I meant to put these photos up for awhile but I keep forgetting because apparently once you turn 60ish a huge cache dump takes place and you can't remember stuff anymore. Anyhoo the photos below are the ones that made the final cut for my Scotland 2019 calendar. This is out of about 5,000 photos taken overall so you know they gotta be good! They are not in perfect order but I didn't think that mattered unless you were actually going to use the calendar. Just to be clear - the real calendars are in the right order though don't you just wish it was June now instead of January?

I wish I had the power to do something about that and maybe there's a way but I just can't remember! In case you notice yes there are 13 photos below; that's because the printer uses one for the front of the calendar - it's not that I've forgotten how to count...not yet anyways...!

Enjoy...and if you remember let me know which one you like the best! :)

Dollar Glen

The Quiraing - Isle of Skye

Isle of Iona - Inner Hebrides

Isle of Kerrera - Inner Hebrides

Glen Lyon

Fortingall, Glen Lyon

Loch an Eilein, Rothiemurchus

Black Cuillins - Isle of Skye

Fairy Glen near Uig, Isle of Skye 

Black Cuillins - Loch Coruisk

Eilean Donan Castle - Kyle of Lochalsh

Song Sparrow

Isle of Staffa, Inner Hebrides

By the Numbers

I have been bogged down lately due to my habit of taking literally thousands of photos when I travel. My recent trip to Scotland was no exception! I snapped crazily away at every waterfall, every mountain, every castle, every sheep, every island...well, you get the picture heeheehee. So far I have "sent to trash" around 1,000 photos due to being blurry, uninteresting, bad light etc. I hope to delete at least another 1,000 over the next few weeks, hopefully more.

So I thought I would do a "by the numbers" post as October has provided a number of numbers...groan...significant ones from my point of view. As the month is rapidly coming to a close this post could also serve as a budget update. Killing a few birds with a couple of big numbers, sort of....here goes.

• 290 + 145 = 435 pounds Sterling still in my money belt after the trip! That's never happened before, usually I spend all of my cash and then turn to credit cards. The 290 is what I had leftover, the 145 was what my brother had leftover and which he gifted to me towards my next trip. He's planning a trip for next year to Ireland where he'll be spending Euros instead. The 290 that I brought back is almost 1/3 of what I took with me (900 pounds) - my brother taught me a thing or two about how to be frugal while travelling :) 
• $411 Canadian dollars each - the total for 3 weeks of renting a car plus gas came to $411 each. I tried to put the 145 pounds he gave me towards the rental car but my brother wouldn't let me - he was quite adamant that it go towards my next trip. What a guy...but really, that was quite economical I thought thanks to my daughter who was working at Enterprise at the time and gave us a hefty discount. Thanks Kazi!!
• $1,000 - sent to savings this month.
• $55.97 - electricity which is quite high for this time of year but I was informed that the hot and humid weather lasted all through September requiring the continued use of A/C. Next bill should be lower. I've allotted $45 for November's budget.
• $45 - I've also allotted $45 for natural gas for November which is higher than October's bill as the furnace has started to kick in. My last bill was $33.08.
• $82.98 - my cell phone bill was a whopping $4.00 higher - I turned my phone on a couple times to use the GPS; my fingers are crossed that my next cell bill is back to its usual amount of $79.00. Yes, cell phones are expensive to operate in Canada.
• $280 - my food budget. I know I overspent on food as I stocked up my pantry for soup making, Scottish oat scone baking, crockpot recipes etc. I could find out how much I overspent but I don't really want to know...it was BAD!
• ZERO!! Gas for the car budget line. Yup. I had about a quarter tank when I returned and I had a $25.00 Esso card. Now at the end of October I have about half a tank still. I've been driving a little but still walking and biking a fair bit.
• $86.27 misc spending budget line was quite low this month though I did make a few small purchases: about $20 for a hockey stick, yes for me, I'm now playing ball hockey! Also bought new knee pads for volleyball for $25. I purchased 3 books from Amazon. While away we went to a number of bookstores, used and new, and I took photos of the covers of books I would like to buy as I can get them cheaper from Amazon. That amounted to $33.27. The other thing was $8.00 for a good pair of goggles hoping to stretch out the biking season a little. Cold air makes my eyes water, especially when biking so I'll see if the goggles cut the breeze a bit. Worth a shot. I had allotted $500 to my misc budget so the leftover amount went to paying down my mastercard. 
• $100 - The outstanding amount still on my credit card. $111.00 is what I have left in my chequing account. I am going to pay off my credit card and will have $11 left to spend until Oct. 31 when I get "paid".  That's a bit of a stretch but I've starting putting money in my snowflake tin once again. I was able to stash $200 this month. So if I have any sort of emergency like running out of Miss Vickie's salt and vinegar chips then I'll have to use a snowflake or two!
• 73,000-68,698 = 4,302!!!!!!!!! This is my most significant number as of yesterday. I saw my odometer turn over to 73,000kms. When I purchased my used Honda Civic it had 68,698kms on it. I purchased it in September 2017. So in 13 months I have driven only 4,302kms (which equals 2673.14 miles) The average is 20,000kms per year. I am thrilled with that number! You will remember I wanted to go car free but then decided it would be too difficult. I have achieved a compromise that I can live with....for now.
• 15 - doing all that walking and biking over the past year has helped me achieve one other goal - to lose 15 lbs! Yay me! Those extra lbs have been really hard to shift thanks to menopause, my age and my metabolism slowing way down. 

So that's it for now. I will share more photos after another round of editing..but will leave you this one til then...

Traffic jam on the Isle of Skye!

Och Scotland!

My brother, Kim, and I started our adventure in the town of Stirling and then headed to Dollar for two  nights. We spent one day exploring Dollar, its glen and castle. Because I had next to no 

experience driving on the left side of the road we didn't go too far the following day. We spent the

day in Kinross (about 30 minutes from Dollar where Loch Leven castle sits on a tiny island in the loch. This castle,

built around 1300, has ties to Mary Queen of Scots who visited the castle in 1565 and then was imprisoned there until her escape in 1568. 

There are two other homes/castles that look out across the loch but they are behind locked gates - I 

wish now I had climbed over one of them!

What's the worst that could happen?

Kinross Castle cemetery 

Root man

Loch Leven Castle - I have zoomed in; it's not really this close.

 This is the only photo I could get of the house called Kinross House.

My brother, however, was more determined than I and climbed on a bench to snap a

few photos. He said he'd share...

Inscribed into the bench are these words:

"The lairdie frae his muckle hoosie spies the watters whaur his fush wull rise.”

Which translates to - The Lord of  his large house sees the waters where

his fish will rise....

I think! 

This is a beautiful area with gently rolling hills and lots of trees.

In fact, Perthshire is well known for its very tall trees.

The sky changes constantly - it rained several times while we hiked many kms on the trails

surrounding Kinross House. But never for very long at a time.  Just enough to

make my camera lens wet :(

A new sky! 

We spent most of our day here putting a lot of kms on our hiking boots. 

We had an uneventful drive back to our BnB... thankfully. 

I was really glad that I had done a lot of reading about driving in Scotland 

as well as watching a lot of youtube videos. I gradually became more accustomed to the 

roads but struggled with the roundabouts which were pretty complex with up to

half a dozen different roads branching off the roundabouts. If my navigator wasn't quick enough telling me which exit I needed I had to go around twice! 

I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Once I realized that no one else was following the rules that I had

read about I did much better! 

The most challenging roads were the one lane roads with "passing places." 

(photo below)

If someone was coming toward you you would have to pull over into the nearest passing

place on the left side of the road OR the person coming toward you would pull over

into a passing place on their side. This would sometimes require you to back up

a ways til you could find a passing place. 

FUN!

The one pictured below is in very good shape - most single lane roads are crumbling into the ditches...so are the roads which are full of  HUGE potholes. I read a few news articles while I was

there which said the "Beasts from the East" (terrible winter storms last winter) followed by a very hot

spring and summer have turned the roads into a big mess. 

The other challenge is to make sure you don't go an inch too close to the left or right as there

is no verge on either side, just a sheer drop-off into the ditch. 

I'm very thankful that my rental car held together in one piece (I think) after

the terrible jolts it experienced in the many potholes I wasn't able to avoid.

I got used to the left side driving and the very narrow roads to the point where I didn't even

have to think about them anymore. 

But the first week was hell really and truly. My brother thought I did an

amazing job and looking back I'm glad I didn't give up as it did gradually become instinctive. 

As with everything there is a learning curve and I really came to enjoy exploring every little road, especially on the Isle of Skye which had a lot of roads which vehicles over a certain size were prohibited from using. We drove for ages without encountering

another vehicle.

One of the most frustrating things about driving there (as if that wasn't enough!) is there is nowhere to turn around! If you miss your turn you could go for miles and miles before finding a spot to turn around or you could try to make a thousand point turn and hope no one else comes along while you're executing it! 

By the way - the passing place shown below would be for the driver coming towards me as it's on the right not the left! Did you catch that?

Sneak Preview

Preparing for our trip to Scotland is taking up most of my time these days. I have used the airbnb website as well as Google satellite photos to get pictures and locations of all of the places where my brother and I are going to stay. I'm giving you the "sneak preview" so here goes:

From Glasgow airport we are taking a shuttle bus to the downtown train station where we will take a train to Stirling and pick up our rental car. We'll be staying in the village of Dollar for a couple of nights doing some hiking near the Campbell Castle and the Stirling Castle.

Looking out the bedroom window towards the Ochil Hills.

Dollar, near Stirling UK

Campbell Castle

We are descended from the Campbells as well as the Gordons.

From Dollar we head towards Perth, Scone and Pitlochry staying at the Kirkmichael Apts near Blairgowrie.

Kirkmichael Apts

Most places we are staying for 2 nights except for Isle of Skye (5 nights) and Taynuilt, Oban (6 nights). These places are jumping off points for further exploration, hiking, boat trips and other excursions (distilleries!)

After our time in Kirkmichael we head further north to Grantown-on-Spey, just skirting the Cairngorms National Park and staying in an inn called The Hearthside. We'll be hiking around Loch an Eileen - one of the most picturesque places in Scotland.

Grantown-on-Spey

Loch an Eileen, Cairngorm National Park

From there we have to get around Loch Ness so we will drive to Inverness and then drive on the northwest side of Loch Ness stopping to explore along the way. This will be the longest day of driving as we are headed for the Isle of Skye and staying near the northernmost part of the island.

Glamping on the Isle of Skye!!

Isle of Skye

We have lots of time to explore all that Skye has to offer including a boat trip to Loch Coruisk located in the Cuillin Hills. Of course we'll be stopping at the famous Bridge of Sligachin where it is said that you can gain eternal beauty by washing your face in the water under the bridge. I may have to stay there for a good while!!

 Loch Coruisk

Bridge of Sligachan

After the Isle of Skye we will either take the ferry off the island to Mallaig on the mainland but that depends on the weather. If unable to cross via ferry we'll be taking the long way back, but either way we'll end up in Gairlochy which is near Fort William where my Gordon ancestors had a castle (one of many)! I have a ticket on the Jacobite steam train (Harry Potter's train to "school") which I am very excited about!

Our BnB in Gairlochy, near Spean Bridge

Jacobite steam train

Spean Bridge; near our BnB

From Fort William we head south to the village of Taynuilt, close to Oban. This will be our jumping off point to go to the Isles of Kerrera, Mull, and Staffa, again depending on the weather...fingers crossed!

BnB in Taynuilt

Isle of Staffa

I would really really like to take the ferry from Tobermory, on Mull,  across to Arndamurchan which is the westerly most point of the mainland that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day you can see across the water to the islands of the Outer Hebrides - Eigg, Muck and Coll.
Which reminds me - while we're on the Isle of Skye there is a ferry that crosses to Lewis and Harris of the Outer Hebrides and if we get a nice day we might go across. Time will tell...

Then we start heading back to Glasgow but first a wee visit to Fintry where we've booked a night at the Montrose Estate in the Fintry Hills.

Montrose Estate

Looking out from our bedroom except it will be fall, not spring.

                                   

From Fintry we are a short drive back to Stirling where we will be dropping off the rental car and taking the train to Glasgow where we've booked 3 nights in a historic area of the city and to do some major shopping :) and museum/gallery visiting.

Glasgow

By then, and likely before then, I'll be very homesick and needing a good cuddle with Lily and Luna and of course, Kazi!

Lots of things are dependent on the weather in Scotland, as they do get a lot of rainy and windy days but we won't let that get us down. We both have good rain gear and hiking boots and with having a car we can go where we like. Torrential rain means a day in the nearest town/city - and we both LOVE used book stores! I just checked the weather in all of the places we are going to and every single one of them is cloudy but no rain. A good sign with a month to go :)

Starting at the End...

...of June, that is...

June was a month of ups and downs - the prices of everything went UP and my bank accounts went DOWN.

I received my first Canada Pension Plan payment and used most of it to pay for my new phone. Boo.

My dentist looked at my teeth for 15 seconds and for that I gave him $189.00! The good news is my hygienist said my oral hygiene is better than hers!! Do I really want her scraping and cleaning my teeth?

Today I received my first GST/HST payment of $105.00!!! That's a little bit of our own tax money given back to us from our government based on our income. I haven't received this little tidbit for years as my income was too high. Welcome to retirement! Oh, and I get that little boost 4 x a year! YAY! Though I'm wondering if I'll get it next year now that I have to add the CPP payment as income on my tax return. It's a nice monthly stipend of $558 (actually over $600 but I'm having 10% tax taken off at the source). Next year's tax return should be interesting.

Also paid CAA in June (geez, what DIDN'T I pay???) which came to $224 for Kazi and me. That's part of her birthday gift each year. Yippee! I tell ya, my daughter sometimes wishes I wasn't such a practical gift giver but I just can't help myself. With her car being a 2006 model and mine being a 2000 I think it's a necessity to have this extra coverage.

I spent more than usual on food in June - likely because cherries were $6.99/lb and strawberries $4.25 a quart. We ate a LOT of them :) Eventually they both went down in price. I shopped at Farmboy (more expensive!) several times because I love their pre-made salads and they sell the best freshly made turkey burgers in the city. On the flip side of that I haven't purchased gas for the truck since the beginning of June! So in June I took what was left of the gas budget ($100) and added it to the food budget ending up even Steven.

My savings went down by $2,000 as I paid for the rest of my trip to Ireland though I have replaced $500 of that. Annie's already got an idea for next year - Scotland and the Isle of Skye!!!!! Hopefully I won't drop any more phones in my coffee which will allow me to save $900 - $1,000 per month for upcoming trips. I might start taking 2 per year! We'll see how the saving goes.

June was my month of cycling 400km to raise money for children's cancer research. I reached 106% of my cycling goal and 110% of my money goal!! I reached my goals by June 21st which allowed me to spend time with my friend Troy to celebrate her 50th birthday over the course of 10 days!!! We went to 3 different beaches (Lake Huron and Lake Erie), went to Pt. Pelee National Park which is the southern most bit of Canada (had never been), went to the Wine Bar :) and had a day of shopping/exploring in the Sparta area south of London. Great time! I'll get some pictures posted in my next post - I think Lily is eating a bee so I better go check! Ick, it was a large fly....gross!!