MORE WANDERINGS & FAMILY TIME

My granddaughter, Julia, her husband, Brad
& the Kelties

Hello Everyone,

What a fun weekend, Julia & Brad flew into Edinburgh on Friday the 23rd and took a taxi to the mission office. I was so excited all morning it was hard getting anything done! Our mission president, President Donaldson greeted them warmly and was surprised that my granddaughter was a grown-up! They met most of the office staff and then my companion dropped us off on the Royal Mile in Old Town Edinburgh and we walked and walked and walked. The Royal Mile is one street that extends from the Edinburgh Castle downhill to the Holywood Castle. The Holywood Castle is still used by the Queen of England and when she is there for a month every summer a special flag flies. I will post pictures. The Edinburgh Castle is a ruin. There are wonderful stores, restaurants, and gift shops. And there you find all the "cashmere" shops, truly one on every corner. We ended our excursion by going on a guided tour called "Mary's Close."  The word close refers to underground housing that was where the really poor in the 1800's lived. They are like caves where up to 12 people could be living in one small dugout type of room with rock walls--of course no plumbing or running water. Actually, the tour was a little scary, they had very real looking wax people who were suffering in all kinds of ways; the plague, influenza, etc. Not for the faint of heart. These "closes" were 3 & 4 high so we were way underground. When we finished I told them I would like to take them to one of my favorite restaurants, Zizzis, but I didn't know how to get there from where we were. Julia said, look grandma and pointed to a sign behind me that said Zizzis with an arrow--just happens that there are two Zizzis and one was just a few steps behind us. We took a taxi back to the B&B and then my companion picked me up.

Saturday we toured Kraigmiller Castle and went back to our favorite Castle, Greystone, so Julia & Brad could see it. We found the Keltie horses, which I have to research to find out their significance. They are really big and entirely made of metal. We finished the night off with a late dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, Jajones. We drove through many Scotland villages and drove on many twisted, narrow roads. We gave our company a true look at Scotland's beauty. Sunday we went to church, then Julia & Brad took a bus to their B&B to change clothes so they could climb Pratt's Hill (or Arthur's Seat as the world knows it). Unfortunately, they got rained out and were soaking wet in 5 min. They changed again and came back to the mission office. We had a nice visit with the President's wife, Sister Donaldson and then came back to our flat for lunch. We then drove completely around Arthur's Seat (tallest spot in Scotland--a medium mountain), went to see another castle and then came back to the flat and played NERDS, a card game. Of course the next morning they were off on the train to London.

Thursday Sister Call & I are driving another new car to Ireland missionaries & will bring the old one back. We are heading to the Shetland Islands by car ferry. Shetland horses came from there. We will be gone 4 days and plan to stop at many castles and other gems on the way & back.  Senior couple missionaries who live on the island will be our tour guides.

NOTE: Hello mom! Been missing you and my siblings. Hope they are all doing well. How are you doing? Have you been going outside in the garden there? It's been fairly cool here and rainy as usual. I wear a light jacket almost every day. I have gotten used to the rain--you just live with it here. It's like hood up--hood down most all the time. Sure had a good time with Julia & Brad. Hope you are feeling well and are happy as usual. I've become quite fond of Scottish Shortbread cookies--bad habit I need to break!! Love you to the moon & back.

NOTE:  Hello Holly! I sure do love seeing the facebook postings of little Norah. What a cutie she is and boy does she look like her daddy. Are you back to work at COSTCO? Who takes care of Norah?
Send me a message on my blog I'd love to hear how you are all doing. Please say hi to your mom & grandma for me. Love you a whole bunch!

1st Christian settlement in Scotland.

     Witches Prison - now an art studio

Greystone Castle

Me and my handsome Dude!!

Scottish man folding his "kilt" - it takes 5 yards of tartan plaid.

Another Castle in Edinburgh - Kraigmiller

WHEW what a week!!

I think I mentioned that two weeks ago was new missionary arrivals (20) and departures (19). That was mighty busy, but this past week was "unreal" busy! It was transfer week where missionaries are moved to new districts with new partners. That includes Scotland, Ireland & Northern Ireland. That involves closing some flats and opening new ones. In Ireland and areas in Scotland that are far away I set up the appointments for the missionaries to look at the new flats. They do a good job for being so young and are very excited when they find one that meets all their needs. So on Friday night I found myself back at the office at 8 pm talking with a landlord--the missionaries in Ireland had attended a showing I had set up and loved the flat! The landlord loved the missionaries and said they could move in Monday (tomorrow) if they wanted to even without money exchanging hands--I doubt that would happen in the US! My companion and I were laughing about the fact that we were in the office every day last week until 9 pm and had to run back over Friday night (the first night we had left early). Both of us expected business, but this is over the top of anything we imagined. Good thing we love what we are doing and actually can't wait to go to the office the next day!

Today, Sunday, we just drove around Edinburgh Old Town to see Princess St., The Royal Mile, and Arthur's Seat. These are all places we haven't explored yet, but plan to do it.

Well, the big news is my granddaughter, Julia, and her husband, Brad are coming to visit on the 21st., 22, 23. I'm so excited! They are celebrating their 5th year anniversary. They will probably see more of Edinburgh in those few days than I've seen. I'll blog again after their visit.

Love to all,
Sister Gifford

NOTE: Hello mom--how's it going for you? I sure hope you are enjoying my blog. I think of you every time I write one  wondering  what you saw in all your travels. Wish I could hear all about them again, especially your trip to England. In August we will be taking a bus to the England Temple in Preston with our ward. While we are there we will also see a pageant put on by the church, which I guess is really wonderful. We  will just get home from there and we will attend the Tattoo, which is a bagpipe festival. That is a week-long festival, but we will only go for one day.  Stay happy & well--I love you bunches.

NOTE: Hi Michael, it was so much fun to text you the other day. I miss you and the family! I couldn't believe how much you have grown-up (especially with the new haircut). Are you playing any sports this summer?  Or going to camp? You'll have to take a picture of your new room and post it for me to see. I'm so happy that you are liking your new house. When do you start school there? When I return from my mission, I will have to come visit you all. I plan to make a trip to each of my family's homes when I return so I can get caught up. Please give Rylee and Zach & mom & dad a big hug for me. Love you to pieces. grams

Arthur's Seat - the Church knows it as "Pratt's Hill" Where Orson Pratt
declared Scotland open  to Missionary Work

Thistle - The National Flower

                                             This is actually a high-end hotel in Edinburgh.

MORE WANDERINGS & Castles

Last Saturday we headed to Scotland's COSTCO--but took the long way and visited Tantallon Castle & Direlton Castle. Tantallon was built in 1354 and has a dramatic location perched on a cliff overlooking the North Sea. In 1651 a siege inflicted such damage that the castle was ruined. But before that one family, the Red Douglasses held the castle for 300 years. It was one of my favorite castles because of its serene location.

Tantallon Castle on a very windy day!

Island in the sea where prisoners were kept. Now colonized b;y
many wild bird groups.

I think this was the "Master Wing" of
Tantallon Castle?!

The second Castle was Dirleton Castle & Gardens. The castle has sat on its rocky perch for more than 800 years. In 1650 the siege by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers rendered it militarily unserviceable. The gardens are well maintained and beautiful to walk through. Some people say that if you've seen one castle--you've seen them all! Just the very age of these castles amaze me and they conjure up lots to the imagination. I plan to see them all--and since we only have Saturdays we can't waste time. While we were at Dirleton Castle we were able to talk to a family from Canada about the church and leave them with a mormon.org card.

This week has been so busy at the office. We are getting 23 new missionaries from all over the world and 19 are leaving us and going home. Which means extra work for all of us. I have to close down some flats that will now be empty and open new flats in different areas. It is all kept very hush-hush until the las minute and then WAMM we have to do things fast. Elders are transferred here and there, some have new companions--lots of changes. Very exciting days. My companion is in charge of all the travel arrangements both bringing them to Scotland and sending them home.

We worked at the office all day today (Saturday) so no sightseeing today. This happens about every 6 weeks.

I had something really nice happen to me on Friday. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from a missionary's parents (one of the Elders that was beaten a couple of weeks ago). To keep them safe, I set them up in a hotel until I could find them a new flat. They wrote such a nice note and thanked me for taking care of their son. So sweet and very humbling. These young elders and sisters become like your extended family. Love them to pieces. My position as office Housing Coordinator really makes me stretch my mind and expand my horizons--I'm very busy and I love it!   Love to all,
                                                                                                                                  Sister Gifford

                                                                                                                NOTE: Love you Mom, hope you're doing well.

Dirleton Castle (roll your 'R' like a Scottish person)      

This space was the main dining hall of the castle

I could just see my grandchildren running in & out off these ruins
of Dirleton Castle

Well now that we done with the castle tour--let me tell you about the COSTCO store. Very interesting no USA brands and plenty of Haggis LOL  It was fun to shop there although I didn't buy much because we have a really small refrigerator and freezer so we go grocery shopping about every 3 days. My companion and I have our own refrigerator shelves and freezer space. We only cook combined meals on the weekends, mostly Sunday's. The rest of the time we are on our own. There aren't a lot of fast food restaurants here, but the stores are really into packaged to go fast meals. Some of the little markets are dedicated to these "to go" meals. They put corn in everything here! Even a tossed salad has corn in with it..