THANKSGIVING IN SCOTLAND, 2011
David and Leslye
Hardie keep
moving...and Janice
McDonald and I keep
finding them--this time
in the town of
Haddington in East
Lothian and living in a
house called Colstoun
Mains (right).

When will they learn?

This was our sixth
Thanksgiving in
Scotland, and naturally,
I'll say it was the best
yet.
Our favorite  form of
exercise was walking.  
In the photos at left,
Janice, Leslye and I are
at Tyninghame Beach on
the North Sea.  While
there are no cabanas
where drinks with
umbrellas are served,
there are lots of
interesting things to
see--like
the pillboxes and tank
traps that were put on
the beach in World War
II in the event that
Hitler got ideas about
invading.
One day, Wilson (the Samoyed) and I took a walk around the
neighborhood and saw lots of interesting things--like Lennoxlove Castle
(above).  Along the way, we discovered that not all the locals were
friendly.  These cows seemed to be angry about something, and while I
don't know if they were "charging" or just "shambling in our general
direction," we gave them a wide berth.
But who are we kidding.  Thanksgiving is all about the food.  Right?  Despite flirtation with haggis in its myriad forms
(like cocktail meatballs and frozen pizza, left), most of the action was all to do with Thanksgiving dinner, where Leslye
served 22 grateful guests a myriad of traditional--and orange--Thanksgiving dishes, like pumpkin, carrots and sweet
potatoes.
I think this is about the 80th year
in a row that I've posed with
turkeys for this exact same photo.  
It's a tradition!
On the day after Thanksgiving, we try to give
Leslye some respite from her hostessing duties
by going into Edinburgh, having a festive lunch at
The Dome (left) to kick off the holiday season,
walk through the German holiday market
(below) and hit a movie--in this case, The
Adventures of Tintin, which was indeed in 3D.
We saved one of our best days in Scotland for our last.  The
Saltire is the Scottish flag and first appeared over the village
of Athelstaneford (below right), the home of our the lovely
Alison (left with Janice, me and David) and David Johnston.  
In addition to putting on his kilt, accepting the Saltire as part
of the ceremony and playing his bagpipe, David also cooked
lunch (below).





David is world expert on the Lockerbie bombing, but I prefer
to think of him this way.
This seems to be the year that
we "mainstreamed" haggis into
our diets.  

We ate in frozen pizzas (above)
and shaped into little balls
(below) and some other ways
I'd just as soon forget.)