Author: bbpeck

Beth and I are back on house sitting duty after a great stay with family in Wisconsin and Iowa. In Wisconsin, we got to see Beth’s mom and her extended family as well as Quade family members and lots of other friends at Beth’s mom’s 80th birthday party. It was a great day with about 150 people in attendance. In Iowa, we got to see all of Bob’s siblings and parents, even with some unexpected health issues.

Yesterday, we arrived in Kansas City, Missouri to begin an 11-day sit which was supposed to be with a cute dog named Frisco. Unfortunately, last week, we received a text that he passed away. The owners still wanted us to watch the home while they are vacationing on the east coast, so here we are for our 107th sit.

After a walkthrough of the home care needs yesterday afternoon, the homeowners took us to a great local restaurant for a light dinner. Today, I drove them to the airport to catch their 7:30 flight, and Beth went for a run. We have spent the day getting settled, buying groceries, and making plans for tomorrow. I also had an eye appointment.

We have our sits scheduled out for the rest of the year, taking us to Austin, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Cambridge, England, and finishing the year in back in Austin.

It’s time to start partying in Thornhill, Scotland as my wife has left me. We’ll, not really. Beth has departed to fly back to Wisconsin to prepare for her mother’s 80th birthday party. I dropped her off this morning in Dumfries where she hopped on the X74 Stagecoach bus to Central Glasgow where she transferred to an Airport Express Bus to a hotel right on the airport grounds. Tomorrow, Beth has an early morning flight to Chicago (via Dublin). In three days I’ll have the exact same journey on Aer Lingus. Beth will likely blog again after her mother’s birthday (July 23).

Maybe a few pics as we are winding down our 106th house sit:

We’ll, it is if you associate love with marriage, which I hope you do! Bob and I took advantage of the house cleaner coming today to take a trip out of town. We headed for the famous blacksmith shop in Greta Green, almost right at the border of Scotland and England, but still in Scotland.

Why a blacksmith shop for an excursion? It turns out that this blacksmith shop is famous for performing weddings, especially during the time when marriages in England were restricted. The elopements to Greta Green (mostly from England but other places as well) started in 1754 with the Marriage Act, which made marriages only legally binding if performed by a minister in a church and only if both parties were 21 or older (unless they had their parent’s permission). But this Act did not apply in Scotland, so many couples fled to Scotland to marry. Since Greta Green is just over the border and the blacksmith shop was the first trades shop that they’d encounter (and any tradesman could perform a marriage in Scotland), the Greta Green blacksmith shop became (and remains) famous for performing weddings over the anvil. In fact, we saw the start of a wedding when we visited today.

In 1856, the Cooling Off Act was passed which required that one party getting married in Scotland had to prove residency in Scotland for at least 3 weeks prior to marriage. This led to a drop off in the ability for “instant” marriages, although some couples found accommodation so that they could still marry.

In 1885, the property on which the blacksmith shop lies was purchased by Hugh Mackie, along with the adjoining farm. This property has remained within the family since that time. Mr. Mackie’s grandson-in-law and his family have created the shop and the adjoining property into the experience that it is today. Basically, the museum, a couple of gift shops, a food hall, a convenience store, a restaurant, a Love wall, and a maze.

On the way back to Thornhill, we stopped off at the Annandale Distillery, which we had visited on our first trip to Scotland. At that time, we did the tour, and they were just reopening the old distillery. They couldn’t sell whisky yet, as it has to age for 3 years and 1 day to be called Scottish whisky. They are now selling 6 types of whisky, but we just stopped for a quick bite in their cute coffee shop.

We’ve been having a relatively quiet house sit in Scotland but still getting out and about and reading the newspapers here, which we love. However, if we do nothing else during the day, there are a few things that we need to do.

One is to walk Otter three times a day. This is not a hardship, as he is a very happy boy when it is time for a walk. Normally, Bob does the morning walk about 6ish, while I make Otter’s 1st meal, which is given at the end of the walk, and then do the morning garden routine (more later).

I typically do the afternoon walk about 3ish, while Bob makes the 2nd meal, to be given at the end of the walk. The meal’s aren’t time consuming, mostly raw meat with some add-ins, so it’s just a bit of measuring and mixing. As easy as the meal prep is however, it takes us longer to mix up, than it does for Otter to eat it. 😀 Finally, there is a pretty quick, pre-bed walk.

Today, we changed things up a bit, and both did the second walk with Otter. We walked up a quiet (at least car traffic wise) country road toward Kirkdale and then turned and headed down another road to the lovely’ local Trigony Country House. We didn’t get all the way there, as we passed one couple with a dog and then saw another couple coming with 2 dogs off lead. We decided it was best to turn around and finish with a walk through the woods that we normally do.

As I briefly mentioned, the other thing that we do here is tend to the garden, but not really the garden but the various bird feeders that are situated throughout the front, side, and back garden. This just entails ensuring the various bird feeders haver either birdseed, chopped peanuts, full peanuts, or bird feed balls. All of that attracts a lovely array of birds, including a woodpecker that we’ve enjoyed watching. In the evening we set out food for the resident hedge hog, who we’ve been able to see on video. They are helpful to gardens by eating slugs.

There are, of course, beautiful flowers in the garden as well.

While Bob and I have been busy with our everyday stuff (dog care, garden tending, trip planning, etc.), the little town of Thornhill (pop. 1,600) has been having its annual (I think) Gala Week. They have kept any associated noise to a minimum, as we have heard nothing while out and about. However, today was Gala Day, so we thought we should see what was on offer.

There were a number of activities listed for today (including a fancy dress and float competition), but we were most interested in the ride out and the Gala parade. Sadly, we don’t know the history/import of the ride out, but it is done on horse back, and a neighbor lady told us that there were 51 horses involved this year. The ride out started at 9 this am and ended about 11:45 when it hooked up with the other parts of the parade.

Just off of the main road through town is the Thornhill Community Center where a lot of the week’s activities had taken place. We walked through the center grounds briefly before checking out the parade.

With sun and a high of 72, Thornhill had a great day for their gala!

On our first full day in Thornhill together, Bob and I decided to walk an old walking route that we would do with Bruce (prior Border Terrier who we had sat for here) and then stop in town to poke through some shops. The house has a side gate that opens up into a wooded area with paths. We started through the woods until the path curved and empties onto a road. It’s a fairly busy road, but it has a wide berm, and we aren’t on it long before we turn off onto a quieter, country lane.

We walked to the end of the lane where it curves to the right, but we instead turn left and follow a long gravel road past a cottage and then onto a path through the Thornhill golf course.

We walked all the way through the golf course until we hit a main road that takes you either back into town or out of town. We turned left and headed back towards town. Before getting to the main shopping district, we stopped into the cemetery.

Even on an overcast day, this area is lovely!

Once in the town center, we ended up stopping into the Boots pharmacy, two gift stores, a bakery, and the two small groceries. We didn’t shop at all of them, but we got reacquainted with what everyone has and did pick up a couple of items for our dinner tonight.

Last night, the news was awhirl with talk about Boris Johnson possibly having to resign, as two of his cabinet members resigned as a sign of no confidence in his leadership. We’ll see, as he seems to have weathered a number of other scandals already.

Well now, where were we? It has been a few days.

We left the Gladstone Library about midday on Saturday via taxi to the Shotton (Wales) train station. There we began another three train journey— this time to Scotland to meet up with our friends, Stan and Mary, for a third house sit for them. Our Transport for Wales train from Shotton was headed to the Manchester Airport, but we were getting off at Warrington Bank Quay (England) for an hour layover before heading onto Carlisle (England) and then Dumfries (Scotland).

We didn’t have set seats on the approximately 45 minute trip to Warrington, so initially Bob and I were across the aisle from each other, but after the first stop some people got off and Bob was able to move next to me and put his backpack overhead to have a bit more room.

We got off in Warrington, located the platform for our train to Carlisle, and then went into the rest area to have a lunch snack that we had with us. It was only after Bob had bought us a water and we had our snack that he realized his backpack was still on the train to Manchester.

OMG! The backpack not only had his passport, our iPad (on which I do our blogs), the important papers we need to have with us, the adapter plug to allow us to plug into UK outlets and our phone chargers, and his only coat. Not a happy travel moment.

He tried calling the Transport for Wales company to report the issue. No luck. 15 minutes before our next train, he finally found a very nice young woman from Avanti (train company for our next two trains) who got the particulars about the backpack, called the Manchester airport station, and got someone to say that they would check the train for the backpack when it arrived. We had to catch our next train and we’re told to call back at 1:30 and she would let us know whether it had been located.

He called, and they had recovered the backpack!! Huge sigh. They were putting it back on a train to Warrington, and they would confirm when it had arrived. Long story short, by 3:30 it was back in Warrington. After a solo train journey for Bob today back to Warrington, we have been happily reunited with everything and are very appreciative of the good Avanti train staff who made this happen.

In the meantime, we have had a lovely time catching up with Stan and Mary, hearing about the lovely family get together they are heading off to in Canada, going through all the home, garden, and pet care instructions, and enjoying their cooking and generous hospitality. It isn’t often that a place feels familiar when we arrive, but their home does since we’ve been here before.

On Sunday, they took us out to lunch at The Boathouse on the River Nith near where it empties into the Solway Firth and across which you can see England. The restaurant and the views were lovely.

But the best part of our visit was meeting Otter, their new Border Terrior rescue, who they received in September.

Much more on Otter and our stay in Thornhill to come.

We aren’t in England anymore. Today was a travel day. Beginning at about 9:30 this morning, we took a series of 3 trains from Bristol, England to Hawarden, Wales. We took a Cross Country train for an hour and a half ride from Bristol to Birmingham, then a half hour wait before we caught a Transport for Wales train for another hour and a half ride to Wrexham, Wales. Then another 30 minute wait before a quick 25 minute ride on another Transport for Wales train to Hawarden. All on time and we were able to find room for our big bags and our big bottoms on each one.

But why all this “effort” you ask to get to this small town (population just under 2,000) in Wales. I was very anxious to return to the Gladstone Library, a library started by William Ewert Gladstone, former Prime Minister of Great Britain (on 4 separate occasions between 1868 and 1894). This is not just a library, but it’s a library with hotel accommodations. We had read about and visited the library on a prior house sitting tour pre-COVID. We enjoyed our visit, and Bob got on their email list.

During COVID, the library and hotel accommodations were shuttered along with everything else, so they had to find other ways to make money to keep staff and maintenance. They offered their email list the opportunity to purchase a shelf in the library for a loved one. Bob decided to take them up on this and for a Christmas present last year sent me the notice about the shelf. As a literary bookie, I was thrilled and have been eager to come see it. They only reopened to the public a few months ago, so we decided to take a couple of days before our house sit in Scotland to come visit.

The library has a number of reading rooms. My shelf is in the Theological Room, section I 58-59 on the upper level of the lovely room.

They don’t have a fancy name plate, and they didn’t include Bob’s sweet note, but I am still very happy to have a shelf. I would stay and read through the books and dust the shelf if I could. Bob and I both noted (he saw it first) that one of the books on my shelf is “Letters to a Sister,”letters from Rose MacCauley to her younger sister, Jean. It felt a bit like a sign.

My name is on the green slip of paper. See noted book about 6 in from my name. Bob’s dedication read, “On behalf of my language-lover wife, who introduced me to words and libraries and the amazing Gladstone’s Library.”

We’re currently in the lounge having a pre-dinner wine on the honor system before eating dinner here tonight. We didn’t do dinner here at the first visit, so we’re interested to see how the food is. A quick look at tonight’s menu showed a lot of vegetarian options as well as fish!

Warning: Long post. Non-useful heart emojis and respect points for slogging through.

Bob and I had a great day exploring Bristol. We headed out after a lovely breakfast at the hotel that was included in the room rate. Our intent was to see the Art Museum building, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the SS Great Britain, and the Cabot Tower. We ending up seeing a bit more and learning something about the history of Bristol in the process.

We found a number of cute finds on the way to the Art Museum, including a cafe that caught our eye and a combination almshouse and chapel (may be a first) founded by John Foster, the Mayor of Bristol in 1483.

The Art Museum was a lovely building and probably has some great exhibits, but we didn’t go in as we were trying to at least see as much as possible during the day.

One of the highlights of the day, there ended up being a few, was the Clifton Suspension Bridge which opened in 1864. There is a 1 pound toll required of all cars that cross, which supports the maintenance of the bridge. Pedestrians and bicyclists can cross for free. The views from the bridge were lovely, and we did pop into the Visitor’s Center where we learned about the interestingly named designer of the bridge, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He also designed the SS Great Britain, the first propeller-driven iron ship, but sadly died before the ship had its maiden voyage and before the bridge was completed.

We saw signs for an observatory close to the bridge, so we stopped there for a great view of the bridge as well as the surrounding area.

We then headed down hill and across a bridge to Spike Island to get a photo of the SS Great Britain. We were prevented from an easy free photo op, as it is a museum and they have it placed it in amongst buildings so that you can’t really get a photo of it without paying the 20 pound entrance fee. Not being that much of an old boat fan, we passed on that, but then took note of a different type of boat that did interest us. We paid 9 pounds apiece for a 45 minute covered harbor cruise, which provided us with a great view of the harbor and kept us out of the rain for a bit. We also enjoyed our witty narrator. Oh, and we were the only riders at the 12:30 slot, so it was a private tour.

We then headed off to climb Cabot Tower in a lovely park back on “our” side of the Bristol Avon River (called Bristol Avon to distinguish it from other Avon Rivers). On the way we popped into the Bristol Cathedral and strolled around the small, but lovely gardens behind the church building.

The Cabot Tower was built to honor the discovery of Canada by John Cabot in 1497. Cabot sailed from Bristol hoping to find a shorter route to Asia, instead he “found” Newfoundland.

Finally, sometimes you just stumble onto some interesting facts as you explore. Three finds from today’s outing.

Virgin Atlantic Airlines did their job and got us to London on time (12:45 pm) with no issues. We were in a 3 person row in economy. Bob had got us the 2 aisle seats hoping no one would take the middle. It was still showing as empty when we went to the airport but got filled before departure. We sat next to each other and gave the nice young lady one of the aisle seats. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the customer service with Virgin even being down some staff. Bob and I each managed to catch a few winks, but the hotel bed tonight will feel great.

The only travel issue today was a 45 minute wait for our luggage, which took away from the speedy trip through customs. Anyway, the bags are here with us, so all good. From the baggage pick up area we went downstairs and walked through a number of long hallways to the Heathrow Central Bus Station where we had about a 20 minute wait for our direct bus to Bristol where we’ll be spending 2 nights.

I should note that it was sunny and a warm-feeling 65 in London when we arrived. The clouds increased during the almost 2 hour bus ride to Bristol but no rain yet (6:45 pm).

About 5:15 after getting settled in the room, we decided it was definitely time for dinner. We decided quick and easy sounded best, so went to a street food Asian shop for bibimbap — beef for Bob and tofu for Beth. Hit the spot. Chilling in the room now and getting thoughts together for tomorrow.