If you can read this sign, thank a teacher

We took a lot of pictures of signs--the way some people take a lot of pictures of castles and mansions.
Some signs represented the different ways Scotland/England warn of danger:
Falling off a cliff. Watch out for those gravestones. They may jump out at you!

What to do if you're in a traffic accident on a motorway:

Some represent the blending of 2 languages: English and Gaelic

Some represented memories: for the younger generation Judi Dench was M in the last few James Bond movies. She's one of our favorite Brit actresses. Watson was a street some ancestors lived on. The street is gone but there is a sign in the park marking the street's past location.

Some were just whimsical:

It was interesting that in the UK they didn't store there eggs in refrigerated areas.

An example of the US shopping influence in the UK.

I have often walked down your street before....

The coal mines are gone for the most part in the Hamilton area. But people have artistic ways of remembering the days gone past.

The coal miners lived in tenements. For that matter, most working people lived in tenements. Though the tenements look old they are fairly new. When they tore down tenements they just rebuilt the new ones with indoor plumbing or whatever was the newest invention. Sometimes the low one story tenements were placed with multistory apartment buildings.

This is the street Grandpa Mount's family lived on before coming to the States. Grandpa would have gotten a big kick out of the pizza deli since he enjoyed Italian bread when he lived in Detroit.

Everyone loves a parade and a parade, and a ....

On the 4th of July we were walking along the street where my Grandpa Mount was born and we heard bagpipes. There was a parade! Wasn't that nice of them to celebrate the 4th with us, Yanks! Come to find out it is a Glasgow area yearly event. Many of the folks didn't know the history of the parade but they all enjoyed it. Later we discovered it was the Protestant's version of the Catholic's St. Patrick's Day parade. In olden days they would march past the Catholic Churches. The funny thing is after seeing the parade on Grandpa's street, we saw a parade again in front of the public library in Hamilton. And then there was another parade the next day in the Holytown area where my Aitken families worshipped.

Scotland for the Grandkids:
Oldma's ancestors worked in coal mines in Scotland. Many of those mines became dangerous and were closed. One of the mines is now an amusement park like Lagoon. The Lagoon part was closed, but we couldn't resist playing at one of the picnic ground parks.

Happy 37th Anniversary, Dennis

Dennis, I'm afraid you won't be able to see the message on the picture, so here it is again:

I don't want this moment

To pass without telling you

How much happiness

You bring me ...

I also want you to know

That I love you,

And I'm thankful for you

Every day of my life.

Happy Anniversary Darling

Hanging out on the wildside

The sun was really up all the time so we could lots of walks as long as it wasn't raining. So we just "hung out" and enjoyed the wild life.

This tree is on their property. It is bound and determined to find the sun. Their property is beautiful. When we working in the yard the last day of our stay, we saw the prints of moose at the edge of the spot they hope to someday be a large garden plot.


During one of our walks we came across this jet! People seem to collect lots of stuff and keep it on their property. On our cruise the guide mentioned that having stuff in the yard was a sign of prosperity. During the cruise we saw different types of homes--small boats, train cars, buses, etc. Perhaps someday this will be turned into a home or a business.

We went to a bird sanctuary which used to be a large daity farm. The major resident population consisted of sandhill cranes. Thomas, we loved how well our camera zoomed in to get these shots!

Of course, my favorite wildlife site to "hang out" at was the TURTLE CLUB.

"We were cruising along..."

Monday, Dennis and I went on the boat cruise Dennis and the boys went on when we were in Alaska for the Kayak Trip. At the beginning of the trip we visited by camera a pilot in a float plane. He took off right past us, flew overhead, and then landed next to us. I thought about how much my grandchildren would have enjoyed seeing the plane. Then when we got to the point where the 2 rivers meet, we saw another plane land on a sandbar. Aaron, this is at the point where you saw the marriage of the rivers. In the last 3 years the water was lowered and the silt has settled that a large sandbar has diverted the river. They had to move the docking for the village experience and moved the fish trap, too.

The lady has died who owned this dog sled homestead, but her husband carries on the tradition along with their children. It was so much fun to see how excited the team got when they realized they were going out for a demo! They were so hot when they returned they ran straight for the river. Normally a fence keeps them in the area, but the water being so low gives them an escape route and a couple of the dogs head out in the direction we travelled. The one daughter got almost across where the 2 rivers meet before she headed back, unfortunately, without a dog. We assume he trailed back on his own.

Sharing information about influence of the European. Talking about the various furs and which were the most valued. Mink was the least valued.

The lady who manages the fish village and demonstrates beading also keeps the gardens. We took this picture to give Bobbi and Robbie some ideas about how to deal with their critters invading their gardens.

Dennis couldn't resist!