I'm just trying to walk myself home.
One Day with Kids in Pisa, Italy After our glorious week in Cinque Terre, we were all a bit sad about leaving Italy. We had a 1pm flight out of Pisa, so we packed up the night before and left the beautiful town of Manarola at 6am. We each had a small daypack and then …
Asparagus Potato Ricotta Pie I am such a sucker for the one dish meal that a quiche or pie can be. Also I love anything, and I mean anything, that involves pie crust or pastry dough of any kind. So this asparagus potato ricotta pie called my name as soon as I saw it in …
Hiking in the Cinque Terre from Manarola to Vernazza, Italy via the 506/AVT5/507 Vernazza was the only one of the five villages in the Cinque Terre we had left to visit at the end of our week in Italy. We had taken a day off from hiking to rest and enjoy Manarola and so I …
Hiking in the Cinque Terre from Manarola to Riomaggiore, Italy Here’s something you should know about hiking in the Cinque Terre in 2016. Once upon a time there was a trail that ran along the coastline all the way through all five towns of the Cinque Terre. It started in Monterosso al Mare and went …
Hiking in the Cinque Terre: A Hike from Monterosso to Levanto, Italy There’s just nothing like sitting in the blinding sunlight on a platform, waiting for a train to Monterosso al Mare. This is the start of a beautiful day! Steps off the train in Monterosso is the sea! We had to stop and play …
Hiking in the Cinque Terre: A Walk from Manarola to Corniglia, Italy. Right outside the doorstep of our apartment in Manarola, we climbed to the vineyard trail that runs around Manarola to begin our first big hike in the Cinque Terre, a trail that goes to Corniglia via Volastra. Corniglia is the next town up …
A Story About Deciding to Travel To Cinque Terre in Italy Alone With My Kids In Scotland, children have two weeks off of school in April, so back in January, the kids and I had a little family meeting to make some plans for our Easter Holidays. Taido would not be coming with us this …
Asparagus Pesto Risotto Every month at my grocery store, Tesco, they put out a new complimentary food magazine with recipes and lately it has been my cooking inspiration. This month I made several recipes from the May issue and this spring green risotto is going into my regular meal rotation. I already love risotto, but …
Coastal Trails Near Aberdeen What follows is a photo series of the coastal cliff walking we’ve done while we’ve been in Aberdeen for the last three years. Coastal cliff scenery is other worldly to me. Partly because I did not grow up near the sea and partly because, similar to the sand dunes in Scotland, …
Hey there happy Junebugs! If you were to come over for a cup of tea today, (YES, a cup of tea, because it is 49 degrees F here in Scotland, not 87 like it is in the rest of the world during summer), I would say to you, Welcome to our chaos. Come on in. …
Castles near Aberdeen and Beyond Oh Scotland, Land of Castles. Castles that are old estate homes. And castle ruins by the sea. Today I’m sharing a collection of photos of castles in Scotland. Like Dunnottar in Stonehaven, there are a few castles we return to with friends again and again because of their proximity to …
An Ode To Aberdeen Beach Oh, Aberdeen Beach. You are sometimes called “Fun Beach,” which makes us smile. You are the first place we visited when we came to Aberdeen. And you are the first place we bring our visitors. Usually as soon as they arrive. It’s the North Sea! I say to my family …
Sand Dunes in Scotland I took this picture of Mary Polly in September 2013, less than a month after we moved here, and it pretty much captures how I feel about the Sand Dunes in Scotland. The wind is always blowing the grasses that grow on the sand dunes so that you feel like you’re …
Santa Fe Spinach Dip Recently Ben asked me to make his favorite hot spinach dip for his birthday dinner. It’s a recipe I give out a lot because it’s pretty much a bowl full of comfort food. We usually eat it with chips or pita chips, but lately, we’ve been spreading it on toast as …
My Favorite Red Phone Booths in Scotland The bright red phone booths across the UK are always catching my eye! I have about a gazillion photos of these booths from hikes and walks and travels in the last three years. This one is from the Coast to Coast walk in Grasmere with Diane. But there …
My mama has now been to Scotland to see us four times in three years!
Happy May, dear friends!! Oh the bursting of colors everywhere makes me so happy! The last month has been so full of lovely days that I’m practically bursting into color myself. The kids and I spent a week of their spring holidays in Italy. (Be still my heart!) Then we came back to snow and …
Visiting Aberdeen: Dunnottar Castle and Stonehaven Our first excursion out of Aberdeen after our overseas move to Scotland was to a castle just outside of Stonehaven. We walked two miles down King Street from where we were staying as guests of a family who were back in the US at the time to Aberdeen’s city …
Perfectly Poached Eggs in A Happy Thick Minestrone Verde This past winter I engaged in a form of torture for thirty days. I did it in the name of health and post-holiday cleansing and camaraderie. Also, I hoped I would lose a few pounds. I did not lose weight. I did not feel great. I actually …
Snapshots of Grasmere: Hike To Easedale Tarn From my bottom bunk, I couldn’t see the mountains that were visible the day before. No one was awake yet, so I let them all sleep while I got up to contemplate the wisdom of dragging my mom and two boys up a misty hill. “The weather looks …