jedburgh

 My grandpa Gowanlock's family came from this small town.

I had great plans to find all kinds of information about the family

but the people I talked to didn't seem to think there was a

registry of any kind.

So we drove around the town a bit

 and visited the graveyard and read some tombstones.

 Without success.

Still, it was pretty cool to be in a town of my ancestry!

Of course we were careful to drive very slowly

around town...

 We drove VERY slowly by this yard several times.

It was almost too perfect!

 A few miles away (miles because we are in the UK!)

we found this lovely "home".

 Just a small Scottish home!

 The bridge over the Forth of Firth

on our way to St. Andrews.

 Along the way we stopped in the lovely little fishing village of Crail.

arriving in scotland

 I have always wanted to go to Scotland.

Even with living in Germany for 12 years

we did not get to the land of my Grandpa Gowanlock.

On August 7, 2015, that finally changed!

 Beautiful, beautiful landscapes!

 

The view from our campsite was just perfect.

It looks rather small - and it was!

But we were snug as bugs in rugs

and because we were on jet lag, we hardly

noticed how cramped our quarters really were!

hadrian's wall

 Some of the countryside as we zipped alongside Hadrian's wall.

 The famous "Sycamore Gap".

I had read about this tree and suddenly, there it was!

How cool is that?!?

 "Hadrian's Wall is a spectacular World Heritage Site, marching 73 miles from sea to sea across some of the wildest and most dramatic country in England.

It was a defensive fortification in the Roman province of Britannia, begun in 122 AD during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. It ran from the banks of the River Tyne near the North Sea and the Solway Firth on the Irish Sea. It had a stone base and a stone wall. There were milecastles with two turrets in between. There was a fort about every five miles. From north to south the wall comprised a ditch, wall, military way and vallum (another ditch with adjoining mounds). It is thought that the milecastles were staffed with static garrisons, whereas the forts had fighting garrisons of infantry and cavalry. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been used as customs posts. When in use it was effectively the northern limit of the Roman Empire."

 Gorgeous countryside.

 This little girl was ready for battle!

She reminded us of another little girl that we know very well

who loved these sorts of things at this age!

 

 You can see the wall way up on that hill.

 A closer look.

 Amazing workmanship.

The lavatory!

an extra special thanksgiving

The table was set.

Everyone had their place.

Even the birds!

This one was hand-carved by David's grandpa.
I feel very honoured to have it in our home.

 

And then the guests arrived.

 If you recognized the "extras" at our table you will

know that they are some of our BFA kids - very special BFA

kids at that!

Yup!

Amanda, Mallory and Ben.

These three were in Katy's grade at BFA

and they are still special friends to this day.

Ben started grade 1 with Katy, Mallory came in grade 3

and Amanda in grade 6.

Special times!

And ridiculous ones too.

Love these peeps!

Ben and David are buds.

They were roommates at college and it's all become

a pretty neat connection.

What a wonderfully glorious day!

We have MUCH for which to be thankful.

:)