the noise in my head: Monday in Moffat!

Returning from our Craigieburn Forest walk yesterday we stopped in town, again, for a few more items to make another pot of veggie soup for Jill and Gordon went in the butcher's shop for some Cumberland sausages. If it seems like we are always shopping, you would be right. Refrigerators here are not exactly the same capacity that we are used to in the U.S. Always bigger in the U.S. right!? Half of the refrigerator is a freezer that is comprised of 3 drawers. Each drawer is about the size of a nightstand drawer and they have the tiniest ice cube trays...it's hilarious!

When we returned to the house I got busy on the soup and Jillie went back to work on her film while Gordon read and napped on the couch. Vacation is good for some eh?

Jillian has been putting in one to three hours each day in her "travel edit suite" and I'm impressed with her progress. It's so interesting to watch her work an incredibly complex computer program (Final Cut Pro, the industry standard) with such expertise! She has been at every shoot, sometimes with camera or sound equipment in hand, so knows almost every take of film along with the audio. She's focused right now on time-lining her film to get it to her producers and the music/lyrics guys in the hopes of having a rough cut ready to preliminarily submit to the Tribeca Film Festival by the end of November. That's a healthy bit to chew for a young woman. I sit with her just about every day and watch her work and give her solicited, and unsolicited opinions and talk about the sequencing. Again, I'm really, really impressed with the quality of film and work she's already accomplished. Scotland makes a nice change of "office suite" from Manhattan and all the distractions there.

So while the soup is simmering I went into the yard to do a little backyard cleanup. Gordon joined me and between us we dead-headed, pruned, thinned, cut back, transplanted and planted the entire backyard. God I can make a mess of a yard. I don't know why I maintain a big yard in California then fly 6,000 miles to work in another yard here! It makes no sense except I can't help myself! Gordon says he wants to get some of those remote cameras to install outside so we can see our yard bloom. I don't even know what color my rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias or roses are! However, I do know they bloom every year because I get to cut the spent blossoms every fall. Someday maybe we'll fly over late spring/summer and I'll get to see the yard in action. As it stands, business is too good during those months to risk it.

After our dinner of soup for Jill and yummy mashed potatoes, broccoli and Cumberland sausage and gravy for Gordon and I, Jillian plopped on the couch for a much deserved mindless work break and Gordon and I decided on a late night stroll. We headed down the hill walking slowly and peeping in open windows quietly watching what others in this tiny town do on a Monday night. Children watch cartoons on TV while dads are on their computers; a woman quietly sits with a needle and thread; a man reads his newspaper. Not much different here from our own towns I guess. Then I got the very sophomoric idea to take the secret back of town path up to the Heathery Haugh and into the edge of the forest at Gallow Hill. Gordon was dubious at first but said ok so off we went leaving the streetlights behind and heading up a wood plank staircase into the dark. After 50 yards or so of straight up climbing we were completely out of the glow of any streetlight and walking through a pitch black canopy of trees with an old stone wall guiding us upwards. I have to admit I wondered what the heck I was thinking walking into the woods at night. Peeing my pants became a real possibility! It was more than a bit creepy, but Gordon and I held on to each other until we got to the four corners of the Heathery Haugh and turned down toward the streetlight lighting our way back to our neighborhood. As we made the turn we heard an owl hooting from the forest above us as if it were laughing at us!

This morning we walked up to the Moffat Well, about a four plus mile hike. Here are a few pictures we took along the way:

Peek! Snuck up on this lamb feeding and pretty much freaked him out before he turned and bolted away!

A centuries old stone barn.,,,,

......and the facing barn.

Jillian sneaking up on a small flock of sheep.

Looking back down the Well Road into the little village of Moffat.

And looking ahead as we pass the old Well.

A panoramic view!

As we headed back down the hill and just about to cross the river we heard a thundering noise ahead and looked up just in time to see two sheep dogs driving a small flock of sheep over the bridge and into an adjacent field! It totally startled us because they came out of no where and all of a sudden were stampeding toward us. Not something you see every day in Pleasanton or MANHATTAN! It made us laugh out loud. Unfortunately it happened so fast we couldn't get our cameras ready in time to film it or snap off more than this one shot.

Walking through town I couldn't resist photographing the old church again. The skies parted and let the sun shine through and it turned out to be a gorgeous day.