Two years on...greetings from B.C.

I am slow. Very, very slow. It can take me a long time to start to feel settled in a place, so it should be no surprise that two years after moving back to Canada, I am finally able to occasionally peek out of my shell. Not that I'm not busy, but huge life adjustments can cause long-term creative hiccups for those of us who shimmy at a snail's pace.

The Scotsman and I have settled in the South Okanagan. A year ago, in a fit of missing my friends at the Edinburgh Cake Ladies, I decided to start my own baking club. It's much smaller than Edinburgh, but just as fun.

Should I resurrect this blog, or leave it as a closed chapter and start afresh? I don't know. For now I will enjoy catching up with some of my favourite blogs - all the characters and storytellers that I have so missed.

Canada has been good to us in the past two years. We recently rented a wee house, and I will leave you with our magnificent view.

The big move...

Hello you,

I am leaving you a note in case you have landed here looking for me. After seven years on Scotland I am moving back to Canada with my beloved Scotsman.

Whever we end up in B.C. I will be blogging again in my sensuous, local tourism vein. 

DFTBA and eat cake.

Sophia xx

And it's goodbye from me

Hello you.

Alas my blogging days are at an end for now. With my mind and creative energy on other things, I'm closing up shop on both of my blogs.

Thankfully I have google reader to dive into your bloggy lives whenever I want, and I have no doubt I will eventually reemerge in blogland under another guise.

You are made of awesome.

Peace, love and haggis,

Sophia

Cake. More Cake. Even more cake.

A cake club is a brilliant idea. A big group of strangers bake cakes and bring them to a predetermined location. They stand around in a jittery mob as the cakes are lined up on a long counter.

They face the land of cakes, waiting and waiting for the moment of permission, that glorious moment when they are told the slicing and devouring can begin.

One baker has made a cake she has dubbed "the tower of sin." The crowd is noticeably thicker on the side of the room that is closest to this sweet monster.

Even when the first slices are piled onto small plates and the forks are made busy with stabbing and scooping, everyone still stands close to the cakes, ready to refill as soon as possible when plates are empty.

Time passes, more slices are eaten. People slow down, find a seat, aren't so quick to rush to cut another piece. The sugar buzz takes over their minds. They look at each other with dopey half grins, these strangers drunk on cake.

Good times, this whole cake business. Good times.

35 Things

Every year on our birthdays, my curvaceous Canadian friend and I compile a list. Between one birthday and the next we must do as many new things as years that we have been alive. The idea is that this will help us to challenge ourselves,to  keep our minds open to new horizons and experiences.

Yesterday I turned 36 and I emailed my list of 35 things to my friend. Looking at it I am quite pleased. It gives me a wonderful sense of abundance, looking at all of these adventures in one place.

Here is my list. Now to get started with 36 things.

1. Visited largest Buddhist temple in Western Europe
2. Moved in with my Scotsman
3. Went to Tentsmuir Point Nature Reserve, where we saw no seals.
4. Visited Alloway and saw the bridge from Robert Burns’ Tam O’ Shanter
5. Went to The Royal Highland Show
6. Visited Abbotsford, home of Sir Walter Scott
7. Stranded in Seattle overnight after missing our flight back to Canada
8. Visited Melrose Abbey
9. Visited ruins of Dunure Castle
10.Visited Paisley Abbey
11. Took an open-top bus tour of London
12. Got half way through P90x. Injured myself, quit.
13. Went to the huge beach at Lunan Bay
14. Cooked Rhumblethumps
15. Went to my first private dining club - Charlie and Evelyn’s Table
16. Saw the last surviving oak tree in Birnam Wood
17. Visited The Hermitage in Perthshire
18. Made haggis wontons with whisky mayonnaise
19. Saw inside of Edinburgh University’s anatomy theatre
20. Attended Edinburgh Secret Society events
21. Saw the play The Hard Man at the Kings Theatre
22. Rode London Tube in party frock and huge hat
23. Attended Princess Anne’s birthday garden party at Buckingham Palace
24. Had a drink in the officers' mess at Edinburgh Castle
25. Attempted sticky gingerbread cake
26. Attended several “It’s Good to Give” fundraising afternoon teas
27. Had a drink in what is thought to be Scotland’s oldest pub, The Sheep Heid Inn
28. Walked part of the Fife Coastal Trail
29. Walked in Roslin Glen
30. Saw Darren Brown at The Playhouse Theatre
31. Saw the play The Haunted at the King’s
32. Weekend in Cambridge
33. Visited Isle of May
34. Saw my first puffin
35. Got engaged to my Scotsman!