March

It's been a whole month since I've posted. Partly I've been busy, mostly just lazy but also I've been changing my routine so my Sunday afternoons I had been spending writing these posts have been busy for the last...well, month of Sundays! I'll try to either change the time I set aside for my posts, or maybe change the blog to once a month updates.

One of the things I was doing in February was moving. I'm in a new house now sharing with I think 4 others. I've been here a month now and still haven't seen everyone who lives here. They are all med students so they stay pretty busy and the house is very quiet. This is a picture of my room just after I had dumped all my stuff. It is looking better now ;)

 

I went up to Scotland with my boyfriend for a wedding and we stayed at his parent's house. These are just a few pictures from his backyard. They have a fantastic view of the surrounding area.

They also have some cute ducks, and chickens :)

Best of all two cats! One was super friendly and the other very shy. They are both orange and white like this one.

 

For the church's walk in march we went to Hayfield. Someone in the area has a sense of humor. We found a couple of interesting signs along the way...

 

Not sure if this sign is legible at this size. It says...

Private

No Parking

The last car that parked here is still missing

 

A view of the path we were following. We had been concerned it would be cold that day. I was wearing about 4 layers. But ended up taking the jacket off...as long as the sun was out.

Sheep, in the UK! Shocking stuff ;)

You can let me know what you think, but I see two buffalo when I look at these hills...

 

We had a Mardi Gras party at church. I've never celebrated it before so when I was googling it quite a few sites listed King's Cake as being THE traditional food. I spent most of the day making this cake. I don't think it looks great, but there wasn't a scrap left for me to take home so clearly it tasted good enough! I thought it tasted alright but wasn't anything special in my mind.

 

Basically, the dough has to rise like a bread, which is why this took all day. Then I have a filling of brown sugar, raisins, and pecans and roll the dough up and curl the end together. The ends didn't quite stay together but it still achieved a round shape so I'm satisfied with that part of it at least.

 

There is also suppose to be a baby hidden inside the cake, but I skipped that part. I didn't want to be responsible for someone accidentally choking or something. Plus I didn't have a plastic baby on hand to hide in the cake...

 

It is finished

I've turned in the final, final draft for school! I can now breath easy again and move on with my life. Gotta focus on all those things I had put to the side, like finishing my NaNoWriMo novel and finding a steady job. Fun stuffs.

It is Superbowl Sunday! Haven't decided yet if I'm going to watch it or not, but it feels like I'm obligated to...being an American in the UK. I was a lot less interested when I was in the states but the parties were always good :)

Went on a walk yesterday. The weather was suppose to be rough. Cold and rainy. We managed to skirt just ahead of the rain but it was very windy. There was also a bit that was uphill that I found a bit tough. I think these leisurely walks are about as strenuous as I can take, sad to say. Got some nice pictures to share with you guys!

We took a 5 mile walk in the Saddleworth area, near a little place called Delph.

There has been quite a bit of rain lately so a lot of our path was muddy. Once or twice we weren't sure if we were following the path we were suppose to or if it just looked like a path from the rain run off.

Cool little spot we found. The sign says wisdom, it's a bit difficult to read in this picture. Behind the sign you can see a mini waterfall and it runs under the stones there. Don't know if it normally runs that well or if it just a trickle when there hasn't been tons of rain but it was certainly a neat find :)

January

Yes, I am still alive. I'm busily writing my script. The end of this month is the final deadline for school so I am spending a lot of hours staring at my computer screen, trying to will myself to write. It doesn't make for interesting blog stories.

But also, I've been a bit lazy too :P

It took a little while for the lights at the town hall to be taken down. I got this picture of santa taken during the day which actually turned out better than the one I posted of him when he's all lit up. I still think it was the cutest santa I've ever seen.

Took a walk through the city for this month's walk. There are always interested signs and stone work. This one in particular caught my eye.

Most of where we were walking was a canal walk. This bridge is from the 1800's. I believe what we decided is that there use to be a canal running underneath it. Clearly there isn't now, but the bridge still stands.

Some fun street art. Very creative use of plant life :D

 

Now, I've told my family about this place before but I finally went back and took a picture of it. This is what Europeans, or at least the British, think is our candy...

It just makes me laugh. Certainly not the breakfast of champions but Americans certainly don't think of these as candy. There's breakfast and snack food. Maybe the jello that is a kiddie desert at least. Pancake mix and syrup...Velveeta cheese?!

 

I'm too easily entertained by this I think. The store has actual candy in it, but now you know that we Americans eat candy for breakfast :D

I may be back to posting regularly again in February. We'll see.