Edinburgh on my Birthday!

Today is the 70th anniversary of Britain declaring war on Germany, the anniversary of Oliver Cromwell's death (and the horrible hurricane that marked it) and the anniversary of my birth.

Yesterday I taught two classes in Edinburgh, and loved them. I loved the classes, loved the students, loved the tea and cookies and I LOVED the stationery swag.

Post it notes for EVERYONE!

I didn't get a chance to get outside much, which is a shame because from all reports it was a glorious day, but I certainly had fun INSIDE in our nice conference room. Today will be much rainer, a better day for knitting classes all around!

The classes were good sized - roughly 7 each - and today will be more full. Techniques were learned, jokes were made, connections were sought and several metaphorical chickens were hatched (and saved)

God bless the free range clucker.

Gerry wandered about E'burgh, he had a long, long walk and - from his report - he is falling in love with this city. He stated that this would be, "A heck of a good city to live and walk around in..." and then commented after dinner that if "either of the kids went to school here, I wouldn't be upset!" So kids - you're on notice!

Tuesday, on the way into town we stopped for a meeting with Myeloma UK, a wonderful sit-down exchange between a Multiple Myeloma patient from the US and the Edinburgh based charity serving the UK Myeloma community.

We had such a great chat, it felt like sitting with old friends, and was very hard to pulled ourselves away to get to our hotel.

At the hotel we checked into our lovely room and had dinner at the Bisque bistro - the BEST salmon I've ever had in my entire life, bar none.

BTW, if you're in the UK and would like to become involved in an exceptional organization, this would be it! Do think about a small donation to help their research to conquer this hideous disease!

For the aforementioned dinner we went to Thai Lemongrass, which was absolutely wonderful! The food was excellent, and the decor / settings / waiter garb seemed harmoniously designed.

I'm not sure why that impressed me so much - perhaps because our own Lemongrass back in Brooklyn was a beautiful anarchistic symphony whenever we'd drop by - but it was absolutely delightful!

Then a stroll down to ScotMid (god bless the free range cluckers!) and a stroll back to our room, and we're all tuckered out by 7:30 and ready to sleep. Zzzzzz.

Last night we watched MSNBC's Countdown on the computer - Gerry downloaded it so we'd feel less out of the loop - and I had some good swatching to get done.

Today I teach all day again (the same class twice - Combination Knitting - my favorite) and then in the evening Gerry and I will probably celebrate my birthday by going somewhere.

Any suggestions? Anyone know if any museums are open late on Thursdays?

Tomorrow Gerry flies to London from E'burgh, then back to St. Paul. I don't need to be down at Fyberspates until later in the day, so I may just hang around in the morning and try to hit a few historic sites. I've read about this city so much it would be a shame to miss out on seeing ANYTHING of historic significance!

I will miss Gerry. One of my students who had a class with me this weekend mentioned that I seemed more subdued / automatic today (I think I was, actually) and we postulated that it might be because I'm anticipating the next two weeks alone (without Gerry) here in the UK.

Could be. I'm going to miss him a lot! I'm already pining for him.

Here are some images we shot while going around with Di to Faulkland Palace and areas north. What a lovely day she gave us!