Posts filed under 'CB Meetups'
Back in January, I was hunting around for a 5k race to run this spring, and there were none to be found in my neck of Scotland. But I really, really wanted to find a race to run in, so I started looking farther afield, and stumbled across the St. David’s Day 5k and 10k races in Cardiff, Wales. Hmmmm…Wales…I’d never been to Wales. A quick email to Xenia and she was all for the idea of a weekend in Cardiff, including the race. And so Theresa and Xenia’s Excellent Wales Adventure was on the calendar!
Friday, I caught the 2pm train down to London, and after a short ride on the Underground from Kings Cross to Paddington station and then a bit longer of a wait, I was on the train to Cardiff!
Once in Cardiff, I gave Xenia a call to let her know I’d arrived. It was about 10:30pm. It’s a LONG train ride from Edinburgh to Cardiff, but I blatantly ignored the opportunity to do work and instead spent the time reading Kushiel’s Dart, 
which is a LONG book. (I’d been working on it for a while, and finally finished it on the train ride back. A good, but EPIC story.) Xenia had a much shorter train ride, and had arrived earlier in the evening.
I initially started to walk to the B&B where we were staying (Beaufort Guesthouse, I would recommend it), but shortly realized that this was a stupid thing to do at this time of night in a strange city and caught a cab. And so, I arrived in Cardiff at the B&B after an uneventful day of traveling and a productive day of reading. Xenia didn’t want to come down to open the door for me — something about already being in her pajamas — but luckily, someone did come when I rang the front bell.
Saturday morning, after a yummy breakfast in a fancy, fancy dining room, Xenia and I were off to collect our rental car. 
The plan was that Xenia would drive and I would navigate. Unfortunately, navigation relies on other things than being able to read a map, namely adequate signage and maps that do not look like this. 
It also helps if all the roads are not mixtures of the letters A and B and numbers. In the end, it took us about an hour, and I swear we went around the same round-a-bout three times, but we did eventually make it out of Cardiff and on to our first destination: Caerleon!
Caerleon was the site of a Roman Legionary Fortress. It is also believed by some to be the location of King Arthur’s Camelot. Sadly, there were no legionares or knights left roaming around, only the remains of a Roman bath, soldier barracks, and a Roman amphitheatre. Admittedly, these were pretty cool. If ever given the chance, I do recommend seeing historical Roman sites with Xenia. Being an archeologist of Roman stuff, it’s like having your own personal tour guide!
After exploring the amphitheatre (to the soundtrack of some seriously disturbed cows from the farm right next door) it was off to our next sight: Raglan Castle!
Raglan Castle was just amazing! It’s in ruins, but there is enough there to get a feel for what it must have been like once upon a time. The atmosphere sparked a sense of romance and adventure, and Xenia and I spent maybe a couple hours exploring.
After Raglan Castle, our plan was to find something to eat in Monmouth (which I still can’t say properly, for some reason). And while there were plenty of places to eat in Monmouth, there was a dearth of places to park, so we decided to continue on to Tintern Abbey, and munch on our provisions once there. (I always travel with food.)
Like Raglan, Tintern Abbey is in ruins now, but still an amazing sight. Whereas Raglan Castle sparked feelings of romance and adventure, Tintern Abbey evoked feelings of tranquility and reverence. I could have just sat and soaked up the quiet there for hours I think. What it must have been like way back when!
By now it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and we had seen our fill. Xenia and I were both ready to head back to Cardiff. It was an uneventful drive back with no episodes of misdirection (yay!). We dropped off the car, then droped off our stuff, and went in search of an early dinner. This involved passing by Cardiff Castle, 
which was protected by many fierce beasts, 
as well as a few not so fierce beasts. 
Walking back after dinner, Xenia was tempted to hurdle the baracades and make a dash for the still open doors to the castle, but we worried about the time it would take to transfer the bail money to pounds sterling.
Sunday was race day! With the 5k race not starting until 10:30, it was a leisurely morning. It turned out to be an almost perfect day for a race, with temperatures around 50 F. The race was held in Bute Park, which is basically the grounds of Cardiff Castle.
I ran the race in 37:12 minutes, according to my watch, which I was quite pleased with. (You can read Xenia’s race report here. I still need to write mine.) After the 5k race,
I hurried back to the B&B for a quick shower. (I asked for a late checkout, because an 8+ hour train ride back to Edinburgh without a shower, eeeew. No time to fix my hair though, so had weird curls going on for the rest of the day.) Xenia stayed so that she could run the 10k race as well. Go Xenia!
After a quick trip back to the B&B to get our stuff, it was time to head in the general direction of the train station, via Bute Park, and a quick stop for lunch. Unfortunately, our walk to the train station was a bit too leisurely, and we ended up having to sprint at the end to catch our train! (Not fair, we’d already done our running that day!)
There was one worrying train delay on the way from Cardiff to London, but thankfully I’d left enough leeway in the schedule that I was still able to make my London train back to Edinburgh. Xenia had switched trains at Didcot Parkway, and was home before dinner. For me, it was a late night, and I wasn’t pleased by the delay when a couple of taxi drivers started arguing and nearly came to fisticuffs. (Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, but I’ve always wanted to use that word.) Eventually, around midnight, I finally got home.
And that’s the end of our Wales adventure. It was a terrific weekend and great to see Xenia again!!
March 5th, 2009
Just to tide you over before CC posts…
McB and Wapak 
The excuse we had for getting together in Dayton
– the three Goddesses at the table.
The round from G-G at The Cheesecake Factory
The Whack after the cilantro and margaritas 
And Wapak’s favourite bar where I got my fix. Check out the incredible wood work. 
How we wish you all had been there. The next North American Whack should be Louis’ porch. What do you think?
February 18th, 2009
Notes to self: 1. Don’t bother taking pics with the cell phone of the sun rising. Too much contrast. 2. Don’t challenge a log truck on the highway. They simply take any lane they want whenever they want. 3. Write the highway depts. of NC and VA thanking them for the many rest stops. (I know them all.). 4. Turn on the Sunday AM Bluegrass gospel radio station to keep awake while driving after going to bed at 3:00 AM. Singing along helps. Especially “I’ll Fly Away.”
A good time was had by all at the Chesapeake Bay Whack. 4 CBs and 2 guests. I personally worked hard on indolence, and I think maybe everybody else did, too.
We didn’t work very hard on laughter. It just came naturally. This time we all brought meal fixin’s. Supper Friday was spaghetti, fancy salad with weird colorful things in it, and bread. RSS and McB did that one. Saturday breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon and more bacon, and biscuits by Dee. Saturday supper was bean and tortellini soup and chicken Caesar salad by moi. The really big food surprise was when I got up Sunday, tiptoed down stairs all packed, only to discover Dee had already got up and made coffee and started her sausage and egg and cheese and biscuit casserole baking so that I could leave at 8:00. Just about made me cry, someone getting up and fixing a meal to accommodate me*. She’s a jewel.
And speaking of Dee, she attempted to catch a fish and succeeded in catching a sunburn instead. Meanwhile McB and I listened to the trials and tribulations of RSS’ wonderful work in progress. It’s gonna be a winner. By the way, I took them on a little trip in the Geekmobile and didn’t even force them to take off their shoes to get in. The gracious Geekmobile Goddess did speak to them all about plotting our trip into uncharted territory.
Another by the way, the Geekmobile had to have an infusion of 10% ethanol + gas, since that was all that was available at the Bay. The mileage is noticeably lower, but it would only be a calculated guess since I topped the tank off with the stuff and would have to assume complete mixing of gasolines, etc.
We had a marathon discussion after Saturday supper on … Ta Da … novels, good and bad and writers, good and bad. They’ve convinced me to try Dick Francis.
Thank you, OH; none of us could remember who wrote the Malory series. I tell you true, if we did Trivial Pursuit on novels with that Whack of CBs, I would definitely be the loser.
October 5th, 2008
Okey dokey. As I mentioned on the previous post, I think May is the best month for me* for a CB invasion of Scotland, and Christina said a weekend that month would also work for her.
So, I’ve setup the following blog http://scotlandwhackinvasion.blogspot.com as a place to scheme and plot and also to post travel and other info. Right now there’s nothing there to see. If anyone else wants posting privileges, just let me know. No furries, I’ve made it non-searchable, and non-something else. So hopefully it will be private.
Um, oh yeah, one more thing. I was thinking of maybe setting up an online vote to select a weekend in May, assuming May is good with everyone. Not that you all can’t come for longer, but it would be a definite date when folks could try to overlap their trips. Let me know if you think I should go ahead and do this.
And I apologize in advance for how expensive it is to visit here. (But I am THRILLED that folks want to come!)
August 5th, 2008
BCB took the original picture, and a little editing helped it out. Sorta!
A good time was had by all. Of course we discussed books. And RWAs. And the impossible aunt/sister/father/you fill in the blank that so many CBs seem to have. And the perfect children CBs have. And CBs who are reading. And CBs who are writing. And reasons that writing is difficult to do. (How can a person find time if that person is also holding down 1 or more jobs?) And the CBs who are strong. No need to discuss the weak ones, since we agreed there aren’t any.
Ya’d think with only 3 of us that lunch would be shorter than when there are more. Say not so! I’d have stayed longer, but I needed to dash home between thunderstorms. Thus the need to use my telephone to check out the storm paths. I LOVE my phone. So glad McB talked me into indulging. So JenB and BCB stayed a while longer. I wonder what they talked about.
One of our topics was about competition, and how I really don’t like competitive sports because they’re, well, competitive. BCB made the observation, that I’m very competitive. Moi? Yes. Absolutely, positively, even viciously. So JenB said how could that be, if I was against such. So I admitted that having that trait doesn’t mean I’m proud of it. The good news is that I’m most fiercely competitive against myself.
Anyhoo. How about you? Care to admit to a personality defect? Or, for that matter, a personality attribute that you’re proud of?
Oh. I’m a good listener.
August 3rd, 2008
OK – Here’s the schedule as I know it:
RWA Conference:
Wednesday evening: “Readers for Life” Literacy signing – which I assume folks will want to attend.
Thursday lunch: Luncheon with speaker
Friday lunch: Luncheon with speaker
Saturday night: Rita and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony – which I assume folks will want to attend.
So… As I see it, we have three choices:
Dinner either Thursday or Friday
Lunch Saturday afternoon
What is your choice? And what would you like to eat? I would think that someplace near the conference would be a good thing.
July 21st, 2008
Cannon Beach. Oregon.
Doesn’t it look professional? I love my 35mm camera.
July 19th, 2008
Moot climbed into my luggage for the trip west. Smuggling an alligator through airport security was a lot easier than one would think. Perhaps they’d heard of her. Getting her into a restaurant was considerably more difficult. She startled a scream out of the waitress when she climbed in through the window.
Once inside she shared a drink with Me. Note the two drinks. Hence the fuzziness.
From there she hung out with Cerise and waited for Louis to come pick up the popcorn maker.
She claimed to have made this sign for the airport but I’m sure I saw OH’s hands in there more than once. 
She also helped GP with Merry’s garden.
but that was exhausting work and she required a little more energy.
Scope found some snack food for Moot down at the market 
but she was more interested in Tanji’s Sweet potato treat. 
The dog refused to share so Moot wandered of to discover why someone would wrap a tree. 
I never did hear the answer to that one.
There were plenty more adventures that wonderful weekend in Oregon but as time wore on, and her energy wound down, Moot found a sign in the mountains that it was time to go home.
This just found in Scope’s purse. A self-portrait Moot drew depicting a lovely lunch at McMinimins. Weebils wobble but they don’t fall down. 
June 27th, 2008
I arrived in Portland late Friday night to be greeted by McB and Orangehands holding up a “Dr. T” sign. I burst out laughing. That right there just about describes the weekend for me. Lots of laughter and smiles and hugs.
After collecting Mary and my luggage, we headed back to Mary’s house where the guessing of who people are started and didn’t end until late the next morning. I’m fairly sure I failed this test of CBness, but they let me stay anyways. :+)
The rest of the weekend was full of good conversation, and lots and lots of the afore mentioned laughter and hugs. I didn’t take very many pictures until Sunday afternoon when six of us (Cary, GP, McB, Lou, Pam, JenB and me*) went to the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park. I could innundate you with pictures of roses, but I will try to restrain myself. They were beautiful and amazing! And a special thanks to GP for the lesson on roses!
I think I’ll stop now. Hope you enjoyed your visit with the roses!
June 25th, 2008
I’m too tired to write a coherent post, but the comments are over 100 and inquiring minds want photos, so here’s one for you. Yes, that is our own darling Scope in Oregon with CMS! It was a wonderful surprise.
I think everyone survived, but it was a lot of work having that much fun. I don’t mean the cooking or housework, because that was all done by kind helpful CBs. I mean meeting friends that I’ve never seen before, and talking and laughing and hugging and talking and laughing some more, sometimes until two in the morning. That’s work! I loved it.
And yes, we did make it to Powell’s. In fact, I’m a little puzzled about that bookstore. When I walked in, I heard an announcement over the loudspeaker:
Attention! If there’s a minister or a wedding officiator in the store, would they please come to the Information desk in the Gold room? Thank you.
What the heck was that about? A woman was 9 months’ pregnant and suddenly realized that she really, really needed to get married right now because her water just broke? A man who got the love of his life to say “yes” and now wants to rush to the wedding before she changes her mind? It’s one of those things that you have to wonder about.
Too tired to write more. Later!
June 23rd, 2008
Previous Posts
which is a LONG book. (I’d been working on it for a while, and finally finished it on the train ride back. A good, but EPIC story.) Xenia had a much shorter train ride, and had arrived earlier in the evening.
as well as a few not so fierce beasts. 
Walking back after dinner, Xenia was tempted to hurdle the baracades and make a dash for the still open doors to the castle, but we worried about the time it would take to transfer the bail money to pounds sterling.
