The a fore mentioned temperamental computer was treated shamefully today.

While Bert was eating his fourth bowl of soup (yes the questionable concoction from yesterday), I thought I would make myself useful by sending a couple of pictures to the family. The computer was perched at the end of the table so Bert could see the screen as well, without disturbing his protein intake. No problem. Pictures were sent. Meal was over and then in my haste clear the table I tripped on a cord.

Smack, on the floor it landed. Bert of course was in shock. Me too cause I quite like the little thing now. But after our breathing started again, we saw it had not skipped a beat.

I knew we would get along, this computer and I!

There is some lentil soup in the making on my stove right now. But the smell in the kitchen is not the nice hearty smell we love associating with soup. It is more like…dirt. (I feel like I am channeling my five year old self. For about a year, everything smelt and tasted like dirt. Ahh the joys of childhood!) I think we need a new recipe over here!

The shortest day of the year, that’s it. Ok maybe not the shortest since they really are all the same length, but the darkest anyway. It was dark shortly after 4 p.m. today. One of the men in church said they used to call it the "Evening of Three Suppers" because there is enough time to fit that many in. Sounds good to me! Haggis and Tatties anybody?

Sunrise behind our house (this is 180* patched together)

Being the good little Presbyterian I am :), I went to the "Listen to Christmas" performance that was on at the Hall on Saturday night. It took a little convincing to think that the Holidays were actually yet to come, since we were all together with my family a few weeks ago and Bert’s family just before that. A local poet read Christmas poems and stories, the community choir sang, and they had a wind band as well. Kilts were worn. Great fun was has by all.

The wind is absolutly raging. That fairly common apparently. Not usually for this long, but they do have some pretty good winds.

I checked the weather report on line and we are having 30 mph winds with very frequent gust of up to 50 mph. Bert stopped to ponder that and came up with, "That’s pretty strong. Imagine trying to stand on top of a car that was going 50 mph?" After seeing the look on my face, he said, "You haven’t seen Teen Wolf have you?" :)

My temperamental computer.

Do I love it? Do I hate it? I can but only ponder this. My sweet hubby spied the little thing at the bottom of a rubbish bin. Bert loves computers. He loves cords. He loves anything that has more memory than his calculator. He loves computers. This being the case, the opportunity could not be passed. Out of the bin came the dejected little laptop. Screws were loosened, others were tightened. Clean, clean, ‘scrub’, ‘scrub’, and the second generation Pohl family added the third computer to their belongings.

Ok so that is the background. Now the crazy bundle of keys has begun doing all manner of things she should not. If you have ever been friends with a mule, you may have some idea of how my sweet little computer is behaving. She simply refuses to budge at times. We are cruising along, "Dear Mom, ……" Send. And boom. Out of the blue, I am reminded who is really has the upper hand in this little game.

But in the end, I love it. I thank the person who binned it, and thank my hubby for so loving thinking of me when he saw the thing in the dump and also for spending hours fixing her for me.

Most of all though, I thank the Lord for giving me such a sweet hubby.

Here we are. In the northern Highlands of Scotland. All cozy in our little house. The wind is blowing and the rain is coming down, but what does it matter with a roof over the head. God is good.

We are in Aultbea. It is a beautiful little village all by itself on the west coastal side of the highlands. We traveled up here on Wednesday night, Thursday we settled in, Friday I went into the larger town to get some food (three cheers from Bert:) and now we are finaly catching up with the world on the web.

Our house is on the right half (without the bushes in front)

Looking into the housing part of town. (our house behind the trees on right)

An glance in the opposite direction of the last picture.
The rainbow didn't show up as well on "film".

We discovered our address today as well. It is:

6 Peir Road

Aultbea

Ross-shire

IV22 2JQ

UK

The telephone yet remains a mystery. Hmmm, small town. We will find it I am sure.