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

life

Blueberries were on sale at Aldi the other day, so I very happily picked up some and planned to make blueberry muffins - yum.  I found a great recipe online which turned out great - except that I burned them a bit!  :-(  The muffins turned out so big and puffy that I had to bake them a few minutes longer to get the centers fully cooked, but in the meantime I didn't realize that the bottoms and the edges were browning.  So, next time I will need to modify a couple of things.  I'm still not used to using this gas oven!

Last night I went to the birthday party of a friend from church, Martin, our minister's youngest son.  It was a special gathering for Martin's 21st at an Italian restaurant in the city centre.  There were slightly more than 25 people there, friends from our congregation and sister congregations in the area.  I had a great time hanging out and chatting with folks over a lovely meal.  Sadly, David wasn't able to make it because he is studying, studying, STUDYING for two big exams and a major paper next week.  After the meal, we went over to the manse for birthday cake and more visiting until the late hours of the night.  The fellowship and fun made for a great night out!

We were blessed with the gift of a large chest freezer this week!  Our friends the Harams have friends who had a chest freezer that they were wanting to give away, so they phoned us and asked if we could use it (knowing that we've been making do with a tiny little icebox in the top corner of our tiny fridge).  Of course we said YES!  So now we have a new freezer. . . twice as big as our refrigerator!. . . which allows us to buy meats and other foods on sale - in bulk - and save money!  Since we have the room to store the food, I am now looking into getting deliveries from Asda or another local supermarket which will allow me to buy more at once AND not have to haul it home in a backpack!  (yay!!)

Speaking of which, I'm having to be careful how much I try to carry home when I go shopping.   The other day I stopped by the supermarket to pick up a prescription and decided to do a little bit of shopping while I was there even though I knew I would need to carry home whatever I bought.  I didn't get very much, but I did buy some meat and juice which was heavy, and ended up having to phone David (who was home studying) when I was halfway home and ask him to meet me and carry the groceries home!  Thankfully my knight in shining armour was happy to have a brief walk in the fresh air before he went back to his studies, and was willing to rescue his stranded wife who didn't have the strength to carry the food any further.  *sigh*  Pregnancy sure does change things. . .

just a couple more :)

Here's a couple of photos that were taken on the day of the blizzard in Inverness!  We very nearly got stranded because the snow was so deep the car almost didn't make it down the drive.

Left to right: me, David, Davide Ratti (Italian student), and Matthew Fraser (Canadian student)

Left to right: me, David, Davide and Parthee (Sri Lankan student)

. . .and even more photos (see previous posts)

The vacant manse where we stayed while in Leverburgh.  (The two-story brown house on the right.)

Another evening sky over the Sound of Harris.

Looking across the Sound.

 

On the bus on the way home to Glasgow!

Taken out of the bus window.

Again, a dramatic photo at the end of the day as we headed home on the bus.

That's all for now, folks!  If I find more photos that are worthy of being posted, I will put them up. Also I will be posting these (and maybe a few others) on Facebook soon, so you can view them there if you like.

more photos (see previous post)

These are photos I took during a lovely walk on one of the beaches in West Harris (about five miles from where we were staying) with my friend MJ.  Gorgeous white sand beaches that bring to mind tropical climes. . . until you feel the water and remember that this is the North Atlantic you're looking at!

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of my favorites!

 

The white sand beaches were covered with a dazzling layer of snow which made it very easy to walk on the surface of the sand!  This photo shows the "snow line" higher up on the beach than the water line.

More photos to come. . . :-)

more photos (see previous post)

Here's some photos from our trip from Inverness to Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris.  First, we took the bus -- through a winter wonderland that seriously looked like Narnia!

These didn't turn out badly at all for being taken through the windshield of a moving bus!

At one section of the road, we saw quite a few deer who had come down to look for food.  Here's one of the stags we saw!

The Eileen Donan castle, in b&w.

Fishing boat in Uig Harbour, where we met the ferry.

The view ahead of the snow-covered mountains of the Isle of Harris, whence we were headed.

Views of the evening sky and sunset from the ferry deck.

 

More photos to come. . . :-)

map and photos!

Here is a map of our most recent trip!!

Now, PHOTOS!!

To start, here's a photo of our back garden after the heavy snowfall and freeze in Glasgow:

And our front gate:

Now, once we arrived in Beauly (Inverness-shire) for David's classes, we realized they had even more snow than Glasgow!  Here are a few photos from a walk David and I took in the snow with James, one of the other students.

Looking out over the Inverness countryside.

Looking back down the path we walked up.

 

Walking across the snowy shinty field. Shinty is a traditional Highland sport.

Trying to give an idea how deep the snow was.  You can see where my knees are bent slightly to give perspective.  It was to my upper shins.  The snow was so icy that you had to break through the top crust to walk, and while obviously the snow was deep enough that you can't see my boots, you couldn't break through the bottom frozen layer of snow to the ground.

Walking back up the drive to the Beauly manse where we stay during our trips to Inverness for classes.

Icicles hanging from the manse roof!

More photos to come. . . :-)

January travels

After two weeks away, David and I just returned home this evening!  And boy, does it feel good to be relaxing at home again!

We left on Monday the 4th of January and traveled the usual four hours by bus to Inverness, for David's classes.  I have already posted about a couple of our adventures in blizzard conditions there! 

We then left Inverness on Thursday morning the 7th and traveled by bus to Uig, on the Isle of Skye, where we caught the ferry to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris.  We were then picked up by Dr. Naylor (the GP in the village of Leverburgh who is also one of the elders in the local Continuing congregation) and driven the remaining distance to Leverburgh, a small village of about 150-200 people.  I previously posted photos from our last trip to Leverburgh which was in October.  That trip was much shorter (Thursday night-Monday morning) whereas this time we stayed in Leverburgh for 10 days!  David had been asked to preach on two consecutive Lord's Days (the Leverburgh congregation is currently without a minister and thus they ask various ministers and students to provide pulpit supply). 

We stayed in the vacant manse there, which overlooks the beautiful Sound of Harris, where you can watch the Leverburgh ferry crossing back and forth to the Isles of Uist (North and South), and the fishing boats, and amazing sunsets.  During our time in Leverburgh, David was kept VERY busy with sermon preparations and also a heavy load of studies.  We also had opportunity to go out with the two elders and do some visitation among a couple of housebound members of the congregation, as well as some non-members who have been attending regularly or only semi-regularly.  It was really good to have the chance to get to know people better this time -- one of the discouragements of our previous visit had been the lack of opportunity to really connect with anyone in the congregation, because it was such a short stay and we didn't really get to know anyone very well!  This time we had plenty of time to visit and enjoy much fellowship.  I especially appreciated the chance to spend some time in encouraging conversation with a couple of the women in the church!  In my spare time I worked on one of my cross-stitch projects, which I had previously barely touched, and caught up on some correspondence!

This morning we were out the door by 6:30am to catch the early ferry from Tarbert back to Uig.  Unfortunately though the crossing was not really any rougher than previous crossings we had experienced, I didn't handle it very well and got seasick for the first time in my life (very unpleasant, but I did feel better afterwards, honestly!).  I think it may have been a combination of hormones and the intense rocking sensations of the boat (rocking can be just as bad as pitching!).  That was a rough way to start my day, but the Lord preserved us through the rest of our weary travels.  When we arrived in Uig we caught the bus to Glasgow which we then sat on for the next 8 hours!  It's a long drive from the Isle of Skye to Glasgow! 

And now we are home safely, and thankful that the roads and pavements in Glasgow are clear of ice and nicely gritted! 

I am in the midst of editing photos from our trip -- we took over 200 -- so have patience and I will post lots of photos in the next day or two!  :-)

blizzard!

We are in Inverness for David's seminary classes.  The weather here is absolutely incredible.  It's the closest to a blizzard that I've ever experienced!  We are staying in the Beauly manse which is about 30 minutes drive outside of Inverness, and although there is a good 18 inches of snow on the ground and the car has gotten stuck repeatedly going in and out of the driveway, the weather hasn't been quite as remarkable as in Inverness itself.  We drove into Inverness this morning -- I got a lift with the boys to spend time with my friend Esther who lives just down the street from the seminary while the guys were in class -- and it was snowing, but the roads weren't too terrible, and the driveway to the church/seminary building had been mostly plowed and was accessible.  However, that was at 9am -- and we had to leave at 3pm and get back to Beauly -- and it was practically blizzard conditions during those six hours!!  I was in Esther's kitchen watching the snow blowing like crazy outside and thinking, "Hm, I wonder if we can get back?"  So it ended up that the guys had to shovel the car out twice because the drifts on the seminary driveway were over two feet deep and the car got totally jammed!!  There was a bitter wind blowing the heavy snow every which way!  So that made the first part of our journey back to the manse quite exciting.  Thankfully most of the way back the roads weren't too bad (outside of Inverness the snow wasn't falling as heavily).  However, classes have now been canceled for tomorrow (because there are blizzard warnings for the Inverness area), and those who are needing to travel back to Glasgow are having trouble figuring out how they are going to travel back because the buses aren't running, the motorway is closed because of heavy snow, and the trains aren't running because there have been derailments (thankfully only freight trains).  We are supposed to travel to Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris on Thursday morning and not sure that we are going to be able to leave Inverness - will have to wait and see!  In the meantime, we have a nice cozy warm house, fun fellowship, and huge snowdrifts outside -- we've started building snow forts in the back garden and plan to have a massive snow fight tomorrow!  :-)

Happy New Year! :)

Right, so I haven't updated for a couple of weeks.  Honestly, there hasn't been much thrilling news to report of late... life's just been quiet, and normal.

The most thrilling thing is that when I posted last, it had begun snowing and hadn't stopped.  That snow is STILL on the ground here!  It snowed off and on for a week, with some ice and rain and such loveliness mixed in, yet we've still not lost the original 3" layer of snow in the back garden.  The weather has been quite bitterly cold at times, with a few days where it got above freezing -- which had the result of melting things on the pavements (sidewalks) and the roads, only to re-freeze them into treacherous sheets of ice overnight.  That's been happening repeatedly over the past week, too.  The pavements are the messiest things in Glasgow -- though you do have to be careful on the roads in some areas (but they are mostly clear).  That's the not-thrilling thing: having to walk to do my shopping on pavements that are so slippery I'm terrified of a fall.  But such is life! 

So things have been pretty quiet.  David traveled briefly up to Snizort for two nights away while I stayed with a friend, and then he came back, and we've been home since.  Done a little bit of entertaining -- having friends over for dinner, and such. . . and had a delicious curry with Parthee last week. . . and enjoyed a festive New Year's Eve with good friends last night.  Lots of yummy nibbles, and good laughs and stories, and psalm singing, and a Bible trivia game which was very competive (the couples all split up so it was husbands against wives!). 

My back has been bothering me quite a bit of late and I've been trying to find ways to relieve the pain.  I purchased a body pillow which is hopefully helping me sleep in a better position, and borrowed a hot water bottle, too.

My parents very kindly shipped me a birthday package, which was exciting!!  They thoughtfully bought me some lovely maternity clothes which have expanded my wardrobe wonderfully with nice warm tops and maternity outfits.  Yay!

Well, we have folks coming over for a cuppa tea after dinner tonight, and I have a pile of dishes to work through before they get here, so this is just a wee catch-up on the blog!