My first "official" loch

At this rate I may actually get all of my 3 days in Scotland trip posts done in October (wouldn't lay any money down on that though, lol).  Loch Lomond was my first official visit to the shores of a Scottish lake, fitting since it is the largest freshwater body of water for surface area in mainland Great Britain.  My guide for the trip suggested we skip the tourist-laden southern areas and we stopped at an access that only had 3 other cars in it just a bit further north.

What impressed me was how tidy most of the areas were/are in the UK

See, not a bit of debris anywhere but then again trash bins were available everywhere

Mist rolling in over the hills on opposite bank

Looking north at the mountains getting progressively taller

So incredibly peaceful, you couldn't hear the highway noise, just the waves rolling in

Love the play of light as the clouds and mist shifted

So clear

Duck swimming through the waves

I don't put much stock into astrology but I do certainly seem to live up to my Pisces nature when it comes to water

Smile :-)

On the road again

Haven't done a song in a while so leaving with a live version of "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" from The Real McKenzies

Not quite a conundrum

Last week I started a new job in a local gym (the best one in my area, email if you want info! Oh and drivers, there is a hotel next door with truck parking and there's also room for a bobtail to park on the street--day rates are $5) and yesterday I finally got around to putting some of my truck gear up for sale as well as removing the 2 big truck keys I had still hanging on my key ring.  That was a big step for me in admitting I probably won't drive full time ever again, I do plan on keeping my CDL active, even went and got my 2 year DOT physical done at my own cost over the summer but that part of my life for the most part is probably over.  The pay is excellent if you get with a good company but there are so many negatives right now within the industry that I was burned out after 11 straight years of it.  I have seen much of the United States and some of Canada thanks to trucking and learned so many things and for that I'm very grateful.

That brings me to my not quite a conundrum...........what to do with my blog and twitter name--should I leave it? It is quite catchy and I'm unsure of what else to go with as of now.  I could always go the route of modifying it to Gab (was) a trucker since the gabsatrucker was a bit of a play on "gab is a trucker" in the beginning. "Gabs" was never really a nickname until the blog started gaining readers anyway.  Suggestions are welcome!

Even my alienware sports the gabsatrucker name, branded much?

A couple of hours in Glasgow

One of these days I will sit down and plan a proper visit to a place instead of waiting until the last minute. I miss so much but have also seen far more than I ever dreamed I would get a chance at seeing.  Here are a few pics of the Glasgow drive-through.

Cute, eh? Check out the sporran on the front

Mix of the old, the not as old, and the new

Taking pics of the other tourists taking pics

Quite a sordid and bloody history if the Scottish man who stopped to translate for me is to be believed. Public hangings and floggings apparently

Sensing a theme? 

Glasgow Cathedral. Read more about it here and here.  I can't say enough nice things about the Historic Scotland staff, they were incredibly helpful and friendly and even took the time for a long chat (I learned quite a bit about the Glasgow-Edinburgh rivalry, lol)

Construction is ongoing but also as unobtrusive as possible

Even on a dreary overcast day the colors are gorgeous

Can you imagine this being your church?

They were very dapper and scholarly

Looking towards the Necropolis

The red car certainly stood out

Memorial of the Glasgow Necropolis bridge

Hopefully you can read this by enlarging the pic, if not go here

Looking back

I found the architecture of the memorials and graves quite fascinating

Looking at the cathedral, check out closeup of monument in next photo

Scottish Lyrics to "Wee Willie Winkie"

Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun,

Up stairs and doon stairs in his nicht-goun,

Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock,

"Are the a' the bairnies in their beds, it's noo past ten o'clock."

"Hey, Willie Winkie, are ye comin' ben?

The cat's singin' grey thrums to the sleepin' hen,

The dog's spelder'd on the floor, and disna gi'e a cheep,

But here's a waukrife laddie that winna fa' asleep!"

Onything but sleep, you rogue! glow'ring like the mune,

Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an airn spune,

Rumblin', tumblin' round about, crawin' like a cock,

Skirlin' like a kenna-what, wauk'nin' sleepin' folk.

"Hey, Willie Winkie - the wean's in a creel!

Wambling aff a bodie's knee like a verra eel,

Ruggin' at the cat's lug, and ravelin' a' her thrums

Hey, Willie Winkie - see, there he comes!"

Wear it is the mither that has a stoorie wean,

A wee stumple stoussie, that canna rin his lane,

That has a battle aye wi' sleep before he'll close an ee

But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me.

Looking out over Glasgow

We have Mr. Tennant to thank for our bright whites, he patented bleaching powder

Loved this twisted tree

Yes, this really should have gone up at the start of the necropolis pics

Fan-dom in Glasgow

Time to revisit the UK......no, not physically (well, it is but that's not happening right now so is beside the point) but it is way past time to put up some more pics from the early summer trip.  Today's post is inspired by my fan-dom of Craig Ferguson--ahhh, such a gorgeous accent--and maybe a nudge from a bossy TWBrit that an update was past due.

First there is this brilliant clip:



And then there is me...........I'm certainly nowhere close to looking like Mila but how cool (and uber-geeky!) is it that I have pics of me standing where they filmed the above clip?

Yes, I look a bit starry-eyed ;-)

Perfection

The new Belstaff ad campaign is pure perfection......Gorgeous leather, motorcycles, boots, music, Ewan McGregor, scenery........Yes, I might be gushing.



I also have some news coming up that I don't quite feel ready to blog about right now but there should be an update coming around the first of October :-).  In the meantime enjoy the vid above, I've already replayed it 5x tonight.

score

Score. And I didn't even realize by how much when I picked this shirt up for .38 at a goodwill store.  Yep, thirty-eight cents, they were having an 85% off green tags sale.

I just happened to love the bright colors of it, the "Made in the USA" tag made it even better, wore it about the house today before deciding to google the name on the label..........turns out Craig Taylor shirts are a bit spendy.  Good to know that I haven't completely lost my touch for finding a fantastic bargain.

Running

Running. It's my therapy, I gripe, grumble, rant, rave so much that I think my friends sometimes want to shove me in front of a car in order to shut me up especially on the days I decide to TMI them.  TMI=too much information just in case anyone is unfamiliar with the term.  Imparting with TMI is usually accompanied by groans, gasps, and "gross!"

Running is also where sometimes a friend will tell a story and you're laughing so hard it hurts and and you can't run in a straight line (ala Speedy Girl this past Wednesday) which is not good when you happen to be on a fairly busy road right at dawn that has no shoulder. 

Then there is running with (wo)man's best friend, looking up, and saying "Oh my gawd, is that a skunk????"  Yep, that happened this morning on our Sunday morning recovery trail run.......Fortunately, Elsie was right beside me and I had her leash in hand so was able to stop her from running on up to it.  Brenda's dog Jessie (who Elsie usually follows EVERYWHERE out there) was not next to us.  We're all shouting come back, Jessie is thinking there has to be something good out there since we all sound panicky, and runs by the skunk 2-3 times before she finally spots it and lunges at it playfully...........Tail goes up, I'm thinking that's all she wrote for the interior of Bren's car, and then the skunk CHARGES AND CHASES JESSIE!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, it was the funniest sight, I'm just glad it charged rather than spinning around to spray.  Talk about sighs of relief once we got away and quit laughing long enough to do so. 

Have I mentioned I love my running friends (2 and 4 legged) lately? 

Seen on the run

There are some places I have the privilege to run that while they may not be breathtakingly beautiful by most people's standards, they do have just a little something extra that seems to soothe the soul and makes even a bad run well worth getting out of bed before dawn.

Can barely make out the church, the old saying about darkest before dawn is a cliche for a reason

Sharing the field, there were also a couple of horses but they wouldn't stand still so I could take their pics

Typical country road around here, most are paved now

I totally threw off our pace by wanting to stop and take photos but I think my friends were enjoying feeding the goats ;-)

The black one in front was the first to come visit Robert when we stopped

baaaaaaa, more please! And yes, goats do baa

Bit of swamp, last week there was a blue crane out here but didn't see it this weekend

I didn't manage to get photos of the baby armadillo, raccoon, field full of deer, the crazed squirrels, or the kittens that followed two of our friends (people that dump animals should be tarred and feathered on the town square by the way, grrrr) but I'm sure you're getting the idea why this is one of my favorite routes.

August rambling

Sunrise before a run

Amazing how a run in the rain--even for only a short time of it--can seem to cleanse the world and lift your spirits but it certainly does those things for me.  So nice to be getting a break from the oppressively hot temps we've been having, way too many daily high records were broken this year where I live and it happened much earlier in the summer than usual to boot.  It's gotten to where I just couldn't bear to leave the house because the heat zapped all my energy out within moments of stepping outside.  August however seems to be the exact opposite of what's normal for us so far and I'm not complaining at all.  Never thought I'd see the day where I was craving gray skies but here I am doing just that.

Run Happy! New Brooks kicks

Running has been a bit of a chore with the heat yet it is still my sanity saver.  I will say that it has been so incredibly nice not to be training for anything specific and not "having" to get in the workouts.  I go and meet up with friends and pretty much run whatever they are and my long runs are in the still having fun and not hurting afterwards (well sometimes they do hurt, lol) range of 10-13 miles.  Kind of settled in with running with a friend I refer to as Speedy Girl for most of my mileage.  She well earns that moniker by the way, on speed workouts where I don't get a head start, she blows me away.  My view is just watching her pull further (farther?) away, lol.  On the easy runs like today there's a lot of laughter, grumbling, venting, gabbing and it makes the time and miles fly by even on the runs where I'm struggling and feeling like the torture is never going to end.

Elsie hiding under a friend's car 

Today was a mixed bag, I was tired thanks to a restless dog that I'm keeping for another friend while she's on vacation and a "Hell on Wheels" Netflix viewing marathon I've been on for the past 3 nights.  The 100 jumping jacks on the mini trampoline last night also contributed some sore calves, OWIE!  I need to get back in the habit of doing those.....But this morning was overcast and we ended up getting to run in some gorgeous light rain, ahhhhh, the smell of rain hitting warm asphalt is one of the best scents ever in my opinion. We also chased down a woman we'd seen the past couple of weeks out running to ask if she wanted to run with us at sometime.  Yeah, it was kinda like "Hey, new girl! You wanna sit at our lunch table, do ya, huh, please!" lol. I'm sure she thought we were crazy, well I am but that's beside the point.

"Hell on Wheels" pic via AMC

There was also a woo-hoo catcall--well there is usually at least one on every run but Speedy Girl made the observation that she thought it was because of my tattoos.  I always just thought it was because it was women out running in short shorts and jog bras and she's not exactly hard on the eyes but she says I'm being stereotyped because of the ink and they feel I'm more open or ok to having that done.  Something to think about anyway although I still think it's mostly the sight of half-nekkid women out running that is the reason ;-)

Sorry, can't post a pic of Speedy Girl, but she looks MUCH better than I do!

Not sure if I should go back to putting my stats down for the workouts or not but my year to date mileage is already up to 1,135 miles with 4.5 months left to go. January was my lowest at 91, April the highest with 197.  This has been my highest mileage year since I started running in 2007 and I've not even set out for it to be and I'm not even training for a marathon.

PSA: Dogtown Coffee has added chicken and waffles to their menu! 

Cute Elsie pic just because :-)