Trip Post #6: Edinburgh and Home!

This is the last trip post- don’t cry!

We reached Edinburgh in the afternoon, and after checking into our hotel, we wandered down the Royal Mile, Edinburgh’s tourist area with shops, restaurants, and tons and tons of outdoor performers. We were there during the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in which the city hosts hundreds of shows and performers, ranging from free outdoor buskers to plays and concerts in theatrical venues.

Edinburgh has a cat cafe (a place where you pay to hang out with cats for a while), and I’d been wanting to try out a cat cafe since they first started popping up a few years ago. So I reserved a slot at Maison de Moggy:

It was a cute place, and the staff were very nice, and I’m really glad I was able to finally see what this thing is all about, but it wasn’t what I’d hoped.

There were about 10 cats, and about 15 humans. The cafe schedules customers for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. Have you ever met a cat? I love cats, but they’re not THAT into human interaction. It’s too much. The cats were really nicely socialized (they were all adopted into the cafe as kittens), so they very patiently tolerated the attention and accepted pettings, but they weren’t into it.

In order to interact with the cats, you had to wait until no other humans were pestering them, then stalk them, and trick them into not running away from you. Then when you pet them, they just sit there. It’s no fun petting a cat who doesn’t particularly like it. I did more observation than interaction.

But like I said, I’m definitely glad I got the experience.

After my hour with the cats, I connected with Aunt Lyn for dinner at Mamma’s Pizza. After dinner, we watched some more performers, and headed back to the hotel.

On our last day in Edinburgh, we returned to The Royal Mile to do some shopping and to watch some more performers. We caught a performer named Able Mable, who was really great, and as she pointed out, was one of only 5 or so women (I can’t remember the exact number) out of the 60 or so paid street performers. She described her character as “a hapless showgirl, eager to entertain but manages to mess up everything she does with comic results.” She was fantastic, though I couldn’t get a shot that did her justice.

Because of the festival, the whole Royal Mile was always packed, and it was a challenge to find good any places for meals. We ended up grabbing a soup and sandwich at the tiniest cafe you can imagine. It felt like a convenience store counter in a place the size of a closet, with a plastic table and chairs in the corner. It was pretty good though. I’m sure they make all their money during the month of the fest.

After lunch, we toured the mighty Edinburgh Castle!

We took a free tour of the castle with a great tour guide. There was a little spot up there that was the *only* place I remembered having been before. It was like a little jolt: whoa! This looks exactly the same. I visited England, Ireland, and Scotland with my family when I was in middle school, but I didn’t have many specific memories of the trip. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to go again (and make these blog posts), so that I could try to really remember it this time.

After the castle, we went to the one “real” Fringe show that we saw. There are so many shows going on, and we really only had time to see one, and I didn’t want to overwhelm myself by trying to pick the exact perfect show, so I tried to be kind of go-with-the-flow about finding one.

On our first night, as we were waiting at the bus stop to return to the hotel, I looked at the cute building to my left, and saw that it was called The Scottish Storytelling Center. That sounded interesting. Then I saw a description of a fringe show called The Man Who Planted Trees on a board outside of the center. It sounded kind of perfect: family friendly (a lot of fringe shows can be pretty raunchy), sweet and humorous, and had really good reviews.

The show was great: very creative and unique (they used marionette-style puppets, wafted essential oil scents and sprayed mists of water into the audience), heart-warming, funny, and was exactly as advertised. It was perfect.

After the show, we grabbed dinner at Rabbie Burns, a pub just down the street from the center, caught some more street performers, and visited some shopping tents where I picked up some sweet-smelling juniper gifts for my mom.

We were beat!

The next day, we took a train to Glasgow, and headed home (with a chilly stop-over in Iceland)!

Goodbye British Isles!

First Weekend of Summer

I celebrated my first days of summer (last day of school was Friday) with lots of fun stuff. First, breakfast at Al’s. Then occasional store shopping in Buffalo. Occasional stores are apparently a mix of thrift, antique, and gift shops.

mkayy…

Then I enjoyed the beautiful weather today at Grand Old Day. I didn’t think to get a picture, but I got to pet a rabbit on a leash. Now I’m hanging with my gal pal, Lady Jane. My neighborhood is so pretty. I love looking at it through my window just before sunset, when everything is calm and silvery. 

Snow Day

So…it’s winter now.

Last night, we got a big dump of snow, so my school declared a snow day! This isn’t that much snow for MN, but when it all comes at once, it’s dangerous. And most schools wouldn’t close for this little snow, but my school’s students aren’t bused, they take city buses or walk/bike, so I guess we close more frequently. So today was my first Snow Day as an educator!

It was faaaantastic.

I slept in, shoveled, got some stuff done around the house that I’d been putting off, had a yummy, warm lunch:

Shoveled some more, took a nap, caught up on some Misfits (if you haven’t seen this show-and you are okay with rated R stuff-check it out on Hulu immediately), and had some cocoa.

Jane got some stuff done too:

Don’t worry, she didn’t over-exert herself.

Back to real life tomorrow!

 

 

One Perk of Working in a School

This past weekend was amazing. Since I work in a school, we had Thursday and Friday off, so it was a nice break. I am a woman of simple pleasures, so the things that made me very happy this weekend seem kind of silly, but just let me have my fun.

Thursday, I slept in, cuddled in bed with Jane forever, which I think she was maybe okay with:

When you can see the third eyelid, you know they’re happy.

I got lunch, and since it was THE MOST GLORIOUS FALL DAY IMAGINABLE, I did one of my favorite things: walked around a lake listening to podcasts.

Then, YOU GUYS, I got a facial. Wha..? I’ve never had one before, and I’ve never done a spa thing for no reason (like it wasn’t a gift from someone or whatever). I’ve just never done it before, and I was curious. I’m a planner, so I rarely do things like this on the spur of the moment, so that was kind of fun (I mean, I booked it the night before, so there was SOME planning, but a lot less than I normally do). It was very nice. There were a lot of …feels: creamy, oily, gritty, dry, wet, heavy, light, dark, there was even some pain (she used something that I think had cinnamon in it, so it burned the way that it burns when you chew cinnamon gum).

Then I went home and had some chai tea and started a new book.

Super exciting story: I picked up one of my ginger cookies and thought, “Hey, what if I dunked this cookie into the tea? What would that taste like?” So I did, and it was like heaven.

Then I opened my window, and it was amazing. (This is Minnesota, so it’s usually too cold for that in October, so this is a bigger deal than it seems.)

I had dinner with the folks, and finished the book. Starting a new book is exciting, and finishing a book is satisfying. Both feels in one day!

The next couple of days involved some brunches with friends, running errands, getting stuff done around the house, reading two more books, and attending a RollerGirls bout (so much fun!!):

I also baked an apple pie…

And got some library books…

…for babysitting the nephews!

Whew!

 

Chocolate Strawberry Trifle

It was my mom’s birthday this week, so I made her a cake..type..thing. I didn’t want to make a plain cake (not special enough for my special mama), and I was kind of in the mood to try out a trifle. Trifles are AMAZING. I think I’ve really only had one, and it was made by my friend, Cherish, who went to baking school. So that’s probably why I think they’re so great. But I’ve only seen white cake versions of trifle, and my mom needs chocolate, so here’s what I did!

One could easily make this dessert from scratch, because it’s not a “difficult” thing to make, but it does have a lot of components, so I decided to take a couple of shortcuts.

I used boxed cake mix and jello pudding (instead of custard/mousse). I didn’t actually end up using the Cool Whip, because I found that I had time to make my own whipped cream.

So first things first, you make your cake (in 2 round pans):

Taking a picture with one hand while pouring cake mix with another: NOT EASY.

While you wait for that to bake, you make your pudding. Like I said, trifles aren’t difficult to make, but they involve a lot of steps, and it seems that breaking those steps up is the best way to do it. I made the cake and pudding in the morning, then ran some errands while they cooled/chilled in the fridge, and did the rest in the afternoon.

Slice up some strawberries (or whatever fruit you’d like, but come on, with chocolate cake? It’s gonna be strawberries).

I actually sliced these the night before (and put them in the fridge), so they could stew in their yummy juices for a while. I lie to you in my posts, but I tell the truth in the captions. 🙂

Then you make yo’self some delicious whipped cream. My heart broke a little when I bought that Cool Whip because I’ve NEVER used Cool Whip before, and I hope I never have to. I just didn’t think I’d have time to make my own, but I did! Yay!

Now you get to assemble! The best part! So thunk your cake pans upside down on the counter until the cake plops out, and shove one round to the bottom of the trifle dish. Then spread a layer of fruit, a layer of pudding, and a layer of whipped cream. Repeat once, and keep a couple of strawberries to garnish the top.

Refrigerate until serving.

By the way, as I wrapped my mom’s birthday gift, Jane hopped into the wrapping paper bin.

HAPPIEST CAT ALIVE

 

I’m Not a Crazy Cat Lady, You Gotta Believe Me

I only have 1 cat, I do not dress her up in human clothes, and I only anthropomorphize her sometimes. Only sometimes.

But I did go to the Walker’s Catvid Festival.

This event is not really for people to watch Cat Videos (because do you see that tiny screen up there? yeah…it would be a much better idea to youtube these things in the comfort of your own home). This event is for nutty cat lovers to gather together with all of the other nutty cat lovers (and…just like our feline friends…demonstrate an appropriate level of respect for one another’s personal space by making as little actual contact with each other as possible).

On my walk back to my car, I noticed this little sweetie pie hopping down from his front porch, so I greeted him, and we cuddled for a while:

Then as I continued down the sidewalk, he followed me down the block until I crossed an intersection.

What a little sweetie.

Also! I encountered this little dude as I headed into work this morning.

 

Ugh Winter

If you’re a Minnesotan, or know any, you’re probably sick of hearing about a) this stupid winter or b) this particular blizzard. But this is my blog, so you’re gonna hear it again!

I knew there was going to be a lot of snow (above is from yesterday, when it had just begun), so I got up this morning, took a shower, ate breakfast, and prepared to shovel forever.

After two hours of shoveling and helping my roommates move their cars (lots of pushing, rocking, sand, kitty litter, and more shoveling), I came back in and dove into my bed, but I couldn’t get warm. So I took another shower and put on as much fluffy, warm clothing as possible, and I’m back to a normal temperature now.

Despite the cold, it’s a lovely day, really. But man, ugh, winter.

 

This poor bush. “Help meee…I’m being buried aliiive!”

And my poor baby trees! Stay strong little guys!

And then there’s my cat’s life. I came in wheezing and freezing from shoveling, and Jane was just cuddled on the couch like any other day,and she sleepily glanced up at me as if to say, “Oh hi, just another cozy, warm, lazy morning, eh?”

Here she is, being entertained by the bubbles in my cream soda:

 

And here she is ten minutes later:

 

Little Things

This week, I’ve been thinking about the little things that have made me happy.

Clementines. Ain’t these little things great? DE-lish.

I cleaned out my basement. What, can’t you tell? 🙂 Oh how I wish I had taken a “before” photo, but I was just down there doing laundry and thought, “Ya know, I should clean this place up sometime. Hey, I’ve got time now”, and I just started cleaning. It was like a madness that suddenly overtook me, and I didn’t stop to think about silly things like photos. I know it looks like nothing here, but there was crap EVERYWHERE before. It feels gooood.

In the same vein, I organized some stuff to take to Goodwill. Isn’t that the best feeling??

I’ve been able to hang out with the nephew a bit lately, and have enjoyed his post-nap sleepy hair, impromptu kisses (or tacit requests for kisses), babblings, and instructional gestures (not speaking yet, but lots of “you stand right HERE” finger pointing, and baby signs).

And then there’s this sweet thing. Must. Always. Touch. Human.

And next week I go to Florida!

 

 

 

 

 

Jane

I usually write down some thoughts about a pet after they have passed away, but I’d like to write about my cat, Jane, while she’s still with me.

And yes, you read that right, I’m about to write a post about my cat. Pets deserve AT LEAST one blog post dedicated to them. If you don’t agree, you must not have had a pet. Or a heart.

So here we go…my Janie.

Jane will be 7 years old this November, and I got her when she was a kitten. She very much enjoys being my little buddy. She likes having one person (and no other animals), and spends 95% of her time in my room. If I’m in a shared space (e.g. the kitchen), she’ll be there with me, but she won’t like it. She’ll eventually start standing by the stairs and meowing (“Okayyyy we’ve been in this room long enough, now let’s go home where we can be alone.”)

On winter mornings, she’ll cry at me as soon as I get up, and won’t stop until I sit on the bathroom floor (right in front of the heat vent), so that she can sit on my lap. We sit there for about 10 minutes, until I decide that I really need to start getting ready, and she knows I gave her enough time for the ritual. When I come home from work, she’ll often cry again until I sit down so that she can sit on me. She usually comes and crashes on me as if she hasn’t slept all day because I’ve been gone.

She’s such a good kitty. She’s quiet, clean, and unobtrusive (generally), like most cats. And she likes people, but she’s cautious about strangers. She’ll either hide from them, or slink quietly around them until she’s determined that they’re safe enough, and then nudge them to request pettingks or splay herself out in flirtation.

Oh hellooo

She has a little voice (generally), and she often does the thing where she’ll try to meow, but nothing will come out except for the little *smack* of her mouth opening and the little released breath at the end.

She has a birthmark on her left eye, which makes it look like she has one green eye and one gold eye.

She’s suuuper happy to be taking this picture.

She seems to be uninterested in fish or milk…which is odd to me.

Here are some of her favorite things (aside from the usual: food, catnip, pettingks):

1. Sitting on paper

2. Sitting in drawers

3. Resting her paw(s) on my hand/arm

4. Something I like to call “Doing Feets” This is only done when my feet are under a fleece blanket, and usually only in the winter. Often, she’ll kind of start meandering around at the bottom of my bed, and I’ll twitch my feet around to let her know that Feets Can Now Be Done. I’m not sure if she’s waiting for my permission or if she’s just not thinking about it until she sees my feet shifting around.   Sometimes, there won’t be a fleece blanket over my feet, and she’ll fret around down there until I pull one over them. Then she begins. It’s like kneading or “making biscuits”, but usually cats do that with their front feet. This is the same, just with her back feet. It looks ridiculous (usually looks like she’s trying and failing to relieve herself), and it feels a little like a foot massage. I usually thank her afterward.

She is the sweetest little thing.

Annual Horse Ride

Just went on my annual horseback ride with my dad.

There was this cute little kitty at the ranch, so I cuddled/played with him a little before the ride.

His name was Cutie Pie!

 

My horse, Bob.

 

My horse seemed to prefer to be by himself, so we ended up at the end of the line, pretty far back from the rest of the group. It was kind of nice, since I didn’t have to keep pulling his nose out of the next horse’s tail, and it kind of felt like I was on my own little ride.

The group. See how far back we are? That was all Bob.

We also went to an art fair, where we saw this cat-on-a-leash:

Named “Maestro”. He actually spent most of his time on his owner’s shoulder.