I woke up somewhat early, with the blue light shining under my curtains. I'd slept pretty well the night before, save that I roasted and ended up having to shed a layer of clothes. That morning I just sat there in bed looking at the window and watching the light turn from blue to yellow. I didn't want to get up at all. I was enjoyed the comfort of my bed far too much.
Eventually I got myself up and went out into the living room, thinking I'd just go ahead and write my reviews over a few articles. When I got out there I discovered Ahmee sitting on the couch. Shortly after I arrived in the living room Poppy woke up and came out. We sat there in the living room for a bit and talked about what our plans were for the day. I told Ahmee and Poppy that I wanted to write reviews over two articles I'd cut out and a cartoon. I also told them that I wanted to take a test. Ahmee said that after breakfast I could go ahead and write my reviews and take my test and then I wouldn't feel pressured that day to do anything in the car, I could just enjoy the scenery. The plan for the day was I'd work, we'd head out to look for a burg (similar to a castle) that we'd seen from the interstate.
We ate breakfast, I completed my article summaries, and then we got on the road. We got on the road a bit late, but it wasn't all me. We all woke up late, I got dressed immediately after breakfast so that when I was done with my work I could just go, and then I wrote my summaries. While I wrote Ahmee and Poppy hung out in the living room in their pj's looking at the map, knitting, and talking. At some point Poppy got dressed and then after I got done Ahmee got dressed. Then we left to go search , the time was just about noon.
I didn't take the computer with me on the road. I hadn't completed my test and I didn't want to be tempted by it while on the road, especially since so many of them were going to be curvy roads.
We got to have a good look at several really pretty towns. We didn't mind that we weren't finding the castle we'd seen, we were finding all sorts of other pretty places. We enjoyed looking at the just-about-to-turn leaves and the fun older houses that lined the streets. It's a shame we couldn't open the window. The air outside wasn't too hot or too cold, and we would've been able to have fresh air as we went around all of these towns. Ahmee and Poppy talked about what on earth they should do. They loved these little houses, and they disliked all of the large cities. Momma, if you're reading this, your hate for big cities runs in the family. For some reason it's skipped me.
While driving around these small towns looking for the burg we'd seen from the road, I realized that I was really beginning to miss home. I missed raking the leaves, I missed being at home with my Momma and sister, I missed being able to talk to Iain on the phone and on the computer often, I missed Emma's delicious food (by the way, I've had spinach pasta here, it's nothing compared to yours Em! It really is!), I missed bonfires and seeing the leaves change and the smell of hay. I realized that as the days get colder that I like doing those cozy things that I feel bring a family together. I love us all snuggling up on the couch or in bed talking together, I love going for long carrides with the windows rolled down, singing at the top of our lungs to a song on the radio, I love having naughty nights where we all eat nasty junkfood and pig out in front of the tv (doesn't happen often just so you all know), I love talking to Iain to god-awful hours of the morning. When we got out of these little towns I always ended up looking at the fields and thinking of all these things.
I realized while on this drive that I would love to take Iain to our family get together on the winter solstice. On this day my family does something quite pagan. We go out to the farm and set fire to a HUGE stack of logs, tree branches, and various other flamables. The idea is to make the shortest day of the year, longer. We always end up sitting on logs, petting the cats, roasting marshmellows, eating chili, playing with the fire, and looking at the stars. In past years neighbors would come and it would be a small party around the fire.Iain's always lived in Glasgow and he hasn't traveled much at all. He's quite a city-boy. I love the city, and while out looking at the country I kept daydreaming about hay-bailing with Uncle Richard, about the winter-solstice party, about planting walnut trees with Uncle Richard (the squirrels got to them, they never got a chance to grow), about raking the leaves and adding those to the garden, etc.. It would be so much fun to show these things.
I must say that I wasn't stuck in my own daydreams about sharing these things with Iain though. I was looking at the cute towns, at the mountains, at the sky, and looking for the burg. Eventually we got back on the highway and went farther along it. We ended up seeing the castle and getting off and traversing through another few towns and under the highway to get to it. We got to get a close-up look at this castle.
What we were afraid of was that the castle was just another golfing resort. There was a golfing platz all around the castle (erm what do you call a golf field?), but we didn't see where we could go into the castle, we kept running into signs that said: Private. We ended up going into the golf gift shop and asking the woman there about the castle. She told us that the castle was the home to a family, that there were tours, but you had to call a specific number and various other things. She told us that the castle had several different sections from different ages, and that the castle had been passed down through the family for centuries. It was fascinating to see a castle that was still lived in.
Later we walked around a different castle that was inhabitated, these people raised money too. Instead of having a golf platz to raise money to keep the castle afloat these owners had several rows of shops and restaurants next to it that were entirely touristy. There was a shop that had medieval garb in it, there was a shop that had fancy soaps in it, but then there was a shop that was clearly just an average clothing store. It had two different stages where you could tell concerts and plays were performed. Ahmee thought that since so many people were still coming in that there must have been a show that was going to occur later that night. I think that part of the castle was also a really expensive hotel. I think this because not only did I see several rows of chandeliers in one of the windows, but I also saw this same set of chandeliers on a brochure we found while walking around. Course, I don't know much German at all. I could be wrong.
I do know that there are people living in that Castle. While we were in the central courtyard we decided to head in the direction of the mote because we knew that on the other side there was something that looked like a fair. Before we passed through the stone gate to check it out we all looked up at the castle and saw through the window a dog. This dog was barking kinda like Kitty would at people passing in front of our main window at the front of the house, with its nose pressed to the glass and its tail still wagging. After a few minutes of watching an older woman came to the window. I swear she looked right at us. I smiled, but she did not smile back. I don't think I'd like tourists walking all around my house either. I wouldn't want to live in a castle like that. I wonder how they sneak out to do their grocery shopping.... After having the cold encounter with the old lady in the window we went through the arch and found ourselves in a small courtyard that had swan poop on the ground and a few plants popping up here and there. The courtyard was a slightly dismal sight, but the lake view was definitely a good one. We saw that we couldn't reach what we thought was the medieval fair though and so we turned around and continued to look at the shops and cafes.
We headed out, delighted that after going through the effort to see one castle we got to see two. What was amazing to me was how close these two were together and how in both of them the families had found ways to keep people living within them (I don't know if the second one had passed down from generation to generation like the other one or not).
Once we got back to the park we went shopping again and grabbed some more groceries. Ahmee decided that she'd fix dinner and told us (Poppy and I) to go for a walk and pick up some sticks for the fire. The night before our fire had been a pretty short-lived one. This time we decided we'd have a proper fire and use up the rest of our logs by starting it with small sticks and paper. Since I'd wanted to go for a walk and enjoy the fall air I was more than happy to go ahead and head out.
Poppy and I didn't go for a long walk though. We grabbed a couple handfuls of sticks and then went back to the bungalow. Poppy started up the fire and I cleaned up the living room by moving all of the clutter to designated places. Ahmee and Poppy set up happy hour, but while they were slicing cheese and apples I had jumped on the computer to take my test. It took me a bit longer because a few of the questions I did not know at all Ex: name a present-day example of a Confederacy. Yeah. I took an educated guess with that one. My choices were: Yugoslavia, The Middle East, Central America, and the European Union. I picked the European Union.
At any rate I had several questions where I was having some issues. Ahmee and Poppy told me they were going for a walk and they left. It wasn't too long after they left that I got done. I took this as a chance to look at pictures again. We've downloaded pictures from Ireland, Scotland, and England. We haven't put these on here yet simply because we haven't been with very strong connections yet. I know how to send the file, it's just I'm uncertain wether or not the internet will hold on me (often times I have to try sending emails several times because it breaks down).
While Ahmee and Poppy were gone I realized how quiet it was. It's not that we all talk a lot, it's just that this silence seemed to grate on my ears. I got up and started talking to myself. I thought for a minute of turning on the radio, but then I decided I didn't want to, I wanted to sing. I started singing songs that have been getting stuck in my head so easily since we've started this trip. Songs like: "I kissed a girl!", "Here comes the sun", "Love was made for me and you!", "The 7 things I hate about you", "It take two to tango", this could go on a while so I'll stop now. I realized while I hummed and sang some of these songs (slightly shocked that my voice sounded iffy) that I haven't sung in a long time. At home I often break out into song whenever I feel like it. I don't do that here. I don't even sing in the shower. I sing at the table when I hear a song on the radio I know (heard Tainted Love the other night and got so excited-btw haven't mentioned yet that the Germans really like Shania Twain-or at least someone who sounds just like her), but I often don't sing loud.
You know, when Iain told me that he thought I couldn't play the bagpipe because he didn't think I could produce a strong enough flow of wind power, I kept quiet, but I have to say that I was laughing inside. He'd said that he didn't think women could be bagpipers because it requires long, strong breaths and womens lungs weren't as big as mens. I raised my eyebrows at him and he said, "Well maybe like an opera singer could do it." He might be surprised that while I don't like talking very loud and it can sometimes be hard to hear me when I'm talking, I do like singing loudly and I can project my voice very well. While alone in the house I was projecting my voice, thinking about show choir and how people in the front row always said that they could hear me (even on the days where I was tired). I think I might just take up bagpiping to prove Iain wrong, tehe.Ahmee and Poppy got back and we all had happy hour where we ate cheese, bread, and apples, and then drank wine (Ahmee and Poppy) and apple juice (me-killer stuff too!). After eating happy hour supper was ready so we went in and ate up Ahmee's stew. Was sooooooooo delicious. Was also gone very very fast. Gee, I wonder why.....
After dinner I was filled with that warm and fuzzy happiness, so pretty much, I was ready to fall asleep at any moment. I took over the largest couch, pressing the right side of my face into the right side arm as I looked at the one flame that was flickering in the fireplace. When Ahmee got up and started moving around she asked if I was ever going to get up. I told her that I would put on my pj's when the one flame went out. She laughed and said I'd just say it was still going and I'd stay there till midnight. This wasn't true, when the one flame went out I got up and put on my pjs. Shortly after that I climbed under my two comforters and curled into a ball to go to sleep.
The first few minutes of being in bed are terrible for me. The sheets and the comforters are always cold from the air and it seems to take forever for your body heat to settle in to them. This time it took about five minutes for my body to be warm, and then it took 10 for my feet to catch up. After my feet caught up, I felt wonderful. It didn't take long at all for me to fall asleep after that (if conditions are right I can be asleep in under 5 minutes).
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