Coventry

I'm back in England! My time in Scotland finished well - the last few days at the vet clinic were amazing like normal, with another couple of calving difficulties that let me practice my skills learned in the dystocia pracs at uni, among other things. Everyone was incredibly warm and welcoming and truly they are a great bunch of people. Special thanks again to Freda and Ronnie, and Kenneth for hosting me, and for Pauline for the trip down to Inverness.

Seeing Louise has been great – she looks exactly the same lovely self as I remember more than 10 years ago from Ambon and when she visited us in the US. Meeting Harry has been good and we celebrated his 3^rd birthday yesterday! He let me carry him a few times on Monday (before he started feeling rather poorly) when we were at a lovely park around Coombe Abbey. Meeting his younger sister Hannah is spectacular as she’s so quick to smile and grin at you and since she hasn’t been sick (unlike poor Harry) she’s quite happy for me to hold her and quick to be entertained. In fact I was apparently special enough that she handed me her spoon to feed her her yoghurt – a privilege previously only available to Harry. Go me! :) Seeing Dave again was bizarre because he had only stayed with my family for a week or two in Ambon many years ago when he was visiting Louise, but as soon as I saw him I recalled he looked exactly the same as all those years ago when he was such an easy-going guest (when I had a rather big crush on his cute self I must say). They are both so warm and friendly, I feel very much like a much-loved younger sister which does my heart good. And all thanks to God, I have been adjusting very well to having Harry and Hannah around. Having not been around little kids, for extended periods of time, in a while I was anticipating it being quite full-on. And it is, but not as tiring as it could/should have been, and I’m thankful for that. Louise and I have been having some excellent, deep, heart-felt, sometimes silly chats and catching up on years worth of stuff, and talking about God and life like good friends do. And staying up too late as usual. Last night it was just us after the kids were in bed, and we made decadent hot-chocolate (further discussion on hot chocolate following) with cream and marshmallows and started the movie Hairspray only to keep chatting through the beginning until we paused it, finished chatting for another 30 min or so, and started it over again. By this time it was getting late so we only watched the first half (or less?) and went to bed at 11. 

One thing I love about Louise, and something she apparently doesn't appreciate, is how beautiful she is. She oozes beauty. She has big warm eyes, cute swishy hair, a lovely huge smile, great fingers (I always notice hands), very cute figure, and then to top all of that off - the biggest, most patient heart to go along with it. She doesn't always think so, and I know sometimes she has to grit her teeth like any mom with toddlers, but she is very patient with her kids, and Harry and Hannah adore her and know they are loved. And Dave adores her too, as any proper husband would! She has that wonderful gift of making everyone else even more lovely whenever she's around. She's a gorgeous and encouraging wife, patient mother, loving daughter, great sister, and heartfelt friend. I can only hope and pray that God continues to speak His truth about her beauty into her heart. 

Because it’s Harry’s birthday this week, and Dave’s is on Monday, there’s a big birthday celebration on Saturday, and throughout the week family on Louise’s and Dave’s sides are converging on the house to stay as well as a full gaggle of guests on Sat.

Tomorrow we’re going to Coventry’s last royal show (like the Perth Royal Show – an ag show) – they’re stopping it after many, many years. I can’t remember exactly but it’s a lot. A lot. :) This is the last year, which is a bit sad, but at least I get to go! Always fun to see the animals. 

Speaking of the hot chocolate before, I went to a café just down the street from Louise and Dave’s and ordered a large hot chocolate and they asked the obligatory question ‘do you want cream, etc on it’ to which I replied with the obvious answer ‘yes please’ and sat down to read my book. They brought it by and I must say this has to be one of the largest mugs of hot chocolate I’ve ever had the privilege of appreciating from a café. It was enormous, and on the top was a tower a good 2 inches high of proper whipped cream heavily dusted with chocolate and next to the mug, on the saucer it was sitting on, was a gigantic mound of tiny marshmallows; and I am not exaggerating. My eyes lit up and I very nearly clapped my hands in unexpected glee. This had far, far exceeded my expectations, in fact raising the bar for any time I make my own hot chocolate. 

Long catchup

A lot has happened since Saturday, but I'll start with the weekend. I had a very relaxing weekend. Sat came across one of the vets with his family, so we had a nice chat - he asked how I was doing and I said I'd had a sleep in. He commented that surely the first week wasn't so bad! I explained it wasn't - I'm just an introvert and have been finding it all stressful despite how wonderful people were! He looked almost bewildered for a moment, and said: hmm, you hide it well. You don't come across as an introvert. :) I think I liked that. I want so hard to put people at ease, and I am a peace maker and also hate awkward scenarios and chatting with people is a great thing - it helps set them at ease which makes me feel more at ease, it lets people know you care and frankly, having people like you has definite advantages!!! So I was glad that despite feeling tired at times, they clearly thought I was generally comfortable, so job well done. But also I was glad that I was able to explain that it wasn't always easy. 

Anyway, Sunday I went with Ronnie and Freda to the church Ronnie has been a minister in for 25 years. What faithfulness! It is a Church of Scotland church and is much more traditional that I am used to, but I really enjoyed it. It was a communion service - and we had port! mmm, a bit more bite than grape juice! ;) sadly the singing was hymns I didn't know, but Ronnie's message was great - he talked about how Jesus rescues us from our own personal hells - the places in our hearts and minds where we can't escape the guilt of things we've done/thoughts we've had. As well as enables us to call out to Him. It was a very encouraging message, and I listened intently. Everyone was so incredibly friendly and welcoming, and despite Ronnie's potentially-embarrassing welcome to the 2 guests (me being the one no one else knew!) I felt at home there, worshipping the same God these people do. I so needed that encouragement also because I've been missing going to church, have had to miss the past 2 weeks for traveling, and I miss that fellowship with fellow Believers.

the view of the back of the Castle of Mey

After a light lunch Freda took me to the Castle of Mey - a beautiful 15th century castle bought in the 1950s by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother - she renovated it and stayed there for a month every year until her death at 101. She visited the area (Freda has met her a couple of times) and climbed up the stairs in her castle home every day she was there until her death - what an incredibly strong woman! The land is beautiful, right on the coast (it's quite near Thurso) with rolling green hills and a prize-winning Angus herd the queen had built up. The castle itself is also very beautiful with lots of windows and little nooks and crannies, although the stairways are tight, steep spiral staircases, I can't imagine going up them every day - let alone the queen! The castle now belongs to Prince Charles Duke of Rothesay who also visits every year. It was awesome to get to tour a castle currently owned by royalty, a real working/living castle. It was a very nice trip - thanks to Freda for shouting me the ticket too!

 some of the views from around the castle - which is up the hill on the left. 

Monday and I was off to work again. This time I remembered to pray for some specific things which included: that the day would go by fast and I wouldn't be afraid to have a go. The day did go by fast - I headed out with William by 9:30 to go out to the next county - Sutherland. We had 3 farms to dehorn and castrate calves. Straight away William had me giving the cornual nerve block for the dehorning in the first farm. Then after a couple of shows I manned the cauterising dehorner (is that called something? I'm sure it is...). Then we drove further down the road to the next place, had to drive to 3 locations to find where they'd got the cows, and it was a 'rodeo' as William put it. Very much out of hand - they had the calves and cows separate fortunately, and penned. But the handlers weren't so skilled, and/or were still uncoordinated from their hangover they freely admitted to. Will got frustrated a few times and I didn't really blame him, as calves got out of the crush and turned around, and through the wrong openings. It took twice as long as necessary to get them done. There I learned how to use the big clippers for the horns, as well as giving the nerve block injections (5ml lignocaine+adrenaline each side =10ml/calf) - and still watching Will castrate. At the 3rd farm - they were much better prepared again (like the first place) and no dramas at all. This time I got to castrate 4 calves too. I naturally am not as good, nor as fast, but am happy with my results. 

At each farm the farmers have been ultra friendly and encouraging, and patient/willing for me to have a go whenever Will suggested it. No one (not that I was aware of anyway) rolled their eyes or despaired over my being slower. They all wanted to know what I was doing, where I was from, how I was liking it, etc. Nothing like being made to feel welcome! 

So after one other stop to look at a horse we were back to the clinic at 4:30! (we'd stopped and had lunch by the sea - ahhh) We'd driven nearly 90miles that day in some beautiful country. The day certainly went by fast! At the clinic a rabbit came in that was off his feed (bad sign) and not making proper poo, so I suggested doing the fluids in the ear vein as I'd seen that recommended in my fabulous BSAVA rabbit book. So I got to place my first catheter, and into a rabbit! That was cool, it snagged a bit, but got the vein. need to practice the coordination of it all, but was pleased. Unfortunately it wasn't wrapped enough, and in our attempts to move him and feed him he pulled it out :( so we then just did subcut catheter for fluids. 

Today - Tuesday, I prayed the same things, I was grateful yesterday had gone quickly. Today allergies flared up again - irritating! My loratidine is not working very well...so got to work and decided to stick around the clinic, and got to do some exciting things there too. I was able to watch a ewe caesarean (just like a cow only she's on a table), and got to actually do an exploratory laparotomy - incision and a quick stitch up, and watch a large lump removed over the right elbow of a dog (well circumscribed lump, we'll see what the path says), and at the end of the day held the rabbit and directed for taking his temp, and cleaning up his rear-end from being all matted and clotted with urine/faeces (poor thing! - but he's eating fresh grass! yah!) and then feeding him. So that was nice to hold a rabbit :D

And now I'm back writing this. The day wasn't as fast as yesterday, but it did go by, and I got to do some things, and watch some things, and have some great chats with Guy about God and Christian life and feel satisfied. Tomorrow I'm shifting over to Kenneth's after work so that Ronnie and Freda can get their house ready for their family coming for a visit next week. I will miss staying with them, but have had a wonderful time, and I know that I will enjoy my time at Kenneth's too. He is a very easy-going kind of guy. Thanks God, for 2 great days.

observations

So I've noticed that a lot of things about Scotland are true - they do say lad and lass, och and ay, they do talk with a lovely lilt, they do have Border collies and Scottish terriers and Shetland ponies. There are some, but used to be more, Highland Cattle. You can buy a full kilt in at least one of the shops downtown. It's absolutely beautiful up here in Thurso, and so remote.

This is the view from my room at Ronnie and Freda's

It's not crowded at all! The other day Freda was complaining about a traffic jam - there were 3 cars waiting to turn right across a road, waiting for less than a couple of minutes. The hills are green with rich lovely grass (good for laminitis so horse owner's watch out!) while little white daisies dot my hosts' yard. Tons of people have gardens (same as in England) and it's windy because we're right off the coast and there's not much to stop it.

This is the sort of community centre - "Caithness Horizons" - it's also a visitor's centre with heaps of great museum stuff and videos to watch educating you about the area. Highly recommend it. And how cool is the building!?!

I was up late reading a book last night and it was still not fully dark, it was more like deep dusk, and it was midnight.

Freda and her daughter Pauline took me to Dunnet Head on Thurs night - this is about 7:30pm

Today I'm enjoying no responsibilities, chatted with my mom, about to head downtown and check out some of the shops, and then have lunch with Ronnie and Freda in a nice cafe by the beach. It's another beautiful sunny day, and my allergies are trying to make a strong comeback (yesterday was bad) but I'm trying to beat them back with an ugly stick. Either way I'm determined to enjoy this weekend!