Thanks, Deer.

In the fine tradition of Seinfeld, my goal today is to write a short blog about nothing.  Well, okay, it's about something, three somethings in fact; funny accents, deer, and gorgeous sunsets.

Funny accents first. I was thinking about this story Paul told me  (some time ago) as I walked up to playgroup with Claire this morning. When we talk to people from the States, they often ask us to demonstrate the Scottish accent (which we're generally poor at doing, except for Audrey, but she clams up because he friends at school are forever asking her to "say something in American.") But we don't generally think how our American accent sounds to Scottish people. Paul told me he went to a playgroups with Claire one Wednesday.  The group took place in a small village near Dundee called Invergowrie. A three-year-old was talking about Halloween decorations, and he struck up a conversation with her on that theme.  In the middle of the conversation, the girl broke off speaking, looked directly at him and said, "Why you talk so funny? Stop talking so funny!" She was seriously offended that he wasn't speaking like everyone else, and her grandma had to explain to her that he was from somewhere else, and he was talking normally, even though he sounded funny to her.

Reindeer!

 Now on to deer.  During the last weekend on January I convinced the family to go to the Scottish Deer Centre.  I'd been wanting to go see what it was about: the Tripadvisor reviews were generally good, and it's only a 30-minute drive from Dundee.  The day seemed promising; although it was January it was clear and sunny, always a good start for Scotland. Although the Deer Centre didn't disappoint (we even got to see reindeer, another thing I've been wanting to check off my Scotland list!) it was cold. When the wind blew, it was REALLY cold.  Especially when we went to the Birds of Prey show (which was still held outside, despite the fact that you could only hear the presenter if she was facing you - the wind was literally blowing her words away). Interestingly, they had an indoor venue for the Birds of Prey show, but the cold, very windy weather was not considered inclement enough to move the show inside. This tells you something about Scottish weather. It was awesome to see a falcon swooping around, spotting and grabbing the prey (helpfully tied to the end of a rope wielded by the presenter).  And we got to feed a hand-reared deer and see some amazing elk up close. We agreed we'd definitely go back when the temperature was above 0 - or at least the wind was less gale-like.

Elk!

Finally, sunsets - Dundee has had milder weather this past week and lots of sun, but of course clouds still hover around, which makes for some amazing sunsets.  I've taken to carrying my camera around in my jacket pocket just because every day when I come home, the sunsets are so amazing (and have I mentioned my excitement that the sun is setting when I get home at 5:20, instead of while I'm sitting in the office at 3:20?) Becuase the sun stays up so late in the summer, it has a long way to go between the dark days of December and the bright light of June, so every day in February it seems like it's lighter a little longer!

Sunset over Magdalen Green toward the River Tay

 Watch this space this week for a guest blog by Paul Orzech, who reveals to me that his subject of choice will be: the layout of British supermarkets.