Day 9-Lazy Day

I awoke early this morning and began writing before everyone else got up. It was quiet and from where I write I can look out the window and see the sheep and their lambs grazing and watch the ducks flying down to the inlet beach and back. The rest of the world seems so far away. We've only watched the news on TV twice since we've been here (trying to find weather forecasts more than to see the news) and though I buy a newspaper most every day and check the local headlines back home when I get Internet access, this place is so beautiful, peaceful and insulated that I feel a world away from everything but what we do in each moment.

Those of you that know me know that's just not me. I am an information and news glutton, but this has been an interesting break from that normal behavior. Part of me whispers that I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I get back, lol. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy the peace and quiet and the opportunity to learn from another land and culture some things that may just benefit my life.

I spent most of the morning working on blogs about the past few days and sorting and arranging photos from each of those days to go with the blogs so that I could get caught up with posting. The Internet cafe in Oban is open today and so it provides a chance for me to go there and post on a day when we don't have much planned.

There was a little excitement late in the morning when one of the lambs grazing outside got it's head caught in the fence and 2 other lambs slipped through an opening in the fence and into the yard portion of the estate. After watching from the window for several minutes to se if it would loose itself, I went out to pull the fence apart for the trapped lamb. It got so scared as I approached that it finally pulled its own head loose. The other 2 lambs were crying as I got nearer and their mommas were trying to get them to come back through the fence but the lambs kept running into the fence out of blind fear. I just kept slowly approaching and forcing them to go back toward the opening in the fence and they finally found it, bolted through it and took off running away with their mommas across the open field.

We drove into Oban and stopped first at the Tourist Information Center because we were planning to drive to Edinburgh tomorrow but we had seen a sign in one of the local stores about them being closed Monday for a holiday and we were concerned that things would be closed in Edinburgh as well. It turns out that it is a local holiday and will not affect Edinburgh, so we will leave early Monday morning and make the 3 hour drive to the city. As before, my plan is to spend most of the day in the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Museum of Scotland, with perhaps a bit of time left over for The Writer's Museum, while everyone else tours the castle and adjacent historical sites.

After the TIC I was dropped off at the Internet cafe for about 90 minutes while I posted blogs and uploaded photos for the previous 3 days, which brought me up to yesterday. Everyone else went strolling through the town and shops and after they picked me up we went to a couple of other stores and then drove down to The Oban Inn, where we ate last Sunday when we first arrived in Oban.

We thought we would get roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, but this week the roast dish was chicken. I settled for a roast beef sandwich while Cindy's mom and dad ordered the chicken and Cindy had a steak pie. It was good, but I had my mouth set for what is supposed to be the national Sunday meal in the UK, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Back at the cottage we relaxed, read The Sunday Telegraph that I picked up in Oban, and I worked on some more photos for upcoming blogs. It's 9:11pm now and I'll be going to bed soon since we have to get up and leave around 6am in the morning for the trip to Edinburgh.

As you can see, no pictures in this post. Sorry, but we look pretty ragged when we lay around the cottage, lol.

Just a quick note; I am in Edinburgh now sitting in a cafe three floors below street level that has free Wi-fi (one reason I love the big cities) and just posted the entry for The Highlands a few minutes ago. I see that the picture of Cindy's dad did not post for some reason, so I'm going to try and re-post it here on today's entry. Hope it shows up this time.

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