My Scotland Mission: 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!