On this first Monday of October, I'm not finding any real forward motion. Oh, there is some motion but it truly is more of a meander without any direction, a fugue of indecision rather than an orderly decision tree. Is Thanksgiving a go or no go? If a go, what’s in and what’s out, who is in and who is out. Is it take-out or eat-in? Do I make all the usual treats or pare it down? Simple or grand?
Is this Thanksgiving a gourd or a pumpkin?
A year ago at this time, the man and I had just returned from a seventeen day journey through Scotland. The laundry had been done and the luggage stowed away without a thought that a year later it would still be unmoved and gathering dust in a closet. But hey, I need a diversion, so let's re-visit where those traveling bags took us last year, and of course let's check in with that little bear Schwartz.
Whiskey tasting at The Malt Room, Inverness
Our journey took us to Edinburgh, St. Andrew's, Ballater, Culloden, Inverness, Isle of Skye, Isle of Mull, Iona, Stirling, and many points in between before ending back in Edinburgh.
Tobermory, Isle of Mull
The standing stone above Corgarff Castle, in Cairngorms National Park
Dean Village along the Water of Leith, Edinburgh
The Hogwarts Express on the Glenfinnan Viaduct
I also enjoyed a three day English side trip to Wooler and Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland while the man attended a conference in Edinburgh.
Bronze Age stone circle at Duddo, Northumberland
Greensheen Hill (above St. Cuthbert’s Cave),
and I did climb to the top of the outcropping on the right – well of course I did!
Och aye, twas a grand journey giving not only me but my Fitbit® a workout: 200,000+ steps (128km) + 720 floors (2200m). And the photos? 3000 of them still still need a full edit which gives me plenty of busy work for the dark months. But poor old Schwartz is getting antsy these days. Maybe I’ll have to start taking him out for car rides and together we can share memories of the places we’ve been.
Tasmania, Australia 2010
And Thanksgiving? Well, here’s what I know: there will be turkey, there will be apple and pumpkin pies, and it will be a lumpy twisty gourd kind of celebration wrapped in humble gratitude. So be it.
©2020 April Hoeller
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