Monday, 29 March 2010

Up to my eyeballs!

Hey all! I know my posts for this year have been very few, and even further between! I think I've only posted twice! I've really been busy this semester, trying to churn out a chapter, organising a reading weekend away for the Scottish History department, nanny-ing, proof-reading for a friend, trying to find a place to live for next year (our landlord is selling our house)--all kinds of stuff.

Apart from nanny-ing and house hunting, I spend most of my time in the office, thesis-ing, which is just as well, considering the weather has been right rubbish these last few months. Wet, cold, windy, wet. I'm glad the days are finally starting to get longer...even though that certainly doesn't guarantee that the sun will actually make an appearance that day! We had a number of lovely sunny days, with highs of 52 degrees last week! The undergrads were breaking out the flip-flops and shorts! I kid you not! But then, the nasty weather came back with a vengeance this weekend! Yesterday, Sunday, started out cold, but sunny. Then it became overcast and the wind picked up! By 2pm, we experienced a storm of sleet and wind! Blech. Now they are calling for snow on Wednesday! I don't think we will ever see spring! Well, it should arrive eventually. Sometime around July.

So to tide you over until I have something interesting to write about that's not thesis related and therefore won't bore you to tears*, here are some pictures from the Scottish History Reading Weekend that I organised! We (being the faculty and postgrads from the department) stayed at The Burn, an eighteenth-century estate house turned into an academic conference/retreat centre! It was in Edzell, about an hour and half north of St Andrews. And since we had one too many people for the cars available, I got to rent a car and drive! And the best part, the university paid for it! So without further ado, here are the snaps! (As always, if you want to see the photos larger and at your own pace, just click on any photo and it will take you to the album site!)






*Even I have had some difficulty with this! Just last week I was reading a book (on diplomatic relations between Henry VIII of England and James V of Scotland) that was so boring I fell asleep at my desk! Now that is really saying something!

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