Recently our family – minus our daughter away at college – returned to Scotland to visit friends and reacquaint our youngest with her birthplace. We moved from Scotland two years ago, and I have been pining for it. We are Americans, but Scotland is the home of my heart.

We traveled from Calgary to Glasgow via Iceland, and decided that it was unlikely that we’d be there again, so stopped for a few days. Here you can see Brian admiring an Icelandic Viking:

Here’s Brian admiring an Icelandic ship:

Brian enjoyed his brief stay in Iceland, particularly the aurora borealis on our last evening. He said they were the most beautiful he’d ever seen, white, red, blue & green. He also said that it really sucked that I could not manage to get a decent photo of him enjoying them.

Once we arrived in Glasgow we were off to Aberdeenshire, to visit our old friends. Brian accompanied us to Aberdeen to visit favourite restaurants and shops and to stock up on our little one’s much-beloved M&S Percy Pigs. We brought home over 10 pounds worth. Here is Brian in the cemetery surrounding a beautiful cathedral in downtown Aberdeen:

And trying to place a call in an iconic Red Phone Box in a tiny village named Monymusk:

We stayed a while with friends, then it was off to warmer Scottish climes and Hadrian’s Wall and the Lake District in England. Here is Brian loving one of my favourite Scottish villages, Pitlochry:

Brian loved the Birks of Aberfeldy, as well as his chat with Robert Burns:

Last, but not least, here is a photo of Brian surveying the view from Stirling Castle:

We’re back in Canada now, but only for a few more weeks. Soon our little family will move again, to Texas this time. Brian is pretty certain that he won’t see any friends or relatives down there, but he is desperate to visit the Grand Canyon and Galveston, New Orleans, New Mexico, and much much more. He’ll check in with you again post-move when he has new stories & photos to share. Until then, keep sharing the Mudflats love.

Brian & SMR

Brian enjoyed a laid back Valentine’s Day this year. The snow and cold kept him inside, dreaming of warmer days and sunny road trips with his travel buddy Irishgirl. There was a particularly funny bumper sticker incident, which caused laughter after an initial brief recoil of horror.

(The Escape just makes it so much better, and as Boodog is quoted as saying “Glad it wasn’t a Triumph”!)

Not to say that Brian isn’t a romantic soul. No indeed. In fact, being inside gave him plenty of time to plan out a romantic evening with his lady love Pacos Gal. He went all out this year, with candles, candies, and of course, himself just bursting with romantic happiness.

Being a moose who loves to spread the warmth of a Valentine hug to all of his nearest and dearest, Brian made his way to Kentucky to spend some special time with Justafarmer. His visit included sharing a drink and admiring some lovely tulips. Because he wanted so badly to nibble on the tulips, he tried very hard not to do so and thought it was only a testament to his true loving nature that when he left, the tulips were still looking lovely. What a guy, huh?

And finally, Brian decided to just stop and smell the roses at Erin’s house up in Alaska.

(Some day we’ll have to learn the secret of how he is able to be here, there, and everywhere all at once. Santa has nothing on this moose!)

Brian’s adventures can be found along with photos on The Mudflats Forum.

I wonder where Brian will turn up on St. Patrick’s Day?

Brian rang in the New Year of 2010 with a grand trip that encompassed various time zones and countries. We asked mudpuppies everywhere to grab their cameras and take a picture if you happened to see him. I am not positive but really Brian had to have made a deal with Santa for Rudolph’s services. He just made it everywhere, stopped to say hi, have dinner, do some babysitting, shovel snow, take in the sites and enjoy all the various activities and that a New Years Eve can bring.

We’ll start you off with the original Brian in Alaska, wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Brian seems to be hanging out in Sirenoftitans Xmas tree in Wales:

Next stop Ireland and some play time in the snow caught on camera by Irishgirl:

A bit later he was in Connecticut watching a Jackie Chan film with MonaLisa:

Saw a cousin and tried to help undecorate Tantef’s house in Delaware:

Alaskan Moose meets Scotland at Forty Watt’s in Pennsylvania:

While in Pennsylvania Brian stopped by to help Futurexpat out with babysitting and to check out the moose on her Xmas tree:

Brian heard there was some Martini and Rossi at BuffaloGal’s in New York:

All that running around, a stop at Pacos Gal’s in Canada for dinner:

Better work off that dinner in Kentucky by hiking the Appalachian Trail with lexky:
(who knows who you will see on the trail, perhaps a Governor?)

Fun times continue in Kentucky at Justafarmer’s house or is it Hogwarts!:

Brian stopped to admire the Blue Moon with ghostdancer in Wisconsin:

Back to Canada where he met up with daMamma and played in the tree with her son daMonkeyMan:

Hearing about a party complete with hats in Arizona, he headed for Gramiam’s place:

He made another stop at Hannah’s house for some musical entertainment with friends:

Heading home Brian stopped at North of the Ridge’s place and wow is it cold!:

Oh look there is a kitty! Suchanut caught Brian giving New Years kisses in Alaska:

Brian took a ‘hike’ with CRFlats, laughing at the graffiti in their home state:

Finally, a nice glass of wine to celebrate the new year with who else but AKM!:

Poor Brian, wasn’t feeling up to par the next morning, but luckily Justafarmer left some asprin out for him:

Happy New Year everyone!

You can view even more pictures of Brian on New Years Eve on the Mudflats forum.
Click here to see more!

Char’s Honey Spiced Chai Ice Cream

(This recipe was created by me. Please do not repost or publish it without written consent from me or another admin on I Heart The Mudflats blog.  You can contact us by clicking here)

3 Twining’s of London Indian Chai Spice Tea bags (This is my favorite chai tea because it is well spiced)
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup Sugar
1/8 cup Honey
1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste (you could substitute half a vanilla bean with the seeds scraped, but you need to remove the bean before churning)
1/8 tsp ground Cardamom
1 cup heavy cream

In a small non-reactive saucepan heat milk to simmering. Add the tea bags and let steep for a few minutes, stir in sugar honey, vanilla paste and cardamom. let sit on the counter till cooled to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until really cold.

Set up ice cream maker. Remove the tea bags from the tea and milk mixture and discard them. Poor in the cup of heavy cream and the tea mixture into the ice cream maker and churn per the ice cream makers instructions. [My ice cream maker is kept in a chest freezer with a temperature of -20f, churning the ice cream to the correct constancy took about 15 minutes, but I would imagine if your ice cream maker is at zero degrees f (which is what most freezers attached to refrigerators are set at) it may take a bit longer.] You can serve it at this consistency right away, which is just slightly thicker than soft serve, or pack it in a plastic or glass airtight container and freeze until hard.  Makes 1 Pint.

This ice cream has a very mellow chai and honey flavor, it would go very well with ginger snaps, brandy snaps or candied pecans or almonds.

Enjoy

This year, on Halloween, I saw more moose than I’ve ever seen in one day. The first two, a mother and baby, had just finished eating my friend’s pumpkins and were bedded down in her yard.

Later that night, right before the first trick-or-treaters came to call, two moose, another mama and baby, were spotted across the street from my house eating pumpkins off my neighbor’s porch. It was dusk, so the pictures didn’t come out very well, but you get the idea.

Location:Pisa, Italy
Here I was just trying to take a picture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa when this moose jumped in front of my camera….

November is National Novel Writing Month and if you have never heard of Nanowrimo and have always had the urge to write a novel, this is a great opportunity (excuse?) to give it a try with all kinds of kindred spirits to cheer you on. As of now (3:38pm Pacific Time, Friday, October 23, 2009), 70,186 authors world-wide (including yours truly) have signed up for the 10th year of “30 days and nights of literary abandon.”

It’s simple, fun, and the prize is the joy of accomplishment. And, it’s free. It begins at midnight on Nov. 1 and ends at midnight on Nov. 30. To win, you simply write 50,000 words (175 pages) in that period. The goal, is to write without worrying about plot development, grammar, spelling, continuity, or whether you really know anything about the technical aspects relating to some plot feature.

Each day, you simply cut and paste your days product to nanowrimo and a bot counts your words and deletes it (nobody reads it, evaluates it, critiques it, or keeps it – in fact, if you’re concerned about your “baby” they even give you instruction about scrambling your novel before posting to ensure your security. Your total word count is then tracked and if you reach the 50,000 word goal within the allotted time, then you win!

Your prize? The satisfaction of achieving a goal. And yes, if you want to cut and paste Wikipedia, you can. But what’s the point? Why cheat? There’s no “winner.” If everyone that joins completes the goal, then everyone wins.

As far as the quality of your novel? You can always go back later and fix those problems, but how often have you started a project and stopped because it was too daunting? Or shuffled it aside never actually quitting, just meaning to get to it “later” when you had more time? Or maybe you’ve done all the research, have tons of notes (have you ever heard the story about how J.K. Rowlings wrote the Harry Potter books?) but never had the nerve to actually start.

Writing a novel is an overwhelming prospect to many of us. Just the thought of writing a short story is enough to make us decide that writing is too hard. But wait! Look at how many of us are bloggers? What are we doing? What are we? We’re writers. To take it further, to write a novel or other kind of book or even to just write for a living, as a professional writer once said, you have to write.

Forget writer’s block. Forget procrastination. Forget what you feel like doing, or not doing. You have to sit down at your computer and go. Put the fingers on the keys, have a general idea of what you want to say, and start. And that is what nanowrimo is all about. To make it easier, there are forums, writing buddies to buddy up with, mentors, and write-ins if you’re so inclined.

The website has lots of helpful hints, ideas, and many cheerleaders. Full disclosure, this is my first year. My sister who is a writer has been a long time participant and as I am (still) unemployed but now writing almost full-time (blogging, etc.), she has talked me into nano’ing this year.

So, if interested, pop on over to nanowrimo and sign up. My user name at nanowrimo is Kyra, so if you decide to join and want a writing buddy, let me know!

Every year from the beginning of November until just after the new year, I bake hundreds of batches of cookies, as well as cakes and other breakfast breads, snacks, pies, deserts and appetizers. I give boxes of cookies to friends, family and other people we work with or have frequent contact with during the year. My husband and I also often cater or at least help with several holiday parties as well as a Thanksgiving dinner in our own home.

So as I am thinking forward to what I am going to bake, how many pounds of flour, sugar, butter and nuts, how many dozen eggs, how much time I will need, who are we gifting to and what should we package them in I am thinking of my joy. It can take a lot of planning to bake this much, but I don’t mind, I don’t mind spending the money or the time and I don’t mind that the gifts often aren’t reciprocated, the whole thing is so warm and wonderful.

Holiday season baking is my favorite part of the late fall early winter. It brings me so much happiness when I bake the cookies and when I give them away, the smells and the smiles. As the days get darker and the temperatures are plummeting anything that brings some joy is a good thing.

Where does your end of the year (late fall early winter) joy come from?

(if you want to contribute a winter Joy piece for the blog click here)