Hello again!

I can't believe it's the 7th of October already, September disappeared somewhere! I've been quite busy since August and just haven't had the time to sit down for longer than checking emails to write on here.
In Sept we went on a little holiday to the west of the State, to the Black Hills. It was FANTASTIC!!! We saw so much wildlife and beautiful scenery, I took lots of pics! I still haven't sorted them out so they will be up here sometime soon, just have to go through and pick out the best.
Then is was back to reality and back to apartment and job hunting. We had some good luck on the apartment front and are moving in tonight as it's to be -7 tomorrow night! Winter is definitely here! :o(
Also some luck on the job front, i have a two week trial screen-printing t-shirts. Hopefully it will be fun! I'll let you know how it goes.

I hope it won't be nearly two months before i write again...!

Very Italian!

I saw this cool building in Main Street in Aberdeen the other day. I think it's one of the nicest in the city and i'd love to live here!

Sunday Gardening

Our garden in full. It's mosquito heaven in here!

This is one of our corn patches. It's huge, taller than me!

Our first cob of corn, not sure if it's quite ready yet but we pulled it off to check.

We picked two bags of beans today, we'll be eating them for days!!!

Yummy food from our garden! We are slowly getting food from our garden there are loads of tomatoes but they need to ripen, we have had broccoli for a few weeks and the potatoes are ready too. The veg tastes so much better than shop bought!

Dakota Stampede Rodeo!

This cowboy was sitting in front of us and i loved his stetson! Note the toothpicks tucked in the back for those impromptu emergencies! ha ha! :D

Saddle Bronc Riding

Action shot of tie down roping

Tie down roping

Cowboy with lasso

Wow, I went to my first ever proper Rodeo on Tuesday night... it was FANTASTIC! I loved every minute of it!
There was Barrel Racing, Steer Wrestling (wrestling steers with horns to the ground), Bull Riding (bucking bulls just like you see in the films!), Bareback Bronc Riding (bucking horses), Saddle Bronc Riding (same again but with a saddle!) Tie Down Roping (involves lassoing the calf to the ground and tying all four feet together) , Team Roping (where there are two cowboys either side of a calf and one has to rope the horns and the oter had to rope the back legs - looks very difficult!) and not forgetting Mutton Busters! This involves small kids hanging onto the neck of a sheep, the main goal: just hang on!! They were by far my favourite, absolutely hilarious!!!

Mmmmmm... yum!

I thought I'd share with you the joy of my Blueberry Crumb Cake and cup of tea for my break during a busy morning of making things! The cake was delicious! :D

Camping at the Missouri.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Sitting Bull Monument

Me & Sonny at the Missouri

The Breakfast Chefs

Here are pictures from our camping adventure to the Missouri River and surrounding area.

Sioux Falls

Hello again... the weeks seem to be flying past and i don't seem to be getting much time to write on here and keep you updated. So here are some photos i should have posted a few weeks ago.

We headed south to Sioux Falls at the end of July for a staff pool party of Sonny's at his bosses house. It was great fun, they have a big pool, baby pool, huge hot tub and a games room. I got to see the main Combined Pool & Spa store - it's huge compare to the one Sonny works in and there are lots more staff compared to just two of them in Aberdeen! The next day we headed into the city and to the Falls which the city is named after. Here are my photos of the Falls.

I'm in the system!

On the way out of Fargo we saw this really cool diner, old style....

I had to go to Fargo, North Dakota last Thursday for a biometrics appointment. This consisted of taking my fingerprints, photograph and a copy of my signature, fun,fun,fun! We had to drive 3 hours there for a 15 min appointment, that's all it took! Hopefully i'll get my work authorisation sometime VERY soon!

It wasn't all bad though as i got to drag Sonny round a huge art store and we speant about 1 and 1/2 hours in Barnes & Noble, the big bookstore. We had lunch in the coolest place i have ever been in, HuHot! It is a Mongolian restaurant where you go round filling your bowl with ingredients; meat first then noodles, veg and finally whichever sauce you want then you stand in line as the cook you bowl full on this huge hot plate in the centre of the restaurant - 'always shuffling to the left' - as the sign says! Then you get your plate full of cooked food back... mmmm, it was very yummy!!

I HATE MOSQUITOES!!!

This is a flood light at Wylie Park, the mosquitoes are so bad! Better that they are drawn to the light rather than drinking our blood! ha ha!

And so the dress was complete...

So, I finally finished my dress, although i was still altering it the day of Dan & Laura's wedding. Needless to say i was running at the last minute as usual... yes i know mum!! Ha ha!
The wedding was at Takoma Park Place which is a place set up for outdoor weddings just on the river although it's a bit close to the road as you can hear the cars passing! It was a really nice day and it was nice to have the excuse to dress up, i think we both scrub up okay!

This pic shows the pattern on the dress better!

Comments

I have fixed the little problem i was having with people not being able to leave comments. So please feel free to leave me some, big or small, would be great to hear from you! :o)

Time passes so fast!

Sorry I haven't put a post up for nearly a whole month! I can't believe how fast time passes. I have been busy trying to master how to work my new ipod - I have Katy on speed dial for help :o) not sure if she is that happy about it though!
I have photos of us from our friends wedding that i will put up by the end of this week and i think there might be some more....

Just in time for Wimbledon!

Just thought I'd tempt your taste buds with a picture of the first strawberries out of our garden. They were delicious... mmmmm! We have lots of things growing up fast but only the spinach is ready for picking now.

Summer Storms

Well, I survived my forst South Dakotan thunder storm. It was really scary and i was home all by myself! :o(
We had extremely heavy rain, thunder and lightning, winds, and it looked as if it was 9pm at night but it was only 10.30am! It took about an hour for it to pass and then the rain didn't stop until about 2pm in the afternoon! Sonny's mum got stranded in Aberdeen as all the roads leading to here were flooded, all in that short space of time! Then in the afternoon there were tornado warnings - just what i wanted to hear!! Luckily that didn't happen and in the evening the blue, tranquil skies re-appeared! Phew! We have a nice day today but there is more rain and thunderstorms forecast for the rest of the week... I'll keep you posted!

Punting on the Creek!

Sonny and I went for a canoe paddle up the creek next to the house. It's not too deep but it is VERY muddy! There were the most amazing dragonflies flying next to the boat, just skimming the water, they were electric blue in colour! I tried to get a photo of them but they are far to fast! Then we passed under the railway bridge and all these birds flew out, i don't think they liked strangers. Then just as we were coming back down to the island bit where we started off from, we heard a fox bark and then it took off along the bank and when it was far enough away it stopped and took a good look at us! So we saw all the wildlife from the creek!

Road Trip

We went on our first 'road trip' last weekend down to Winner. It's pretty far South, 350 miles to be exact! We had brilliant weather which made the drive even better, we went past the Missouri River and through a couple of Native American Reservations. The landscape changes the further south you go in South Dakota... there were hills! Not something we have a lot of around Aberdeen, it was a bit of a novelty going up and down a few hills! You'd think i would enjoy not having to climb hills for a while but i miss it, everything is so flat here! Sonny was going to have a look at a truck but he decided not to buy it cos it wasn't as good a the 'salesman' had led us to think... It was a bit of a wasted journey but at least the scenery was good! Then on the way back up we took a different route up through Pierre, which is the Capital of the State.


Here is a picture of the capital building, we were too late to have a look inside, so we'll just have to take another trip! :o)

New Additions to the Family!

These two little chicks are the new addition to our chicken Family!
One is a Black Australorp and the other is a Gold Star, we don't have any names for them yet. They are sooo cute!

Dress for the wedding

My fabric arrived for my dress yesterday, I'm so pleased with it - definitely my colours! The fabric is by Amy Butler, she does the most amazing designs in brilliant colours and its a perfect weight for dressmaking!
Here is a swatch of the fabric and I'm going to make dress 'b' (red and white patterned one in the pic above).

A Week of Firsts!

Yep, this has been a week of firsts:

• First bikini ever bought- and worn... but not in public!

• First pair of 'short' shorts worn since I was probably about the age of 12.

• First time I played Disc Golf for the season - just like regular golf but with a frisbee instead, lots of fun but i think i'm going to need a lot more practice. I can do a par 3 hole in about 10 shots!!!

• First dress pattern ever bought and just about to start my first attempt at making it too! We have been invited to a friend of Sonny's wedding in July so i had the great idea of making my own dress... test out my new sewing machine and my rusty sewing skills! Wish me luck!

• First SOS package from home this week with a few shirts i had left behind, my more 'reserved' tankini (for public places!), the 3rd book in the Twilight series, Eclipse and the best of all Selvedge magazine - for those of you who don't know it, its an amazing textiles magazine with fantastic images and articles. There was lso a bonuc choclate bar each: dark for Sonny and crispy white for me.

Richmond Lake

This is Richmond Lake which is about 12 miles north of Aberdeen. It's so nice out there, everyone has their house on the side of the lake with their boats tied to their docks. Wouldn't be so nice in the winter when the ice freezes to 3-5ft deep!

More images

The top image is the outside cooking area, we have managed to cook out twice so far and i'm sure there will be many more over the summer. The bottom image is the creek opposite the cook area and the canoes that sonny and i plan to go out in when we next get a chance.

This is the view across the road towards the highway, look at the lovely blue sky!! :o)


Here is the garden that we have planted up. I'll keep you updated and let you see our garden grow.

This is our home for just now, its really comfy and is bigger than it looks.

SEWING MACHINE!!

I forgot to tell you, i got a new sewing machine! It's amazing!! Its a computerised Brother machine with 50 stitches and sews like a dream - it's my new baby!! Hopefully i'll be able to start making a few things and maybe even try my hand at making a few basic clothing ietems - if i'm brave enough! ha ha!

Hello again!

Sorry, it's been a while since i last posted something. We've been busy putting the garden together and planting our seeds - carrots, broccoli, spinach, beetroot, beans, tomatoes, herbs, peppers and i'm sure there's more. The strawberries are already up and flowering so we'll soon have some fruit!
The weather here today is BRILLIANT, we have for the first day in a long time no wind, blue sky and a very hot sun - 29C!!!
I went to my first American High School Graduation on Sunday, Sonny's cousin Melissa is leaving school and heading to college to do the equivalent of primary teaching - good luck to her!
The family had their first cook-out last week, they have made this great space down near the creek, well equipped with bbq's,tables and chairs, and cupboards full of everything you could need for cooking and eating outside, i thing we're eating there again tonight! I'll get some pics of it and post them for you.

The sun is shining!

Well, for the past two days we have had brilliant sunshine and temps of 20-21C!! I'm bathing in sunblock already and that's not even the summer sun! Ha ha! The blue sky is endless over here as the land is so flat and you feel as if it goes on forever.
Went for a walk round Wylie Park yesterday, its a camping ground but has a small animal park attached with HUGE buffalo, that paced the fence as we passed with the dogs - not so good! Just as well the fences are double the height of the buffalo! They also have deer, elk and lots of birds on the lake. There is another lake that only under 16's can fish in but the adults all 'help' the kids catch the fish! There were a few campers there but i'm sure in the summer it's packed out.
This afternoon i'm gonna go out with my camera and get you some pic of where we are living, it looks so much better in the sunshine - just as Scotland always does!

Sunset

Thought i'd share the first of amazing sunsets that we had last night. Sonny recons it was a 5/10!

Friday is cleaning day!

Had a busy day yesterday cleaning and tidying - i think that'll be the last as everything has a place now! :o) Also managed to sneak in another couple of chapters of New Moon by Stephanie Meyer - the second in the vampire series. Dorothy, you were right, the books are fantastic i can't put it down and Katy - get reading them!! ha ha! I had fun watching the chickens run about everywhere, they are so funny when they run. Here is a picture of Henry the cockerel.

There was me thinking i'd left the Scottish weather behind... we have had about 4 different weather types in the last two days: sun, wind, rain, a thunder storm with lightning - it was quite scary, they are much louder than the ones you have at home!
Went to Redfield with Sonny yesterday, its about 45 miles south of Aberdeen. Here is something i found on a website "Redfield is the Pheasant Capital of the World" - and there were pheasants everywhere!

The weather is better today, we have sun abut still a fierce breeze! Got some pics to post so hopefully have them up today - your time tomorrow!

p.s I FOUND CIDER!! This made me very happy! :o)

Going online!

So here it is, my first posting! Yay!
It's taking a while to get used to it all but i'm sure after a bit of practice and some help from Sonny i'll get there. Haven't taken many pictures yet as the rain seems to have followed me here :o( but the weather is supposed to get better this weekend, up to 15-16C with lots of sun! So i will post photos as soon as i get some good ones!