Musings for a fine Sunday

You know what I just realized, JUST REALIZED, I love not having a car!!!  I know that my 16 year old self would cry out in agony, but my older self is loving it and embracing it fully.  I haven't even thought about it really before now.  I haven't worried about parking, or driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.  Stopping to get gas.  Oil changes.  Flat tires.  I haven't even thought I was missing anything that I used to have.  I haven't even really wanted to go anywhere beyond where I can walk.  (except to look at sofa's as you recall the other day, and I certainly learned my lesson there!) 

I JUST started taking the train and have only ridden it 3 times.  Bus very sparingly.  Taxis barely at all.  I love being able to walk to wherever I want to go, and that includes TKMaxx  (K for Kitty over here!).  😂  I can get to grocery stores, farmer's markets, pubs, parks, post offices, charity shops, schools and the library.  The list is endless, I mean what am I missing?  There is no Target here.  I can't even believe how much I have reduced my carbon footprint.  I simply LOVE this way of life.

Well I'll be gobsmacked, maybe I'll be European yet!

.....but I may have a while to go to 'become' Scottish.  

With masks and plastic dividers, this Scottish brogue is sometimes far out of my reach.  I finally got my hair done a full 3 months after my last appointment (sorry Sunny), and I was literally at a loss.  I chose a very local place in Partick which is the place where all of the used furniture shops are located.  It has loads of Salvation Army's, Goodwill's, and homeless patrons at the library.  It is where I frequent Poundland (think the Dollar Store).  It is on the fringe of nicer West End neighborhoods, but more hood and less West End.  

I seriously couldn't love it more!  

It is REAL, and Glaswegian to the core.  

Anyway, back to why I am there that day, with the hairdryers going, mirrors to bounce reflections off of covered faces and many women talking to each other all at once like familiar  friends often do ,,,,  I literally could barely understand every 4th word (and that is being generous with myself).  I teetered between shaking my head yes to pretend I understood what she was saying, and hoping like hell that if it were a question I could see it in her eyes.  I was panicking a little and tried staring at my phone to inhibit conversation.  But I couldn't focus, and my mind was freaking out.  

I asked my hair dresser three times what she was saying to finally understand her to say 

"What is it that you would like today?"  

OHHHHH, as I finally managed to eek out, right, 'a cut and color please.'  

Sheeesh, the trials and tribulations of a masked covid world with a Scottish brogue.

Did you know brogue does not only mean a strong accent, but also a heavy oxford shoe?  The things you learn when you can't spell and have to look it up on google.  I thought you should also know this neat little treasured meaning.  I'm going to try and find places to use this.  "Boys, go get your brogues on and let's go to the store."  

I am loving the language here, even if I can't (cannae) understand it half the time.  I gotta say, the women are easier to hear than the men.  They seem to not be as lazy with their tongues!  Or maybe my ears are clogged?  Or maybe my ear is just more tuned to the feminine tone?  Either which way, it is a lesson in listening hard, watching eyes for clues, and asking 'what' all the time.  

With all of that said, here are some of my favorite words and phrases from the Scots so far:

Curtain twitcher - aka Mrs. Green if you lived on Verlinden St. growing up - the nosy neighbor.  (I think this one is brilliant!)

Sleeping Policeman - traffic bump. (isn't that hysterical!)

'That's you then' - when you are done shopping and handing you the receipt

hen - girl or woman.  Everyone uses this one

cannae - cannot

Whit's fur ye'll no go past ye - what's for you won't go past you.  If it's meant to be, it'll be

Yer a chancer - you're pushing your luck

Heeeland Coooos - Highland Cows

Hiya - Hi Ya!  I have incorporated this into my daily speak

Dreich - dull, damp day devoid of light, warmth and colour 

Awe the best tæ yih,

Kitty of clan Cairn

ps.  thx to Karyn, one of my Weg's, who may not be as excited about me not having a car!  She has carted Levi to and fro these past couple of days to Mugdock Park for DofE.  Thx a million Karyn!

Weg - West End Girls - my posse

DofE - see future blog from Lord Levi himself

Lord Levi turns 15 & Kitty Crocker gets schooled

Last Thursday was my birthday as you probably know, and it was great. I woke up and headed off to school after getting my military uniform on and being wished a happy birthday by my mom. School was normal, nobody really knew it was my birthday so I didn't have to sit through the class singing happy birthday as I stand there awkwardly, you know the feeling... One thing that did happen that day was I found a Pepsi max on the floor unopened and kept it, sanitized it, and it was really good. Like a birthday gift from some mysterious force. After school was done I got to do my CCF army training where we exercised our knowledge of how to handle firearms safely and practice drills and stuff. I like CCF but it can be repetitive and boring. Reading maps for an hour isn't fun. Eventually I got home and as you can see below I had a great time opening my gifts and eating one of the best cakes I've ever had. I didn't ask for too many gifts because I am saving up so I can build my own desktop computer later. But of course my mother over delivers and gets me a fan, snacks and legal rights to be called a lord. Thanks again. It was really fun and a great day. Short and sweet!

-Lord Levi J. Glasser

 

Don't judge me!  He loved the wrapping paper!

Kitty Crocker gets SCHOOLED!

It dumfounds me that I attract 5 star chefs like moths to a light.  They must sniff out my complete incompetence, then come running to my rescue.  I am ever grateful as it has produced the 'best cake' Levi has ever tasted.  You might say it was a cake made for a Lord?!?!

So Effie, is one of the West End Girls, and she knows a thing or 100 about baking.  She is attempting to train me in these matters, but she may be in over her head.  She doesn't seem deterred though, so we embarked on the 4 hour journey.  Yup, you read that right, 4 hours (though there was a lot of gabbing in between).  We began the day ready to make a swiss-role cake, whipped cream for the inside and then the roulade on top.  Or is the entire thing a roulade?  Am I even spelling roulade correctly?  WTH is a roulade?  You can see the hopelessness she had to deal with!

We started with separating the eggs, which she had me do.  I've never been so nervous to mess something up right quick.  She buys ONLY the top notch ingredients (She does not shop at Lidl like me), and I was already daunted.  

But to my utter surprise, I passed with flying colors!  (can you believe the color of these eggs - no photoshop here)

We then had to 'beat the shit' out of the whites, her words, not mine, and they are not ones you would imagine she would deign to say.  I beat them so long, one of the beaters broke!  User error or faulty beater?  You be the judge.  

We then mixed up the cake batter, the recipe is 4 pages, small font, and she provided to me with a pen for note taking.  ?!?!?!  

Once in the oven, we went on to making the fudge for the frosting.  Is this the roulade?  

Effie has a PhD in the chemistry of baking (or something like that), so it got technical folks.  To the point of sifting all the dry ingredients from three feet above the counter to catch air!  What???  

Next up, I began beating the shit out of the whipped cream that we will soon add with crushed oreo cookies.  She let me do the crushing, but stopped me when she thought I was going too far.  (it is good for getting aggression out!)  

Another key point, do not EVER bang a spoon on the side of a bowl.  NEVER. I learned that one quick!

done

Once the cake is baked, it is put on a tea towel that is sprinkled with cocoa.  Right....who does that?

Now it is to be rolled, gently, before cooling and set aside to, how shall I say it, SET.  Note these are not my hands. 

I am terrified at this point.  How is this ever going to come out?

Yet with the deftness of a surgeon, it does. (after an hour sitting near the cool window)

It's a beauty to behold, but I am not holding or touching it.  I'm frankly worried about even carrying it home at this point.

Filling it all in.

At this point Effie shears off each side and unceremoniously throws the scraps on the table with a thwak to clear her baking spatula.  To which I, not being one to waste anything, pick them up and eat them!  OMG they are so good, that I begin licking the bowls!  

Now to top it off.  

Effie remarks that I should be doing this part, but we both laugh and laugh, and I let her finish her masterpiece!  

And Wallllahhhh - - -

The grand Finale!  It was almost too good to eat.  Almost......

Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?  

I've got to say, that was the most fun baking I have ever had.  I did take copious notes, while sampling the creation along the way.  I am more impressed with Effie than I have ever been, and the bar was already pretty high.  Levi was thrilled as it was a cookies and cream cake that he wanted, and was so much better than store bought.  Not to mention what would have happened if Kitty Crocker was left to her own devices  (you remember the cake I made for Jackson right - it wasn't pretty!) 

And to make matters even better, Effie showed us what to do with left over 'frosting.'  Well you toast some hazelnuts, cut a banana, add a little golden syrup to the fudge, sprinkle it all over vanilla bean ice cream and dig in!

To the victor, go the spoils! 

Life is good with friends like these!    

Kitty Crocker 

the novice baker

PS.

I googled it...........   JFGI folks......

PPS.

Effie would NOT let me take a picture of her.  AT ALL!  I tried friends, but was unsuccessful.  

 

  

Oh Bloody Hell......

 

A four day weekend is a thing of glory!  I was so excited to have a fun weekend after my birthday week and I had fun wee things planned during the day when Levi can't get on screens.  I had 12-7pm each day, and I was ready!  I didn't want to rent a car, because you know how that went last time, so I was staying local or taking public transit.  

On the bank holiday Monday, I had exhausted my thrift shopping and walks around town, so I decided, let's go couch (or sofa as they say here) shopping.  I did my due diligence, called the stores, shopped on line, knew what I wanted to see, google mapped the route and how to get there.  I was ready!!!

The day started quite precariously.  It was raining and cold.  Like 45F cold.  No bother, every day the rain always stops and the temps go up.  Right?!?

I stayed in bed too long and ended up racing around to get ready, get Levi fed, and get on the road.  I begged him to wear a winter coat - NO, a raincoat - NO, bring an umbrella - NO.  Oh how I love the attitudes of teenage boys (NO)!

I made him a quick smoothie that actually went all over the place, because I guess they really DON'T want you to fill past that line.  Who knew?  🤦‍♀️

We were now late, the kitchen was like a scene from a tornado touchdown and you would think I would have gotten a clue, but - NO, I carried on.

Levi and I walked/ran to the bus stop in Partick aiming for the 77 bus to Sandyford road.  Our destination was the DFS in Paisley.  DFS claims to "know a thing or 2 about sofas," since they have been making them for 45 years, right here in the UK.  Brilliant!  I'm in!

The bus was late, but aren't they always?  No worries, we are only a little wet at this point.  15 minutes in light rain can't hurt anyone.  

Once it arrives, I tell the bus driver where we are going and he quickly points out, we are going the wrong way (oh sh&%).  He tells me where to go and we run the 2 minutes around the block and LUCKILY catch it right as it arrives.  Whew - close one!

As we get on and relax, knowing it will be a long ride, I start to watch my google map.  Hmmmmm, I think something is off, should we be going towards the city centre?  Why are we going this way?  OH NO - WE ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY.  GD bus driver!  Why did I listen??

So I figure we better get off and switch directions, the bus driver gives me a transfer, we walk/run around the block and actually get there just as the 77 bus shows up.  This is amazing, because this bus only comes every 30 minutes.  Luckily, we really are going the right way now, coming back to Partick a full 30 minutes later.  But no worries we are on our way.

I watch the map like a hawk, barely looking up, other than to see if where we are is correct.  Funnily enough, the bus stops do NOT match the map.  I'm slowly starting to freak out.  But then I learn to watch just the map and not the names, and after a full 2 hours into this venture, we arrive at our destination.  

Yet, now, it is pouring rain.  I mean cats and dogs and we have 7 minutes to get to the store, on foot.  7 minutes is a long time in this kinda rain.  We get to DFS, but are soaked through and through!   Whatever, it is what it is, let's look on the bright side, there are a hundred couches here to try out.  

As I walk through the store, with the sodden, sullen teenager in tow, I'm enjoying the moment, thinking, we will just take an uber back.  I'll just surprise Levi and he will be thrilled.  It was much too long to get here (it's not even 8 km).  

I find 4 more stores to go through, loving this place that has these huge box stores for everything for your home.  I've taken pictures of everything that I want and we've been here a couple of hours, so I figure, let's get home before rush hour.  

I call the Uber.

It keeps calling.  

I wait figuring no worries, it's going to come up with something.

We wait 10 minutes, but there are NO UBERS available in your area!  

WTF?

BLOODY HELL!

I am in complete 'give-up' mode, ready to just sit down and cry, but that really isn't an option (or is it?).  

Okay, so let's try and figure out the bus again.  And if you can believe it, it's raining harder than it was earlier.  And NO, the temperature did NOT go up.  

We run to catch the 77 bus but we just miss it.  Damn.  So we have to get on the 36, then transfer to the 77 after Ikea.  The first 36 goes by as we haven't figured it out yet.  So 15 minutes later we get on the 36 bus.

I am absolutely freezing.  Levi is soaked, I am too, but I have on a good raincoat.  My feet are completely drenched.  I'm just walking through puddles at this point as my feet can't get any more wet.  

Once on the 36, we feel better, but I am starting to lose feeling in my fingers.  I am so cold, I'm shaking. All this for frostbite?

We finally make it to the transfer area, and I shit you not, there is no awning or bus stop, just a sign.  We wait there for 15 minutes (did I mention it is STILL raining?)  I FORCE Levi to use the umbrella I surreptitiously threw in the back pack.  But really, what's the use?

Back on the 77 bus, it finally drops us in front of Poundland in Partick, of which we went in for some kind of treat from the shit day we have had.  We deserve this me thinks!

Now for just the 15 minute walk home - all up hill - no joke!  

Once back. Levi goes to one shower and I go to the other, and I think we both stay there for the next 30 minutes.  My fingers hit the warm water and recoil as they feel like it is scalding my hands.  

I seriously just want to crawl into my bed and give up on the day, but alas, dinner isn't going to make itself.  

Ever have one of these days?  Just me?  sigh..........

discombobulated Kitty

and to add insult to injury, this is how the bun turned out for the hamburger I was making Levi.  I only had one.  Figures.

"UNCLE"

You win

Tomorrow has to be a better day

I'm NOT going anywhere!

Kaput Kitty

ps.  I did find the exact couch I wanted, in the exact color too.  But the unfurnished flat is now gone, and the new apartment I want is furnished.  I just think that was the universes way of trying to tell me, "don't go sofa shopping, you won't need it!"  If only I had listened...............

pps.  Levi says to me at dinner that night, 'what would you do to make that day worth it?'  Not a thing, I answer, I would not do that day over if I could help it.  He says, "I'd do it all again for a sprite from McDonalds."    Seriously, I can't make this stuff up.  SMDH.  🙃

Balmaha, Rowardennan and Buchanan Castle!

A day trip on Spring break told by Jackson

Today was the 9th of April and we have been going on day trips to different places around Scotland! We rented a car (its an electric car) and have been visiting castles and cool lakes and other stuff. Today we had 3 destinations and the first one was Balmaha. Balmaha is a small village on the East side of Loch Lomond. It is a popular tourist destination but there are only around 60 people who actually live there. It took us 45 minutes to drive there from our house. 

Once we got there, we started to walk on this trail that went all along the edge of Loch Lomond. We walked over rocks, and saw small beaches as we walked along the water for a couple hours. We walked through forests and it was very beautiful. It was quite cold with the wind though.

After walking for a long time we got to a parking lot that had a large beach with a lot of people at it. It was off of the main road so we assumed a lot of people stopped here to look at the amazing views. There was this one cool looking tree that had the background of the mountains over the lake. Here it is:

From there we decided to walk back because we had to take the same route back to Balmaha to grab our car and go to our next destination. As we walked back the wind slowed down and the sun made it warmer than our first half of the walk. 

We walked back to Balmaha and once we got back, we entered the only shop in the Village that we could see. We bought some sandwiches for lunch and some snacks, then went back to our car. We sat in the warm car and had our lunch, disposed of our garbage then put in Rowardennan to our map. Rowardennan is a small rural area on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond further north than Balmaha. It is the furthest place you can drive with a car on the east side of the lake. It was about a 20 minute drive to get there from Balmaha driving on the edge of the lake. The only thing in Rowardennan was a youth hostel and a couple houses.

When we got there we found this really cool rock with a pyramid inside of it and the incredible view behind it. 

We walked on a path that led us to the youth hostel that was located on a huge patch of grass right on the beach. The view from it was amazing!

After seeing the awesome hostel, we walked back to our car and decided to drive to one last stop, Buchanan Castle. This was one of the castles I had researched earlier that was not too far from Glasgow and it was basically 10 minutes drive from Rowardennan so we would make it our last stop for the day. While we were driving on the very skinny roads, we had to pull off the road to let a huge truck pass, and we tried to drive on but we couldnt move. Me and Levi hopped out and realized we were stuck in mud. It only took a push to get us out but the mud we were in was super deep and left our 2 left tires super muddy:

We drove through some water and assumed that that would clean it up. We got to the castle and found a fence guarding it. It was a really old castle that was in ruins, and had signs telling people that it could not be entered. However, we were walking around it and saw a hole in the fence and decided to go in it anyways. It was awesome, there was moss and trees that had grown on and through everything. There were even stairs intact still that allowed us to get to the top of the castle at some parts:

After exploring the castle for like 40 minutes we got back in our dirty car and started to drive back. We had to take a very bumpy and rocky road back to the highway that took us back to Glasgow. We stopped at Lidl to do a massive grocery shop before we went back to our house. 

Happy Mother's Day in the USA everyone.  Kitty Crocker is taking a break!  I did love this day out with the boys, that Jackson writes about above.  Scotland is magnanimously breathtaking!  

stay well,

Kitty