Later in the afternoon I took a little bit of a walk. Tried to get out and think. I began thinking about some of the ideas Rebecca had and wondering if it may be better to go this other route.. the excel spreadsheet route… the looking for patterns and correlations route. There was just a major problem- I am not very good at excel. I used to be pretty good at Access but I have just never been good with formulas and equations. To get through my remedial math- college math I had a tutor.. so you can only imagine how daunting this spreadsheet began to look. However, I took the color codes that I used in my initial writing stage and began to fill in the cells with unique colors. Totally something I can do and its productive. It actually takes a while to look at each question and consider what category it will go into. Thank goodness the day was wrapping up as my head was about to go a tad nuts.
That evening we had some good conversation again downstairs. Larry, Rebecca, Margaret and Calum- sharing and learning about each others opinions on culture, politics, health care etc. Pretty stimulating conversation since everyone has different backgrounds to get a feel of how other people perceive the world. Calum and Margaret suggested that the next day (Sunday) we go for a run. Since I have been getting back into my running routine, sounds good to me.. However going for a run in scotland is going for a drive- so we quickly were relieved that the five of us were not going to be running the hills of the highlands.
Rebecca and I shared some wine and cake in the guest room and chatted about so many great things. Its very stimulating to meet another person who appears to be very like minded about many things. I've been needing to make a new friend, and I had NO idea that I would be making one on this trip.
The next morning was much of the same. However, I slept a little bit later and decided that morning exercise was just not on my agenda. It was Sunday the day of rest. I began working with Barbara, and while Rebecca had decided to go for a run and I heard Larry downstairs say he was going to join Margaret and Calum at church. Margaret popped up to say they were headed there and extended the offer. I was about to decline, but thought, maybe another little spark for the soul. So I left Barbara in the pretty room and left (she is just going to have to realize that she can't go every where with me and that in order for us to make this work-space is required). So off to church we go. It was a nice service and it seems to be a community of some really great people. Many of the songs were familiar from America AND the pastor made several American references. Margaret and Calum were just immersed in Americanisms this week.
Upon returning, I had some lunch with Rebecca and dabbled in a bit of work. We then headed off for our run. I didn't think I was going to see much of Inverness as this was purely a work related trip- however I was also told to get some space and think. So what a better way than to go explore some wilderness. Us three girls and the little dog snuggled up in the back and Calum and Larry took the front. Larry from Montana, who has never been out of Montana did his best to not have a heart attack anytime a car came in the opposite direction. Being away from home and experiencing the driving on the opposite side of the road was a pretty interesting experience for him. Also, there is this guy at the Lockness who has been monster siting for like 20 something years or more.. a newspaper article reads that he left his home, job, girlfriend to find the monster. It just made me wonder, what was her side of the story? My boyfriend was into bird watching? It then went down hill from there? I mean do you really just pick up and leave your life for a monster? Well maybe- I guess if you are committed to something thats what it looks like but that could also look like crazy- seems to be a fine line between the two. We then headed to Fort Agusta and stopped in for some hot tea. More conversation, and more laughs. I took a picture of a sign in the pub we went into, it said "Smile, it confuses people" - I got a right kick out of that! Pretty funny and so true. At one point Larry misheard Calum talking about the Local Authorities and quickly said, "the idiots?"- we laughed and were like, well yeah- they can be… There are really no words to describe Larry- But you can imagine a man from Montana who has never really seen much other than Montana on a solo adventure through Scotland. He is on a relay race really- and looking forward to exploring all of the creeks or the cricks as he calls them e saw deer, and sheep, and a Lockness Monster.. (ok, we didn't, I was just seeing if you were paying attention) and headed back to drop off the little dog and head to a local place to grab some food. It was packed, and Calum returned with some very happy news (his neutral face was quite a frown at the moment) it was a 45 minute wait, so we went elsewhere.
Rebecca had Haggis for the first time, Larry, Margaret and Calum had a roast and I opted for fish and chips. I do love a good fish and chip. Dinner was great- but what was greater was being able to sit down for a family style dinner with my new friends. When you live alone you eat dinner alone.. you go to the butcher and ask for one chicken breast, and make your salad and watch TV- the latest is the Mindy Project. People always make comments about how glorious my life is.. trust me, its not all glorious :) So any opportunity I have to eat with others is something I welcome. I really won't be offended if you invite yourself for dinner- in fact, I would be relieved- so feel free. After a nice evening out it was a bit more chat and off to bed. We had had a long day- and yup, Monday would be a work day. To be continued….