At Home in Kansas and Nebraska

Following our trip to Olathe, KS to deliver the contents of our two storage rooms, we have spent the last two months with friends in Lincoln and with our daughter Andrea's family in Kansas. It has given us a wonderful opportunity to renew old friendships, including Carol, who loves cats and graciously took care of our cat "Gypsy" (at the top) while we were away in Scotland. We visited our church in Lincoln, but best of all to get better acquainted with our kids and grandkids than we had been able to before. Rod and Andrea moved into their new home in Olathe and we have been able to help considerably with all the settling in.

We all went to Lincoln over the Thanksgiving weekend. Here we are with Roger's sister Marilyn and niece Shanna at a game of Mah Jong after the feast. We also shared a wonderful meal with

Fred and Janet Smith during that time.

Rod and I attended the Colorado-Nebraska game: great fun! Always! And then two weeks later we all went to the Big XII Championship game in Kansas City. With the score OU 21-NU 7, it was much more fun for my Sooner son-in-law than for me. But it was a fun evening, nonetheless.

These two cookie-mice joined us (temporarily) during the prep time for Christmas. They didn't stay long.

Daddy Rod helped the girls Ryan and Reagan make their gingerbread house;

a work of true beauty!

We had a great family time at Christmas with Andrea and Rod, Reagan and Ryan at their home in Olathe, and then shared more family time with Rod's family in Oklahoma City. Roger provided the magical entertainment for the party, ably accompanied by his young assistant, the Great Reagan!



We've had a wonderful holiday season with the Ross family, spending Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas together for the first time ever.

On 1 January we'll be gathered in front of the TV for the Boise State-Oklahoma and the Auburn-Nebraska Bowl games. (Hopefully, we'll ALL come away winners.)

We leave next week for some skiing in Colorado. More about that later.

Homeward Bound

After leaving our friends in Cornwall, we took the train to Mildenhall AFB, spent one night and the next day we were homeward bound on a wonderful (free) military hop.
This plane was smaller than the one we took over. We landed about 7 hours later in Dover, DE. We had a rush trip by rental car to Philadelphia, where we caught a Southwest flight to Houston. Interesting twist to our trip: the weekend we arrived home, the Texas Longhorns were playing the Huskers in Lincoln. We could not get a flight from Philly to Lincoln.


However, Houston connection was easy. And our Scottish Country Dancing fellowship was having its annual ball and workshop in Houston that weekend. So, we went to the host hotel, got a room for the next two nights and had a wonderful weekend of dancing.

Our friends from San Antonio gave us a ride there, where we stayed with them for the next two nights. We were able to rent a truck, empty our storeroom in San Antonio, as well as that of our Daughter Andrea, and on Thursday the 26th we headed north. We spent a night with our Son Abey and family in Austin and the next night with the Ross Family in Edmond, OK, the parents of Andrea's husband.

The next day we met up with Roger's cousin Marianne in Stillwater, OK and attended the Nebraska-Oklahoma State football game. (NU lost...sigh) Then we went on to Olathe, KS, delivered all our storeroom's loads to Andrea's new garage, and thus completed this month-long odyssey.
A fable of Sri Lanka tells the story of three princes and how they kept making accidental but valuable discoveries while looking for something else. Another name for Sri Lanka is Serendip; thus our word: serendipity, which fairly describes much of our trip, especially the last part. When we left for Scotland we had no plans to attend the ball in Houston, clear out our two storerooms, or see Marianne and



attend another Husker game, let alone getting to spend some nights with Meg's parents in New Braunfels, Abey in Austin or the Ross family. God is good all the time, and many are the blessings that come our way, often unbidden or expected, but always appreciated.

Reunion October 15-19

In 1970 when we were medical missionaries in Kenya, E. Africa, we attended the wedding of the local veterinarian Vic and his bride Jane. We have stayed in contact over the intervening years and following our Scotland visit we had the privilege of visiting with them in their lovely cottage in Cornwall. They were wonderful hosts, showing us the beauty of their farm, their nearby towns and the Cornish coastline.



We visited Penzance and St. Ives. We taught Jane all about geocaching, and she drove us up on St. Agnes Head and Beacon where SHE found her first two caches. We found four others while in Scotland.



Vic told us all about the history of the area and its mines. Fascinating!
We said farewell over a lovely meal at a local pub, The White Hart. We toasted our 38 years of marriage and their 35.

Thanks, Jane and Vic, for a wonderful conclusion to our trip and your gracious hospitality!

Standing Stones and Castles October 8-14

There are many sites in UK of so-called standing stones or mounds or circles, thought to be prehistoric burial sites. This one at Clava, Scotland is very interesting and is probably 3000-4000 years old. (click link to learn more)


At a loch (lake) nearby, I caught this beautiful rainbow.

Castles make up a large portion of our trip and what most people think about in Scotland, other than bagpipes and Highland dancing. Here we are in the gardens of the Clan Donald castle on the Isle of Skye.

Another castle, Eilean Donan, is often described as the most romantic and most photographed castle in Scotland.

While in Inverness-shire we stayed at a lovely timeshare, Scandanavian Village, which I can recommend highly. The town of Aviemore was perfect. We even found the local Scottish Country dance group and danced one evening with them. All over far too quickly!

The Week In Inverness-shire October 8-14

Following the wedding our Bruces and Herman families spent a week in the Cairngorm National Park, a beautiful area of the central Scottish Highlands near Inverness. The Cairngorm is one of the tallest peaks in Scotland and the focus of winter skiing. We took the funicular (vertical train) up the mountain and spent a beautiful day just enjoying the outdoors. It was cold!
We took a cruise on Loch Ness (what's that in the water!?!) Lovely, still and dark...what could it be hiding?
That's Urquhart Castle behind us. We saw it only from the boat; perhaps we'll go back.






In 1746 a terrible battle took place at Culloden that essentially brought an end to the Highland and Clan way of life. Visiting Culloden is quite sobering and sad. It is marked by this monument and has scattered rocks bearing the names of the various clans involved.






This small peasant's house standing at the edge of the battlefield was there before the battle and somehow survived. They've kept it as a museum-piece for learning what life was like in the 18th century. Really interesting!

To Aberdeen and the Wedding! October 7

We journeyed on by train from Oban to Aberdeen and spent the next week visiting the city and helping our friends prepare for their wedding. Aberdeen University is one of the world's oldest and most respected and is quite beautiful. This red ivy-covered building is part of King's College, and our college-missionaries are gathered here in front of it.

Saint Machar's Cathedral was established in Aberdeen in the late 500's, and is a beautiful church building, worthy of your visit. Just wish we had had more time at every location to really investigate .

Our long-time friend Sarah Herman and Rob Malcolm, originally from Glasgow, were married in Aberdeen on 7 October. About ten or so of us from the States were able to be there and celebrate with them.
We've known Sarah and her parents since she was two. She and our children played together in Lincoln. Our Daughter Sabrina and Sarah roomed together at Southwest Missouri State University.

The ceremony was followed by a lovely dinner and a ceilidh (pronounced: "kay-lee"; Celtic for "party".) There was a fun band and the music was a mix of rock and roll and Scottish country dance music. We loved it!

Mull and Iona

This inn/pub was near our B&B on Mull and served us two great meals while there.

Pub food is often much better than that found in some restaurants.








These are couple of postcards showing the Iona abbey on a pretty day,







and the local Highland cows. We passed several of them on the road but the weather was too bad for pictures. So, had to settle for cards.

Iona and the Abbey

The next day we took the bus 22 miles to the west end of Mull, then ferried over to the Isle of Iona. Iona was the home of Saint Columba, an Irish monk who contributed greatly to the Christianization of the British Isles. He was to Britain who Saint Patrick was to Ireland. He established a monastery and nunnery here in 563 AD.

They fell into ruins, but are presently undergoing considerable rebuilding and conservation. The abbey is home now to the Iona Community, a non-denominational fellowship of Christian believers.


The area is famous for its Celtic crosses, like this one, the Cross of St.Mark, over 1000 years old.

Our visit here was on one of the few rainy days we had. Nonetheless, we had a marvelous time learning about this very significant time in church history.

Isle of Mull 10/1-3/2006

We left Stirling on a morning train, passing through Glasgow on our way to Oban. Oban is a pretty port on the west coast of Scotland, and the gateway to Mull and other of the inner Hebrides. We did not get to stay and visit it, only passed through quickly. We caught a ferry to Mull, arriving towards evening. Mull is a very picturesque island, a great getaway for folks in the UK, and very popular. The time we visited Scotland, however, was ideal for visitors, as the locals were working or in school.

We found lodging at the Pennygate Lodge, a B&B, and found it most restful.






This is Duart Castle on Mull, we passed it several times, but had no chance to visit it.





A lighthouse between Oban and Mull.