After my routine checkup with the surgeon at Ninewell's Hospital in Dundee yesterday morning (everything's healing well), we drove over the Forth of Tay bridge to the Wee Kingdom of Fife. The first stop was St Andrews, home of golf. We stopped first at the famous St Andrews Links Old Course and watched a few folks playing golf, including the fellow in the red-plaid plus-fours (so called because they stop 4 inches below the knee). He was teeing off in front of the club house of the R&A (Royal and Ancient Golfing Society), an impressive old building. What you see in the background of the photo, beyond the sandy beach (where the famous "running on the beach" scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed), is the new golfing resort at the 9th hole.
It was a warm, lovely day with much less wind than the last time we walked around this course (around the outskirts of it, I mean). On that day, there was such a strong wind off the North Sea that we could not walk toward the beach standing upright; we had to lean forward as though in a blizzard in the frozen north somewhere.
Next we walked around the grounds of St Andrews Cathedral http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/standrews/cathedral/index.html. Here, we spent most of our time reading the inscriptions on the many tombstones from the last 400 years. (It really wasn't as morbid an activity as it may sound.) Following our visit to the cathedral, we had lunch and then strolled up and down the High Street for a while.
The next stop was the picturesque East Neuk (nook) fishing village of Crail. If you've seen photos of East Neuk of Fife fishing villages, chances are you have seen photos of Crail for it seems to be the most photogenic of them all, partially because it's fairly small. While in Crail, we browsed through the Crail Pottery and found some lovely items on offer. We now have a new small green bowl which we bought for outselves as well as a gorgeous new large blue bowl which Russell and Ruthellen bought for us when we weren't looking. It has taken pride of place on the dining table.
Our final stop was the larger seaside town of Anstruther where we spent a couple of hours wandering around, browsing through shops, and then having an fish supper at the Anstruther Fish Bar which we have heard is the best place for fish suppers now that the Craw's Nest Hotel has changed hands. We had a brief browse through the East Neuk seaside village of Pittenweem before heading home, but we just drove through and didn't get out of the car.
We got home to find the cupboard installed in my studio. It looks terrific (although we now need to contact the decorators and have them come back to paint it, both inside and out as well as the new floor molding at the bottom of it). Rick, the joiner, came back today to install the hanging rod, put the floor molding on, and adjust our bedroom window (which had gotten out of alignment and wouldn't lock). I guess I can't actually load the shelves of my new cupboard unless I want to unload everything when the painters come. But at least that work is finished. We can put another two tick marks on the snagging list. All that remains is the one missing window vent cover and to have the insulation put into the attic. Of course, we now must add having the cupboard painted to the list.
We watched a television program Don had pretaped the night before about Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret MacDonald which was excellent. Before going to bed, we spent some time discussing a plan for Russell and Ruthellen to tour the Northern Highlands. We spent more time on that this morning and they now have an itinerary they feel is doable.
Today has been rainy...all day. We just stayed around the house making breakfast muffins for tomorrow, writing out postcards, and doing laundry while Rick was working on the cupboard in the studio. After lunch, at about 3, we put on our raincoats and walked to the village so we could show our guests the Old Jail, where we lived for our first 6 months in Comrie, to visit the charity shop, to show them the Royal Hotel, and to do a bit of shopping in the greengrocer's, the butcher's, and the deli before walking home. We hope tomorrow will be a brighter day as one of the weather reports indicates it will be.
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