Monster Hunting

Ranked among the Coolest Things I've Ever Done:

Went out on a boat on Loch Ness!!

The highlands are gorgeous and the loch os as creepy-intriguing as you'd expect it to be. I only have 2 more minutes on this internet cafe hour, so I will write in great gobbing detail later. At the moment I'm about to go hunt for Celtics gear (Scots football team) for jimmystagger who is watching my cats.

(It's is Celtics and not Rangers, right Jimmy?)

Someone tell me how the party at MY house was!

Baby Jesus in a Nappy

I wandered upon a Christmas carnival today in the New Town section of Edinburgh. It was full of lovely little stalls selling holiday crafts and treats -- lots of handmade chocolates, toffies, country cheeses, decorations of both the quaint and kitsch variety, kiddie rides including a kid's bungie jumping cage that would never be legal in the States (it looked like a blast!), a skating rink... and one extremely odd nativity scene.

It had a decided Scottish spin on it, though I'm not sure the people who created it were aware of that. It was at the near end of the park, life-sized and under a barn red shelter. The biblical characters were dressed in rustic and rather Scottish-flavored garb. The men wore neckerchiefs and peasant shirts, while Mary sat on the floor cross-legged with her dangerously underweight preemie-sized Newborn King over her shoulder in the "burp me" position. The shepherds had a Border Collie. Iss oul goode. :-)

There weren't any Three Wise Men, but if there had been they would probably be bearing gifts of haggis and Glenfiddich.