Smartie's Oasis Bar & Grill #44

Exactly what we keep telling people...illegal entrants can be very very good... People here have problems pronouncing my married name and some of them just shorten it to something local. It's easier...

I'll ask my friends about that area.

The footie build up



View from the hotel room



...NOT WORK SAFE... but click to view the video and yes, they are all drunk



Culzean Castle



The swan pond



Moody Millport

 

Great pics.

 

Great pics.

 

Wow, cool posts, cool photos. Love it.
Now

 

Forgot the little castle at Portencross...it's under renovation. It looks like nothing, but is very old and Scottish kings have used it often, one Robert the Bruce's grandson. They are only beginning to dig up the history. It went out of use and the local fishermen lived in it for years. Then it fell into the hands of the power companies. Now the local residents have started a fund to restore it.

We used to visit here when I was small and my Dad knew the man who had the keys. He used to let us in for a look. Then the roof fell into such disrepair it became unsafe and was closed to the public, but we still went in and last time I saw it, the roof had caved in and the floors were gone. It was very good to see it reroofed and partially floored and starting to attract attention.

The Scottish Kings were buried on the holy isle of Iona and were taken to Portencross castle to lie in state waiting to be taken across the river to Iona.

The little castle



http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk...PropID=PL_160&PropName=Iona Abbey And Nunnery

 

Ooops - I repped you for your sig but the "Lets drink..." pic wasn't your sig. LOL So, uh - I quit drinking about 9 years ago but I'm very much into "Bad Choices"!

[Putting o near 0 on the dam keyboard wasn't such a great idea]

 

Awesome pics, Viv -- thx for sharing!

We've got nothing comparable to those structures on this side of the Atlantic, that's for sure. The castle is breathtaking. Guess cold & rainy is the price you pay for the privilege of being surrounded by so much beauty. Like Oldtimer in Jackson, Wyoming where he gets to shovel show 8 months outta the year! Sure beats what I see on the way to work and back... good thing Texas is a state of mind.

 

Betcha its nice and cool in them castles.

 

They got the plain jane bandit, it was a female bank robber that just wore casual clothes and sent notes to the teller to make the robbery

the catchy media name helped the tips to get her..

 

From Viv's weather desc, more like cold and damp. If it wasn't 102 degrees outside, I'd shiver at the thought.

Just came in from feeding & watering the livestock... I mean birds & squirrels. Bless their hearts, the birdbath was dry as a bone. I should be ashamed.

 

what can a gurl say? hehehehe

 

Exactly. Lets take the birds with us.

 

Tell me more, please. Who's that?

 

The Plain Jane Bandit has been linked to six bank robberies and two attempted bank robberies in three counties around Southern California since July 12. The most recent attempt by the Plain Jane Bandit was on Tuesday, but she left before getting any money.

In all eight instances, she used both written and verbal demands and told the bank teller that an accomplice was waiting outside, the FBI said.

Authorities did not say how much money was stolen, but witnesses described the robber as a Hispanic woman in her mid-30s, between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-5 and weighing 150 to 170 pounds. She did not wear a disguise.

The nickname came from a witness' description of the robber as a "plain Jane."

 

It's not so much cold, the weather is usually temperate and the one thing I always love about coming home from hot countries is the first breath of Scottish air when you step out of the plane, because it's so fresh. The rain keeps everything fresh and clean and of course, green and there is no dust, which is something I don't like about hot countries how they are often very dusty. The past couple of years weather has been strange, as it seems it is everywhere. We've had slightly longer and colder winters. The rest of the year is always changeable and mild. What makes it beautiful is the changeable weather. Today it's been raining lightly and the sun is now out, sparkly raindrops on the leaves and flowers, blue skies, river is like a mirror with little boats everywhere...when it's like this it is like heaven.

You never post pics of Texas and I bet the rest of you live in really lovely places like OT for example. All I know is 80s Texas, from Dallas and the Ewings When are you going to figure out the technicalities of posting your own pics/videos? Do you have photobucket? If you want to figure it out, feel free to pm and if I can help I will.

We're booked into hotels from tomorrow night. We thought we might go down today and stay somewhere randomly, but He is very tired from winding everything up at work yesterday, so I can't see it. Probably not travel until tomorrow now.

 

It's a great castle, and there is something about the Scottish style of castles that is very interesting and appealing. If it came down to castle a competition, though, I think Wales would win:











We've got the darned things coming out of our ears! All shapes and sizes, and in almost every town or village - there were over 400, of which about 100 are still standing (and that's alot of castles for a little country). Mostly dating from the Norman period (mainly 12th/13th Century), and mostly now ruined, of course, but that just makes them all the more interesting! We must have been a right troublesome lot to the Normans!

 

Completely with you there. The air up in the Highlands in particular is like nowehere else I've ever been. It's pretty good down here, but up there it's like breathing a different substance altogether!

 

We were uninhabited during the norman period and don't have much history, but to add these can be considered as americas castles .

 

[video=youtube;5ZRLyPL1-Rc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZRLyPL1-Rc&feature=related[/video]

 

My home is my castle, this site is slow;
where is da man is all I wanna know.

Good morning all.

 

Slow is an understatement... figured I'd start opening the bar so it'll load by lunchtime. Grrrrrrrr.

 

Well, you know how we hate to brag...

LOL -- posting pics I've taken isn't the problem... taking the pics is the problem. My nieces finally gave me a digital camera (after I embarrassed them by carrying a disposable) and I prob haven't used it 5 times. Just never think of taking the camera.

Here's some Dallas landmarks I pass everyday on my way to work. The Old Red Courthouse was built in 1890 and as you can see, it's designed in the Romanesque Revival Style of architecture. My g-grandfather helped build it. It wasn't used for quite awhile, but was restored and opened as a museum & visitor's center about a decade ago. Just down the street from the infamous triple underpass and Dealey Plaza... so it attracts a lot of tourists.



Great old building, surrounded by I.M. Pei skyscrapers. Typical for downtown Dallas.



Here's the skyline view I see every morning... just noticed last week how sprawling downtown has become. Interesting mix of old and new... I think the Dallas skyline is beautiful. I've worked in at least 4 of these highrise bldgs... and still work in one.



A recently renovated golf course I drive by every morning... surrounded by some of the prettiest homes in Dallas... in a neighborhood called Kessler Park, in the shadow of downtown.







Thx for asking, Viv. Enjoyed posted these pics from my morning commute. Next, I'll show you some of the view along my shortcut... not quite as scenic as this route.

 

pfft... let's go home.

Isola di Loreto, built on island in Lake Iseo (Lago d'Iseo) or Sabino.



Maybe here we meet your extended family, located in Puglia (Apulia)...



Or maybe Sicily (Sicilia), we meet my family...





Taormina, Sicillia... (I post this for picture of the sea)

 

Geesh, I just posted a new thread and considering the way this site is performing today, it was like having a baby. I soudl take pics and pass them around. Truly a miracle it exists.

I'm exhausted. Any brownies or does it take 18 hrs to bake a batch?