Home Sweet Home

 It has been a very busy month as we moved into our new home.  We were very lucky to find the house that we did, as it is much bigger than we thought we would have here.  It's definitely nice to have all the space after spending 2 months in hotels and a very small 1 bedroom flat. We have been busy unpacking, arranging, re-arranging and getting settled in.  We have spent most of our weekends doing the unpacking, gardening, shopping, and various household projects to make it feel like HOME.


 The Lochinchard House
(yes, our house has a name)

 We are enjoying the fruits from our garden
Apples, Plums, Blueberries and Grapes

We are also enjoying beautiful roses from over 20 bushes in the rose garden.

The house was partially furnished with some neat antiques.
 Yes, the Grandfather clock chimes every hour.

We have a beautiful view of the garden from the dining room.
We found a dining table a local charity shop and ordered chairs online to go with it. 

                       

The Sunroom

It's a great place to enjoy coffee in the morning, afternoon tea or a glass of wine in the evening. 

(A great inspiring place to paint also.)

The Livingroom with a coal fireplace. 

After living in Florida for over twenty years, we had to re-learn how to build a coal fire.

The Guest Bedroom is ready for visitors to enjoy.

You can start making your reservations now.

The Master Bedroom

It was great to sleep in our bed after almost 2 months

we replaced the lights above the bed with updated fixtures

along with others throughout the house. 

We took a day off from house stuff and headed to Kilcreggan for an Ale Fest

where we were entertained by a local blues band named "Harmonica Lewinsky"

We were entertained on the bus ride home with an impromptu sing-a-long by the locals.

 We then ended up in the local pub with them for a nightcap. 

For another night out we hopped the train to Cardross to try our hand at Pub Quiz.

We found out that we are not very good with UK trivia, yet. For instance one question was "What is the name of the drink mixing champagne and OJ?" Oh we got this one... NOT. Note to all: they have no idea what a Mimosa is as they call it a Buck's Fizz.  

 However, We did win a round, Of course it was the Brain Teasers round and had nothing to do with our knowledge 

of the UK.  

We met some nice people and were invited to come back to play again. 

Grocery shopping has also been an adventure here. We have been able to find most things we need, except American style crispy bacon for John and flavored coffee creamer for CJ, but we are making do and trying new things.

We have gotten a kick out of some of the names of the products and thought we would share some with you.

and even if it says Chicken broth... its really chicken soup with rice and veggies.    

Moving has been quite the adventure and unpacking was just as exciting, not knowing what we would end up with.  The movers packed everything they saw, including garbage cans with the garbage still in it. (good thing it was only paper)

We found various items that were to suppose to go to storage (Lamps, summer clothes, crafting supplies)  and 

are missing a few important items, that we assume are in storage instead of here. 

(remote controls for both TV's, and CJ's favorite Scarves)  

Although the unpacking is now finished, we still have a few more rooms to put together, curtains to buy, garage to organize and furniture to sand and stain, but it is feeling more like home everyday.  

Sending much love to all of our family and friends, we hope to see you all soon!

John and CJ

The 6 S's

September, Sightseeing, Shopping, Seafood, Sweets and Scotch.

September 1st was our 12 year Wedding Anniversary,

so we decided to go on a weekend holiday to Oban.

It was suggested by the locals as "The Place to Go".

 It was a cloudy, rainy drive there but the sights were still amazing!  John stopped to scope out a few of the many world class trout streams in the area.

Oban is a lovely resort town on a horseshoe shaped bay.

We enjoyed walking downtown enjoying the sights and doing a little shopping. 

 

Now it's time for the Oban Distillery tour. 

The Distillery was established in 1794.  

It has only two pot stills, making it one of 

the oldest and smallest in Scotland.

After the Scotch tasting it was time for some sweets, so we headed to the Oban Chocolate Company. 

Our Anniversary Gifts to Ourselves

Oban is known to have the best seafood in the UK, so we decided to find a seafood restaurant for our

Anniversary dinner celebration.

We made dinner reservations for The Seafood Temple.

It is a very small quaint restaurant located a little bit out of town. It received a very high rating from Trip Advisor 

with 4 1/2 Stars. (#3 out of 68 Restaurants in the Oban area)  It is very small and only seats about 20 people. They have 2 nightly seatings so we were very lucky to 

get a table. 

A fabulous view from our table

We hit the town to see the local sights before heading back home.

  

Dunollie Castle

Dunollie Castle was originally built in the 13th Century, however the current ruins come from structures built in the 15th Century.  Dunollie was the stronghold of the MacDougall Clan who played a crucial role in Scottish politics up until the very end of the rule of clans.

Of Course we found a Beach!

Ganavan Beach

McCaigs Tower on Battery Hill

John Stuart McCaig started to build this as a monument for his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months.   His plans allowed for a museum and art gallery with a central tower to be incorporated. Inside the central tower he planned to commission statues of himself, his siblings and their parents. His death brought an end to construction with only the outer walls  being completed.

We found this beautiful bridge on the way home. This is Clachan Bridge or the "Bridge Over the Atlantic" that connects island of Seil with the Scottish mainland.  It was completed in 1793 and remains in regular use today.  

Looks like this could be my next painting 

After a long day of driving we finally got to The Firkin Point

The weather has been really nice here the past few weeks with only a couple of  cooler rainy days. We have been trying to get out in the evenings after dinner to take walks and enjoy it while it lasts. 

We hopped the train to Glasgow to do a bit of shopping last weekend.  I know, we have done A LOT of shopping since we have been here. So not like us, but yes, we are stocking up on warmer clothes.

We found a wonderful Italian restaurant for lunch. We will definitely being putting this on our "must visit again list." 

 Now it's time for shopping.

My shopping crazed friends would love  "The Glasgow Style Mile"

3 Story Forever 21 

5 story Debenhams Department Store
After a long day of shopping it was time to find dinner and drinks before we had to hop the train back home.
Being a Saturday night it was not an easy feat, but we did manage finally to snag a table at a place called Horton's.

Sunday we hit yet another mall in Clydebank to get our cellphones hooked up. YAY! We now have UK Cell service! Not that I have anyone to call in the UK but at least I will know where I am when I get lost!


We move into our house in 10 days! It will feel like a mansion compared to this little flat. (This place gets smaller everyday.)
I cant wait to get all of our belongings and see what we actually packed!  

 We will be ready for Visitors soon so everyone better be renewing those passports, saving $$$ and making 

their plans! 

Cheers!
John and CJ