A Catch-Up Post 2012 - 2018

Quite a few things happened since Riley, Livvy, Bell and I were in Ireland and Scotland.  Not sure if anyone is still following, but I am and it seems will always be...on a perpetual search for more sheep.

Sheep in the Pyreénées Mountains, France, September 2017 

First, a little background...In 2011, I sold my sheep and poultry farm in western Oregon and moved overseas for what I thought was a permanent relocation. I sold and/or donated almost everything I owned and packed the rest into 3 large suitcases and off we went.

My Australian Shepherd, Riley, cats, Livvy and Bell, and I moved from Portland, Oregon, first to southern Ireland, county Cork.

The pets being unloaded as cargo from the United flight at Dublin International Airport

A favorite photo from our time in Ireland

I applied to Ireland for permanent residency, as Ireland is one of the few countries in western Europe that offers a "retirement visa" for those who qualify. It generally takes 3 months to have an answer from the immigration service.  After 9 months of paperwork filling out and jumping through Irish hoops, I received a letter saying I was not approved for residency. (I will leave that explanation for another blog post - it is quite a story to be told).  I had always had a backup plan, as there is never a guarantee of residency approval in any country.  My next step was to move to France, where they also have a permanent residency category for retired persons.

Since it was so long past the normal waiting period to hear an answer on residency, the local Irish immigration officer allowed me to travel to Scotland for the summer.  We met good friends, visited castles, toured the Highlands, volunteered for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (educating the public on the importance of rare breeds of livestock), and explored the wonderful city of Edinburgh.

Sheep on the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Highlands

Edinburgh, with the castle in the background

When the letter from the Irish immigration service finally did arrive, I was just about to leave for Montana for a visit home to see my parents. Once I arrived in Montana,  I found my elderly mother to be quite ill. Time for another change in plans.  This time, back to Scotland to gather up "la ménagerie" and return to Montana to watch over my Mom until the end of her life.  She was with us another 18 months. Mom passed away in her sleep on December 27, 2015.

With Mom, LeAnne (Norville) Beene, 

Thanksgiving 2015

In April 2015, my boy Riley succumbed to liver disease at the age of 12. What an amazing life he lived, on my 2 farms in Oregon and traveling throughout Ireland and Scotland. The UK and Ireland had just lifted their 6 month quarantine for pets coming from outside the country, so most people had never seen an Australian Shepherd. He was a star wherever he went! Riley was the 2nd of my 3 Australian Shepherds and I think, the best - only because I had him the longest - and is still missed to this day.

My dog-less days did not last. Just a few months after Riley left us, in May 2015, I adopted my 3rd Aussie, Sophie, from the Western Australian Shepherd Rescue. She had been through 2 homes before finding her way to her forever home with me.  She was a "special needs" adoption, as she tore both ACLs in her back knees (called the stifle joint in dogs) and her first owners never had them repaired. This led to signficant arthritis in both knees. This didn´t slow her down, as she was still able to hike and backpack throughout the beautiful Beartooth Mountains in south central Montana.  

Posing in the Beartooth Mountains

When I first moved back to Montana in 2016, I moved into a 100 year old farmhouse near a teeny tiny town called Edgar, about 35 minutes southeast of Billings. I lived there happily for 2 years with Riley (then Sophie), multiple cats, and several chickens. My mother´s ancestors, Germans who emigrated to Russia in the 18th century and eventually to America in the late 19th century, lived near Edgar in the early 1900's. They farmed the sugar beet fields, just as they had in Russia.

When the roof of the Edgar farmhouse leaked so badly that it began raining in the bathroom, it was time to move.  My Dad had moved out of the family home in Billings in early 2018, to live in an assisted living community.  My original plan was to sell the home as-is, but once I moved in, I realized I was not quite ready for someone else to live in Mom and Dad´s house.  It was bittersweet for me, as there were so many memories of my parents in their cherished home of almost 30 years. 

Mom and Dad moved to Billings when my Dad retired from the San Francisco Police Department in 1987.  My Mom was born in 1937 in Glasgow, Montana, where my Gramps was working on the construction of the Fort Peck Dam in northeast Montana.  When she was a year old, my grandparents moved to Billings. Mom and Dad met in Billings, just after Mom graduated from high school in 1955 and were married the same year. Mom and Dad traveled to several states where my Dad played minor league baseball.  In 1960, they moved to San Francisco for the beginning of Dad´s new career in law enforcement. In 1987, after 27 years in the police department, Dad had had enough of city life and they decided to retire in Billings.  

I began visiting them in 1988, when I was 25 years old and still living in the university town of San Luis Obispo. In 1993, I moved to Montana to attend Montana State University Bozeman and obtain a nursing degree. Most of the course work took place on the Billings campus and I was so lucky that Mom and Dad allowed me to move in downstairs. I spent 3 years working at one of the local hospital´s Emergency Department and studying to obtain my Bachelor´s of Science degree in Nursing. I was also my parents´ built-in house sitter, while they traveled all over the US and Canada in their motorhome. When I graduated in December 1996, I moved away to Boston, then Boulder, Atlanta, and Portland, but came back as often as I could. 

When I moved to the home Billings in 2017, it was a bit of a transition to live in a city again, having lived in the countryside for the past 12 years.  Luckily the home was located about 5 miles from the city center, in the neighborhood called the Billings Heights. The house was also located on the edge of the Heights´ Rimrocks, geological rimrock sandstone formations surrounding the city, and on a large lot in a quiet cul-de-sac, so it never felt like city living.

It was quite a large house, but I never felt lonely with my pet menagerie by my side.  Sophie and my 2 kitties, Bell and Livvy, made the house our home. Sadly, in October 2017, it was time to say goodbye to Bell, a wonderful friend for 12 years.  At the time, Bell had 2 chronic diseases, hyperthyroidism and IBS (Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome). Even when she was quite ill, she was still the sweetest, most curious, kitty there ever was.  She was a even a trooper when I had to give her steroids by sticking the pills down her throat twice a day.  But, in late October, she told us it was her time to leave by no longer having the desire to eat.  Bell lived a great life. She was adopted from the Oregon Humane Society in Portland in 2005, as company for Livvy Cat who was the same age.  We first lived in the blue farmhouse in Cornelius, 25 miles northwest of Portland, then in nearby Gaston. She moved with Riley, Livvy, and I to Ireland and Scotland, then back to a peaceful life in Montana.  Wherever I went, there she was. She always touched my cheek with her little paw to tell me it was time to get up to feed her or give her a bit of petting. I still miss that little paw.

2005

2016

                                          2017

Livvy (aka Big Mama) was close to Bell as a kitten, but they were not so much as adults. After Bell left us, Livvy became quite vocal and began following me around.  This was a good thing, as she needed the exercise, having weighed in at 18 lbs.  

                                         Livvy Cat

When I moved into the farmhouse, I inherited 2 outdoor farm cats. Woodhouse was a lovely tame cat who originally belonged to the young couple who lived there before us. They had moved about 1 mile up and across the highway with Woodhouse. In the first few weeks, Woodhouse kept crossing the busy highway to return to the farmhouse. After she was retrieved the 3rd time, it was decided she would live with us permanently.  She enjoyed her time with Riley, then Sophie, and supervised our 3 free range chickens.  In winter, she moved into the garden shed behind the house, then later to the mudroom, where she kept toasty warm through the sub-zero winter temperatures.  

The other barn cat, originally named Snarfy by the former owners, was renamed Bouffée (a nickname that means "bed head" in French). She was about 2 years old when we arrived in Edgar. She too was a tame cat and lived the good life as an inside/outside cat. She was very curious and quite photogenic. She reminded me of a smaller version of a Norwegian Forest Cat.  

My cat Livvy, the oldest of the bunch, decided at the ripe old age of 12 that she no longer had room in her life for other cats. So I was not able to take Woodhouse or Bouffée with me to the Billings house.  Luckily, both cats went to live in loving homes. Woodhouse lives with my Aunt Ginger´s brother and his wife in Billings and Bouffée with my former husband.  

Musings about Scottish foods.

Haggis, skink, black pudding, and neeps, oh my!  These are just some of the interesting foods found in Scotland.  I will admit, I have yet to dig into haggis, but I have certainly found plenty of opportunity to enjoy the fish & chips and loads of both sweet and savory pies.

The Scots rely on natural foods found throughout the country such as game (venison and grouse, to name a few), dairy products (lots of cheese!), fish, fruit and vegetables.  I live in Fife, in the middle of Scotland, towards the eastern coast.  It is surrounded by 3 bodies of water - the Firth (estuary) of Tay to the north, the Firth of Forth to the south, and the German Ocean to the East, so seafood is plentiful.  Parts of Fife were once mining centres (mostly coal) and Kirkcaldy, just 20 minutes south, was once known for flax spinning and linen weaving and production of linoleum and other floor cloths in the 19th century.  Now what you see is miles and miles of agricultural land - both arable crops (also known as cereals), as well as livestock (sheep and cattle), and numerous polytunnels.  Growing vegetables occurs mainly in tunnels, or under plastic in the fields, as the summers are very short on the 56th parallel.  I was somewhat surprised to find that Fife is well known for its soft fruits, such as raspberries and blueberries, as well as currants, gooseberries and cherries. I recently made 2 plum crumbles from the plums growing in the garden where I am staying.  I hadn't cooked with plums before and the crumbles were quite good.

Cullen skink is a thick Scottish soup made of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions and a local specialty on the north east coast of Scotland.  Cock-a-leekie soup is what you might think - chicken stock and leeks - and is known as "Scotland's National Soup" (who knew there would be a national soup!)  And Scotch broth is made of barley, lamb, mutton or beef, root vegetables and dried pulses (split peas and red lentils.)

Salmon is found in almost every shop and some of the best salmon fishing in the world is found in Scotland and Ireland.  Arbroath smokie is a type of smoked haddock, Cabbie claw made with young cod, haddock or whiting, Finnan haddle is cold smoked haddock that originated near Aberdeen, a kipper is a whole herring that is butterflied, salted or picked and cold smoked, and rollmops are picked herring fillets, rolled into a cylindrical shape, held together with wooden skewers.

In the meat and poultry department, lamb is on every menu (no surprise there), as well as beef, bacon and ham, goose and grouse.  The bacon is much different here, as it is often boiled (called grilled) and is known as rashers.  American bacon (referred to as "streaky" bacon) is made from the belly of the pig.  British bacon comes from the loin, as well as the pork belly.  Pigs are the most common meat product that is grown in large factory-type farms.  There are large commercial sheep and beef farms, but not as common as in the US.

Beef, as we often call "hamburger", is called mince.  A popular dish is mince and tatties (minced beef and potatoes.)  Angus cattle come from the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus in Scotland and are known as Aberdeen Angus.  In the US, there is Red Angus and Black Angus, the latter being the most common beef breed of cattle in the US.  Aberdeen Angus, the native breed, is actually on the Rare Breeds watchlist.  This is the original population of native or non-imported bloodlines of Aberdeen Angus cattle.  The Angus was widely exported during the 20th century and bred in the US and Canada, as well as other countries, to be longer and taller than the native breed.  These were then re-imported back into the UK, so the commercial Aberdeen Angus is a much larger animal.

Scotch pie is a small, double-crust meat pie filled with minced mutton (sheep over 1 year old) or other meat.  They are a type of Scottish fast-food, commonly sold at football stadiums and other venues.  The term "savory" was new to me, as in the grocery store, crackers are found on the savory aisle.  There are numerous types of savory pies including steak pie, steak and kidney pie, steak-and-tattie (potato) pie, cottage (from beef) or shepherds (from lamb) pie, and fish pie.  Sausage rolls and pasties (a filling of meat and vegetables on a flat pastry that is folded over and crimped on the edges) are common in butcher and many other shops.

From the Perth Agriculture Show this summer

Haggis and black pudding are the most unusual foods and I have to admit, I haven't tried either.  Since I raised sheep in the States, I just can't bring myself to try either of these.  Traditional haggis is a pudding made of sheep heart, liver and lungs, onion, oatmeal, suit and spices.  It is encased in the sheep's stomach and simmered for about 3 hours.  Now haggis is generally prepared in a sausage casing, rather than the stomach, but I just can't get a grasp on eating it.  There is even a vegetarian haggis (go figure) made of kidney beans, lentils, nuts, vegetables, oatmeal, onions, seasoning and spices.

Photo from the internet

Black pudding, also called blood pudding or blood sausage, is....yep - blood!  It's a sausage made by cooking pig, cattle, sheep, duck or goat blood.  Fillers include other meats, fat, bread, sweet potato, onion, chestnuts and oatmeal. In Ireland and the UK, it is generally made from pork blood with oatmeal.  It is considered a delicacy in parts of the UK and in Ramsbottom, one can experience "The World Black Pudding Throwing Championships."  There is also white pudding, a meat dish with pork, fat, suet, bread and oatmeal - with no blood - and red pudding made of bacon, beef, pork, suet, wheat flour, spices and beef fat.

Photo from the internet

For wild game, I was lucky enough to attend a social event with friends from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust at a small business called The Wee Pie Company a few weeks ago.  The couple who own this wonderful pie company gave us a tour of their manufacturing facility and a lot of samples.  In the States, I had tried venison (deer), but didn't find it to my liking.  I also ate elk, mostly in the minced form, as I didn't care for the steaks. Turns out, it is all about how it is cooked. I tried wee pies with wild venison, chorizo sausage (wild boar), rabbit, lamb, and wild mushrooms and they were all amazing.  (I did skip the black pudding once again.)

Photo courtesy of the Wee Pie Company website

After our taste testing:

Upon my arrival in Scotland, I was given a package of Scotch pancakes.  I was surprised to see pancakes, already cooked, in a package.  Scotch pancakes are also known as "drop scones" because soft dollops of mixture are dropped onto the cooking surface.  Here, they are cooked on a flat bakestone or a girdle (that's a griddle to Americans.)  The girdle is a round cast-iron flat plate with a semi-circular handle and the town of Culross in Fife was granted a royal charter for their manufacture back in 1599.  

From the Antique Kitchenalia website

I ventured to Costco in Edinburgh a few months back (there is also a Costco in Dublin) with the aim to purchase the cat litter my kitties favor and of course, left with much more than just cat litter.  If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought I was standing in any Costco in America.  It was my only experience so far, feeling like I was back home.  There were Scottish foods, such as haggis and many types of seafood, but the majority were Kirkland products found in the good ole U.S. of A.  I did find it surprising to see American pancakes on the shelf!

Though not good for the weight loss plan, I have a soft spot for the £1 pancakes at the local SPAR shop. SPAR is a sort of mini-7-11 store that is an international retail chain and franchise founded in the Netherlands in 1932 and is now found in 35 countries.  Every High Street (the American version of Main Street) seems to have a SPAR shop.  It's difficult to find maple syrup here (except at Costco!), though there are shelves and shelves of honey and jams.  I had read that peanut butter is difficult to find in Europe.  It is in stores here, but I have found only one store that stocks the American brands of Jif or Skippy.  Nutella is much more common than peanut butter.

I had a difficult time finding turnips for a recipe and couldn't locate them in the local grocery store, likely because it was too early in the summer.  They do have swedes, a member of the cabbage family, that is what we know as a rutabaga.  The term "neeps" refers to a dish of diced or mashed swedes.  There's a humorous blog article about the difference between turnips, swedes, and neeps - seems the British aren't always sure which are which.  Beets, a favourite of mine, are known here as beetroots.  The courgette is from the same family as the cucumber, squash and melon and are known back home as a zucchini.  Mushrooms are plentiful and some people hunt for them in the forest, though after reading about American author Nicholas Evans (of "Horse Whisperer" fame) picking and cooking the Deadly Webcap mushroom from his brother-in-laws Highland estate and eventually requiring a kidney transplant, along with his sister and her husband, I buy my mushrooms in the store.  Canola, called rapeseed here, is starting to be seen as more and more in the UK.  Rapeseed oil started to become popular around 2008 and is a light alternative to other cooking oils.  By the way, corn is most often called by its correct name, maize, here in the UK.

I have done a lot of baking since I arrived.  I don't generally eat much of my own concoctions, but enjoy baking and sharing with others.  Yesterday, I made 5 batches of different types of cookies and brownies for a bake sale for cancer research.  At first I couldn't find baking soda, until I realised it is packaged as bicarbonate of soda.  Baking powder seems more common here than in the States and is used in cake-making.  It is made from an alkali (bicarbonate of soda) and an acid (cream of tartar), plus a filler like cornflour (as we know cornstarch) or rice flour.  Self-raising flour is also very common here - it is plain flour combined with a small amount of baking powder.  I was quite confused by all the types of sugars available, but it's no surprise, as the Scottish (and the British) love their baked goods!  There is common granulated sugar, but also caster sugar (finer than granulated), icing sugar (same as powdered sugar), golden caster sugar (used in creamed sponge cakes), demerara sugar (an intense flavour and used in coffee and sprinkled over sharp fruits), light and dark brown sugar, and muscovado sugar (lots of molasses still remaining).

In the dairy aisle, there are more types of cheddar cheese than one could imagine, along with imports from all over continental Europe.  Milk is available whole, semi-skimmed (as we would call 1 or 2%), and sometimes skimmed, and as buttermilk.  Pure cream (35-45% butterfat) can be whipped or poured.  Double (the thickest and served served with fruits) and creme fraiche (with a high fat content, about 35%) are also found on the shelf.  Clotted cream has the highest fat percentage of over 55% and is served with scones, butter and jam. I have found it difficult to locate sour cream.  Only one or two of the larger markets carry it, but I recently found that I can easily make it by adding 1-2 tsp lemon juice to 150 ml or single or double cream.  There are shelves and shelves of yogurt and greek yogurt has been popular here much longer than it has in the UK.

Thank goodness I can find my beloved Pepsi products here, though I do see more Coca-Cola products in stores.  I drink Pepsi Max which has a little different taste than Diet Pepsi.  Pepsi Max in the US is a different drink altogether and lists ginseng on the label.  It also has twice as much caffeine as Diet Pepsi.  The "Max" drink was introduced because it was thought that fewer men would buy a drink with the word "diet" in it.  I am working on giving them up completely, so I no longer take in caffeine, and am now a lover of organic elder flower water I was introduced to at a little cafe called the Pillars of Hercules on the Falkland Estates.

Other than the SPAR shop and other local grocers, the main grocery stores in this part of Scotland are Tesco, Morrison's, Sainsbury's, ASDA (actually owned by Wal-Mart through a subsidiary), and Lidl (a no-frills grocery.)  There are also a few Marks & Spencers (more common in England) and Waitrose (think expensive!)

Going back in time: West Cork, County Kerry and the Beara Peninsula

Back in April, I took a 3 day trip to West Cork and County Kerry in the south west of Ireland.  I was still living in North Cork and was scouting locations to move to once I returned from Scotland.  The trip had 3 parts:

1) West County Cork: Exploring Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Schull, Ballydehob (a favourite village name), Bantry and the southern portion of the Beara Peninsula including the village of Glengarriff (Letters C, D and I on the map below).

2) County Kerry and the Beara Peninsula: 2 nights at a wonderful holiday home in Lauragh (J) and exploring the northern portion of the peninsula and the town of Kenmare (F, J and H).  Kenmare was where I stayed with my parents on my first trip to Ireland in 2005.  I also drove back over to Glengarriff in West Cork to visit with 2 American couples I met through an expat forum.

3) The Iveragh Peninsula: Exploring Sneem (K) which is part of the Ring of Kerry, a drive through Killarney National Park (between K & L on the map), and the return home to Castletownroche (M).

This area of Ireland is much more rugged than where I had been staying north of Cork City.  The scenery was amazing and thankfully, the weather cooperated.  A little rain, but there was also blue sky to be had.  Not bad for April.

Of course, being the sheep fanatic that I am, I was in heaven when I found out the holiday home I rented near Lauragh (pronounced Lore-och) was located on a sheep hill farm.  These are some of the visitors, just outside the door.

Heaven!

Some of the neighbours.

The ewes were just about finished lambing for the season.  Eugene, the sheep farmer, puts these yellow, biodegradable jackets on the lambs to help prevent attacks from foxes and also help a little with the weather.  

This ewe and her lamb didn't seem interested in moving as I was making my way down the hill from the house.  I was at a standstill and tried honking the horn and hollering out the window to no avail. I even had Riley barking, but she was not interested in moving. 

Eugene feeding Mutt the sheep some bread.  Mutt was a pet sheep (known as a bummer lamb in the US) and is more dog than sheep.

The holiday home is owned by Mag and Eugene McCarthy and is advertised on Flipkey.com under home for let in the Kenmare area.  You can find the link here.  It is an old home up a steep hill that was renovated several years ago.  Mag and Eugene live below and were very nice and helpful.  I took some pictures inside, as I may return in the Autumn and stay the winter in their holiday home.

This is a mussel farm just up the road from the holiday home.  This is the bay that is seen from the front of the house.

It was a terrific trip and I am looking forward to going back soon.

Fancy Some Fish & Chips in Anstruther?

A visit to Anstruther, about 9 miles southeast of St Andrews in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland, is not complete without a plate of amazing Fish & Chips.  Anstruther is a small town of about 3,500 people, but on a bright sunny day, it is swarming with tourists.  

The northern end of the harbour

It is located on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, the estuary (a "firth") of Scotland's River Forth that flows into the North Sea.  A map showing the Firth of Forth is shown below, with Anstruther in the right upper hand corner, and Edinburgh (capital city of Scotland) at the center toward the bottom.  Ladybank, where I am staying, is about 13 miles north of Kirkcaldy (at center of the map & pronounced "Kir-cawdy").

The view from Anstruther across the Firth of Forth.

The lighthouse is located at the end of the harbour walls.  It is sometimes referred to as the Chalmers Lighthouse, as it was built in 1880 to commemorate Dr. Thomas Chalmers, a famous Scottish scientist who studied at St Andrews University from the very young age of 12.

Anstruther's original industry was fishing, but now it is tourism.  There is a beautiful harbour and a small row of shops and restaurants that overlooks it. There are boat trips that take you to the Isle of May to see the UK's largest population of puffins (I will have to go back sans dog to take the boat trip).

The southern end of the harbour with a view of Anstruther Church to the left.  Originally built in 1634 and the steeple was added later, in 1644.  The spire houses a bell brought from Holland and is still in use today.  

The town was going through some renovation when I was there, so it was a little difficult to walk among all the scaffolding.  I did find this beautiful old building, the Murray Library, that was built in 1908.  David Murray, who made his wealth in Adelaide, Australia (where I visited in 2010!) donated the building and is buried in Anstruther.

The Murray Library

Near Anstruther is Scotland's Secret Bunker.  I am a bit claustrophobic and the destination is now quite commercialized with an entrance fee of £10 + £2 for the audio tour (ouch $18.50!), so I doubt I will be visiting in the future.  However, I thought I would add a few photos "borrowed" from the internet.  The bunker was built in 1951 and was still in use until 1993.  It looks like an ordinary farmhouse on the outside, but underneath is a 24,000 square foot nuclear bunker, 100 feet underground.  There are 6 dormitories capable of sleeping up to 300 people in rotation.  There was also a fully equipped BBC sound studio and a chapel.  The bunker would have been the Regional Seat of Government, had there been a nuclear emergency.

Scotland's Secret Bunker (photo courtesy of Google Earth)

The radio and television studio (photo from their website).

One of the dormitories in Scotland's Secret Bunker (photo from their website).

A visit to Anstruther is not complete without a plate full of Fish & Chips.  The Anstruther Fish Bar is a bit famous, having won the Fish and Chip shop of the year award in 2001 and 2002 and again in 2009.  It was swarming with tourists, so I chose the lesser known Waterfront Resaurant.  A friend said it was at the opposite end of the harbour from the Fish Bar, but his description of how far turned out to be literally 4 shops away.  I don't have a "food-selfie" photograph of my giant plant of Fish & Chips, as there were too many people nearby for me to feel comfortable photographing my food.  However, it was terrific!  And, conveniently, there was an ice cream shop right next door.  Look who enjoyed that shop!