What have I been doing recently? Well apart from the boring house stuff I’ve made time to visit Evelyn at Evee’s Blog. I must admit that Evelyn found ‘Pining’ first as she’s interested in Scottish words and that’s how she got to me. I’m so glad that she did as her blog is a beautiful place to visit with gorgeous photos of places she has travelled to and scenes more local to her base in the Scottish border town of Peebles. So if you love things Scottish and photos of plants, gardens, houses and crafts do yourself a favour and hop over to Evee’s Blog.
Otherwise I’ve been watching The Great British Bake Off where the baking tasks are getting fiendishly difficult but already we’re down to the last three contestants so next week is the last one. Janet was my favourite baker and I really hoped she would win but it wasn’t to be, her undercooked pastries let her down. I’m not sure who I want to win now.
Tonight we watched Billy Connolly’s Route 66 Road Trip of America. The third one in the series I think, I like armchair travelling especially when it’s to places that we’re never likely to visit. Tonight he was in Oklahoma, Arizona and Texas where as usual he met interesting locals. The rodeo reminded me of an Annie Proulx short story, those riders are completely nuts. He also visited a barbed wire museum in a place called Mclean, who would have thought there were so many different kinds of wire! It probably beat the pencil museum in Cumbria – or wherever it is. The best scenery was in Monument Valley.
If you have time have a look at some of the first episode.
http://youtu.be/i37ZsSPCNks
Thanks so much for writing about my blog! I never expected that so what a surprise to see my name “up in lights!”
Just read Emotional Geology – in large print as that was all I could get – and really enjoyed it! Rather a different type of romantic novel with a few twists and turns there. Now I’m reading And the Land Stayed Still by James Robertson, a sort of history of Scotland through the eyes of various ordinary people who live here. Liking it a lot.
Met an O Douglas fan today who said she’s never before actually met anyone who read O Douglas!
I’m off to watch Billy Connolly on iplayer now. Missed it on TV as I was off at choir practice! BC is really the funniest man I know! He really makes me laugh!
Evee,
Thanks for introducing yourself to me! I’m keeping note of those gorgeous looking places you’ve been visiting in the hope that I can follow in your footsteps. I’m really a vintage crime person rather than romance as I tend to find romances very predictable but Emotional Geology was more than a normal romance. The James Robertson one sounds interesting, I’ll see if my library has it. I’ve never actually met another O Douglas reader! The Buchans stayed in Kirkcaldy for quite a few years when their father was a minister here and that’s why I started reading John and then his sister. Yes the iplayer is such a handy thing, you are so active, it all seems to be going on in the borders. BC also seems like a ‘good guy’ – as well as being funny!
The Great British Bake Off is certainly addictive in more ways than one! I would like Holly to win.
Thanks for the link to a new blog always good to see well recommended blogs and another fan of Emotional Geology!
Jo, I still haven’t got around to baking anything yet but I’m eyeing up my books hoping to tackle something different soon. I think they’re all winners anyway. I dread to think what Paul and Mary would say about my concoctions! Hope you enjoy Evee’s Blog.
I haven’t seen The Great British Bake-Off, it sounds like some of the reality shows we have here in the US on The Food Network. But probably more interesting!
By the way, there’s also a Mustard Museum in Wisconsin. I am not making this up.
Karen K,
I think you’ll be able to see some of The Great British Bake Off on You Tube. I’m just amazed that they’re able to come up with stuff which isn’t just edible but is often very good looking and apparently tasty, and they’ve never tried baking them before., like Danish pastries and brandy snaps. You might not be so impressed as I believe you used to be a pastry chef! There are some very strange museums about – so I believe you!
Thanks for the introduction to Evee. I’m always on the look-out for new-to-me blogs, especially ones in Scotland.
Denis and I love Billy Connolly. We’d just heard a week or so ago about this series he’d done, so I almost squealed with delight when I saw that you’d embedded a bit on your blog. THANK YOU!
I was born not far away from Springfield, Illinois, and have been to Abraham Lincoln’s home. I also lived a few miles away from Arthur, the Amish settlement, and my grandparents liked to shop there.
I’ve traveled many miles on Route 66. It is my favorite American highway. Shortly after Denis immigrated here, one of the first things I did was plan a trip along Route 66. I think I made a convert of him.
I like how Billy isn’t staying strictly on the Mother Road. Monument Valley is quite a distance from Route 66, but it’s worth the extra miles. I love going there and think it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Cathy,
The bits of Route 66 which you can see look quite empty and the landscapes vast. The people he meets are all so friendly, I suppose BC is fairly well known in the US. He comes from Glasgow – as I do – that’s the ‘west’ to us. Monument Valley is one place I would like to visit if I had something like a Star Trek transporter. Let’s hope they ‘can change the laws of physics Captain’ then it might actually be a possibility – eventually!
I hope you get the Route 66 series on your TV soon.
Actually I wouldn’t say that Billy’s all that well known here, but his accent had to have fascinated most of the people he met along the route! Hopefully if the series doesn’t come to telly here, we’ll be able to purchase a DVD.
Landscapes out here are vast. Denis and I spent a few days up on the Navajo reservation, exploring Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley and many other places. We never left the state of Arizona and traveled well over a thousand miles. Another time we went on a trail in the opposite corner of the state, were off paved roads for 8 hours, traveled well over a hundred miles on dirt and sand… and never saw another living soul.
I come by my preference for the West naturally: many of my ancestors called the Highlands– and Skye– home.
Cathy,
Yes, one chap in particular was enchanted by Billy’s accent but of course it just seems like a normal accent to me. It must seem strange to you that from the east coast of Scotland to the west coast is just about 70 miles but there is a big difference culturally I think and landscape wise the west is by far the more scenic. At one point in our history Glasgow had loads of Highlanders living in it as they had gone there for work, people went there from all over Scotland. The people in the flat above the one I was born in were from Skye. I had a very wet fortnight in a caravan on Skye when I was a wee girl, not a great holiday, the best bit was the journey there by train and ferry!