Gardens and Grandma

Monika came for a nice little visit to see the boy. She left yesterday, but we had a bit of a whirlwind of a time going from one place to another. We took some nice drives down south to the Borders, up north to Perhshire, and east to East Lothian. My favorite trip was the one to Perthsire because it's the southern tip of the Scottish Highlands, a grand swath of mountain that have been beautifully carved out by glaciers. There are scenic rivers and lakes (lochs as they say here, yes as in Loch Ness!) and lots of cute sheep everywhere! You'd think that the whole country is eating lamb daily and wearing nothing but wool sweaters with all the sheep.
We also went to just about every botanic garden in a 40 mile radius of Edinburgh too! Monika in a garden is just like a kid in a candy shop! Plus she knows tons about plants, so it's nice to hear all about this plant and that. Let's see, we went to the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, its arboratum in Dawyck, Drummond Castle Garden (wow, what a grand one that is!), and Dirleton Castle Garden which happens to be home to the longest herbaceous border in the world!
Tomorrow we're off to Exeter, in the far southwest corner of the UK. Simon has to give a talk at the university there, so Marius and I are tagging along for the ride. We'll stay at one of the professor's houses. I hope Marius travels well..... He was brilliant coming over here and going to Spain, but these days he's quite the wiggle worm! At least daddy will be along and can absorb some of the energy.