Hello everyone!!! I am writing this from the port of Oban. It's on the north west coast of Scotland...it's a VERY cute little town with lots of shops...I'm writing this from an internet cafe with VERY nice, VERY fast broadband internet! The walls are covered with a snazzy tartan, and the radio plays Scottish pop in the background. So funny! Anyway, at noon today I take the ferry from here to the isle of Mull. I'll land in the port of Craignure. THEN, I'll take a bus ride (about an hour's ride down a one lane road!!) to Fionhhport where I will catch ANOTHER ferry for a quick 15 minute ride over to the Isle of Iona. There I'll be met by someone from the community and my day will begin!!
Last night I stayed in a hostel. It was anything but "hostile!" It was very clean, very cool, (very cheap) free shower, coffee and laundry service! I've booked myself back into it in August (when I pass this way again!)
The weather CONTINUES to be fantastic....TOTALLY unseasonble for these parts!
Now, a word to those leaving comments. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! Especially you, Mike - hey, can anyone come up with a nickname for Mike??? What about "Newman?" Too obvious? Anyway, I am LOVING reading your comments, and hope you are all reading each other's, because you are all QUITE entertaining!! I am missing you (really!!) and hoping you're having a great summer so far! Remember, you CAN email me directly, and I PROMISE I'll write back! (once I wade through all the junk mail!!) So, I see my time is adding up, and with it being a pound/20 minutes, I need to go!
Love you all! Cheers!
mary out.
4 comments:
Well, I'm NOT writing from the port of Oban but the sun is shining and the wind is blowing and I'm ready to go dig in the sand and search for shells. Long live childhood!!!! Miss you TONS........JOJO
Did they have Flag Day in Scotland? Here all the old ladies at mass wore red, white, and blue. Missing you from my new digs at St. Andrew's, Kenmore.
John
Trust me when I say that I am not still sulking about the lack of a cool nickname but, as if to add insult to injury, Mary, you have to go and have a friend named "John Mack" who was born more than tailor-made for this new nickname trend found in the likes of baseball stars Alex Rodrigues and Ivan Rodrigues, ("A-Rod" and "I-Rod"), Syracuse b-ball phenom Gerry McNamara ("G-Mac"), American Idol star Anton Federov ("A-Fed"), and others.
My guess is that this trend derives from the outdoor performing arts center naming craze of the 80's, with designations such as "SPAC" , "FLEE-PAC" and others. (As an aside, and to give news from home, they are opening up the new performing arts center here today. It's the "Constellation Brands, Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center", and they are insisting we, rather hiply, call it "C-MAC". Now that's quite a stretch if you ask me. Having a nickname thrown at you for your use makes you feel kind of dirty, not to mention that this one virtually makes no sense. I just cannot, for the life of me, align the name with the nickname. Why didn't they just call it "Newman"? If there is a regulating body of such monikers, I sure hope they cry foul on this one.)
Anyhow, and sure, Rochester, (you are thinking), already has it's own "J-Mac" but, let me tell you, there are one heck of a lot more "Mikes" out there than "J-Macs", so we can't exactly claim the name is used up. And, futhermore, our own "From the Thin Place", J-Mac is seemingly from Kenmore and probably has not even heard of our autistic basketball star.
"M-Saut", if you ask me, and for the record, sounds positively horrible.
What's odd in all this, (and this constitutes my final aside), is that our overlords at the financial wing of General Motors, GMAC, (General Motors Acceptance Company), still want us to call their outfit "G", "M", "A", "C" which is, decidedly NOT trendy. Apparently, their wizards on Madison Avenue missed the boat on this one.
Speaking of missing boats, I hope you did not miss your ferry. And, finally, speaking of missing things, I, and the rest of the Sauter family, miss you Miss Mary!
Hi Mary,
This is sssooo coool!!! To get to travel WITH you. I hope your first day on the "job" was great. The weather here is warming up for the weekend (finally SUMMER!!!!)I can't wait to hear all about your experience! So keep wearing them flip-flops and shorts!! Love and miss you!! duckie
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