ahhh Scotland

I am writing to you from our B&B Netherton Farms outside of Inverness, Scotland. It is wonderful here. We LOVE Scotland. Emma already fancies herself a farm girl....was even set to slop the pigs with the innkeeper this evening. But she had to go to bed and get some sleep.

This is what the kiddos look like as soon as they get in the back of the car. If they are stationary for a few minutes they crash. We had a busy day of flying 24 hours ago. Thank goodness we made all our connections.

Oh a note on US carriers....I am soooo happy we did not really pay for the tickets. I would be pretty mad. If you ever fly on one of these crazy round the world jaunts do fly on an international carrier. They treat you so much better. We have been flying American Airlines since Hawaii....I feel like I am riding on a cattle car. Everyone is so rude. We got on a British Airlines flight from London to Edinburgh and were treated like humans again by flight attendants who seemed to enjoy their jobs...and we got a hot breakfast (that was included) that was awesome! I have no clue how something prepared in a small plastic dish could taste so nice....well we were just starved on American on their transatlantic experiment in how to transport 300 people in a tiny a space as possible and keep giving them fluids (non alcoholic fluids, mind you, you have to pay for the ETOH out of pocket) while not picking up the rubbish and secretly laughing at them as they try to extract themselves from their seats and make it to the bathroom....oh and seat an entire family really far apart from one another and be annoyed when asked to be seated closer together (how annoyed would the poor sardine of a business man be when he saw his seat partner was a not really potty trained 3 year old? and what mother would want her kids sitting 8 rows back and on the other side of the aircraft. Come on.)

OK before I get really carried away about air travel, let me get over to how much we are loving Scotland. I don't even want to think of the 21 hour flight-a-thon we are going to be doing next week to get home (12 hr from London to Singapore, 5.5 hour from Singapore to Perth and 3.5 hour from Perth to Alice) but it will be on Qantas and they are a great carrier.

I have always wondered what Heather smelled like. Now I know. It is wonderful....Scotland is so green! I just can't get over it. I guess being in the middle of the Outback will do that to a girl, but it is so green it is almost unreal.
This is the tavern we ate at our first night. 215 different whiskys. We had one from a distillery right down the road. I am not much of a Whisky drinker, but I thought it was very nice and smooth. It was a 12 year old Glen Ord. Now that combined with a bit of jet lag, knocked me out as soon as my bottom sat down in the car for the ride home. I kept pretending to be awake and help my husband navigate the way back to the B&B....but I think he figured my trick out when I was talking in my sleep about Michael Jackson and a spider web.
This is the view from our Bed and Breakfast window. It is a natural quilt....soon (well when I get home) it is going to be a real quilt. I even have the quilting all planned out. Oh and it smells great. Like fresh cut grain (duh...the big bales) and heather and cow manure and just wonderful Scotland!
We went to the Culloden Battle field today and Crowden Castle. We also went hunting for food downtown Inverness and for dinner we had Tapas...in Scotland. Oh well, it was filling. My husband had haggis last night and we all had porridge this morning so we are going to be set on Scottish food. Oh and I bought some stuff from Lush on High Street. I am always up for some "natural" cosmetics. So I stocked up on some moisture rich stuff for my return to the desert. OK, that is it for now. I am off to bed. Big day exploring the Highlands tomorrow.

xo,

Tia