Laurie has moved...

and so has my blog.

Now that I'm in Paris

you can find me at

lauriewheeler.tumblr.com

We Have a Visa!

Good news from the French consulate today -- my visa has been approved and even better news -- my friend Kate has my passport in hand and is bringing it to Banchory!

Bad news from Seattle -- your weather is, unbelievably, WORSE than ours here in the Northeast of Scotland!!! Today was sunny and clear -- amazing walk up Scolty with Mike Scott.

Silly girl that I am, I packed up and shipped all my heavy winter stuff (not wanting to cart it back and forth from Scotland to Seattle and over to Paris) -- besides, I thought to myself, it will be warming up in Seattle and practically spring in Paris when I arrive...

(sigh)

4 more days...

Monday: meal out with the 20-something friends still in Banchory (though Robbie Morrison is leaving for Seattle on the same day as me! He'll be working at Bellevue First Pres!)

Tuesday: last meeting with the "Studio 57" Sunday morning team

and today, Wednesday: Shore Porters collecting all my things for shipment to Paris

Still praying for the visa to come through...

Counting Down...

Hmmm -- more days have elapsed since my last posting than the days that have yet to elapse until I leave Banchory.

Yesterday the East Church hosted a lovely 'good-bye' lunch for me.

Saturday I attended a 'good-bye' open house for friends Jeff and Francis Lamb. Then had fun hanging about a bit longer to watch the end of the rugby match between Ireland and England -- Ireland won -- I was lost!
Thursday I finished packing up all the boxes for shipment to Paris. They are scheduled to arrive at my new apartment while I am still in Seattle! (A move within the EU is a whole lot easier than across the pond!)

Wednesday I returned from Durham and returned library books to Aberdeen -- spoke that evening for the Mens' group. The previous Wed. I'd spoken for the Womens' guild!

Tuesday in Durham Francis Watson (my supervisor) treated me to lunch in the castle.

Monday I traveled down to Durham and after seminar enjoyed another great evening with Dave and Mindy -- the friends that I bunk with down there.

And Sunday last -- well, that is just too far back to remember...

Happy Valentine's Day

This Year's Valentine from Mom

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I'm remembering a previous Valentine's day -- when Mom and Dad and I took the twins and Anna to a Chuck. E. Cheese in Cleveland, Ohio, so that Scott and Karin could have a date night.

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The time with the family was lovely.

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Valentine's Day in a crowded Chuck. E. Cheese in Cleveland was hell.

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Many wonderful memories with Scott's family and the folks since then --

never been back to Chuck. E. Cheese.

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Never will.

And we STILL have snow!

Best combo -- blue skies -- clear roads -- lots of lovely snow everywhere still. And I got to enjoy it on a walk around Scolty this afternoon with Bryonie -- what a treat.

All went well on Wed. in Edinburgh and now it is wait in hope that the visa goes through smoothly. I did get to experience the "we just need one more sheet of paper from you" phenomenon for which French bureaucracy is so well known -- all handled before lunch, however, thanks to a local solicitor willing to be an answer to prayer.

Now back to the thesis...

Happy Valentine's Day all!

On the Train to Edinburgh ...

waving back to 4 kids who are skating on a massive frozen puddle in their field. It's amazing how the weather changes around here -- this morning traveling from Banchory to Stonehaven on icy roads with snow flurries now and again -- one stretch of road looked like a mountain pass there was so much snow on the sides and the trees.

Not 15 minutes down the coast there is no sign of the white stuff -- everything obviously very frozen (watching the golfers all bundled up and pulling their carts across frozen greens) -- but sunny and clear. Remarkable.

Still Snowy ...

and I hear the same is true in Seattle. It's beautiful here -- yet tomorrow a.m. I drive to Stonehaven to catch the train to Edinburgh and my meeting at the French Consulate. I'm hoping that the light snowfall / sleet predicted doesn't materialize...

Last night's session meeting went great -- the elders voted to continue funding the position that I'm currently in, which means they can begin looking for a replacement. That's an encouragement and affirmation of the work invested over this past year.

Highlight of the day yesterday was a phone message from Rebekah, who is 5. And I quote:

(Starting out a bit hesitant...)

Hi Auntie Laurie its Rebekah

(Grandma's voice in background says "she's not there so leave her a message, say we're at Mimi's)

please call us at Mimi's house and

(hesitant then suddenly cuts off Grandma's next prompt and starts speaking with full Bekah authority)

I'm going to leave you a message
and this message is for you -- Auntie Laurie I wish you could come back
and for my birthday because I am going to invite you.
I'll call you later.
Bye-bye.

Her birthday is in August. The girl plans ahead.

Adverts in London...

Athiests and Christians battle for the best adverts on the side of London buses...

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1877658,00.html?iid=perma_share

Meanwhile I'm still in Banchory -- decided against battling through sleet and snow to get to Durham -- I will be making my way down to the Session meeting at the East Church tonight to give a brief report on the Children's work over the past year. That's what happens when you don't go to school ...

Truth be told, I volunteered to pop in and give the report in person that I'd sent thinking I'd be absent -- folks here have been so generous with me, the least I can do is show up to say thank you!

Still Snowing...

And lovely out! Of course, up to this point (in the worst cold snap in 20 years in the UK) I've been able to walk anywhere I needed to go -- on Monday I'm meant to be going to Durham on an early train (forecast: sleet and icy conditions) and on the way home Wed. (sleet and snow forecast in Durham) stopping in Edinburgh to visit the consulate. Hmmm.

Cars backed up in Aberdeen on Friday -- 'tailbacks' were huge -- one friend of mine travelled less than 2 miles in 90 minutes!

Will make the decision tomorrow whether or not to take the Durham trip. A good friend here works for the council (that would be county in the US) and is in charge of -- you guessed it -- roads, among other things... 5 of us were out for a curry tonight (that would be eating at an Indian Restaurant in the US) and Victor offered to put me on one of the snow trucks that clears the slug road to Stonehaven ... hmmm.

No complaints -- I would have been very sad to leave Banchory without at least one more blast of winter -- never mind the coldest blast in the country in 20 years!

W. Somerset Maugham

"American women expect to find in their husbands the perfection that English women only hope to find in their butlers."

Happy Accidents

Just turned my white bath mat pink in the wash.

I've been washing the same mat and rug together in the same wash load for the last 2 years. First time the one has coloured the other.

By happy coincidence the bathtub and sinks in the washroom of the new Apartment in Paris are pink. So now the mat and rug match.

Pretty good sign you're heading the right direction when even the mistakes work out perfectly...

Snowfall

Two days of snow here in Banchory -- not at all the same crippling effects as in London etc. nor as much snow and cold -- I was standing in the bank the other day, before the snow moved up to us, and overheard two people speaking -- Monday, I guess it was, when Heathrow was shut and transportation in London practically at a standstill -- an older man remarked on the situation, finishing with "Don't you feel bad for all those folks dealing with it...". To which the Scottish woman next to him replied (with some energy), "Not a bit -- they could learn from us how to deal with the weather." Ah -- the Scottish / English acrimony...

You can just see the bell tower of the West Church in the middle left there ...

I miss being at the base of Scolty on snow days -- walked over to the cottage today to collect mail, but the hill is closed for logging. Here are a few pictures of the snow from the deck of the house that I'm staying in just now. See that large white bare patch part way down Scolty (the hill below -- with the tower on top)? Remember in October when I first moved -- the windstorm that took out my car (via tree)? That white patch used to be trees -- that's the bit that was knocked over in '06 and had to be cleared.

Okay -- I'm lame...

Sorry all - will try to clean up my act and keep this blog up to date!

So -- short and sweet and often -- here goes:

Saturday: Moved out of my cottage --

(moving into this building in March -- the very top floor corner apartment is mine -- no, not those big windows -- the wee ones in the roof!)

Sunday: American Church in Paris voted unanimously to call me as their Associate Pastor

(It's the spire to the left -- not the big one with lots of lights...)

Monday: Sold my Ka

(my next mode of transport...)

Tuesday: Scheduled visa appointment with French Consulate in Edinburgh

(next Wed., provided health insurance paperwork comes through in time...)

Sigh -- no wonder I'm so tired!

Highlight of today: a clothes dryer!! It rained all day today in Banchory (snow yesterday) and yet I was able to do ALL my laundry and ALL of it is dry! Thanks to Paul and Meg -- friends traveling in New Zealand all of Feb. who have handed over their keys (house and car) to me.

More soon -- lots of love -- Laurie