WOYWW Week 896/116 - Trip to Callender House & The Falkirk Wheel

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy WOYWW to you all. I hope it proves to be a good day for you wherever you are, here in the south west of Scotland it's cool and damp after the storms yesterday. Just how I like it. :) 

Correction. The heavens have just opened!

On my desk today are the supplies together with a selection of photos for the next layout. I'm trying to decide which photo(s) to use for my niece's album. Decisions, decisions! On the back to the left is a wee pile of scraps and a very scruffy stamping block. I intend to punch circles out of the scraps. Circles often come in handy as the base for clusters and it's so much better than tossing them in the bin. The block will get cleaned. 

Oh, and I've just notice on the far left, by the table lamp, is a tube of Nippon ant killer. There was an attempted mass takeover from a nearby nest of flying ants last week. I've nothing against ants when they are outside but to have them swarming all over my home, that's entirely different.

I've had less time for scrapping this week but here's one of the last pages made.

One of my niece for her album. The inspiration for this layout came from a sketch by one of my favourite YouTube scrapper's, Moira O'Reilly. I think she might have said it was her first attempt to create a sketch. Of course, I tweaked it a bit - I always do. The supplies were all I found in one of my kits - not a lot, but enough. 

What kept me from the craft room was that my daughter and son-in-law decided it was time to make the trip to Falkirk that had to be abandoned a month or so ago when the car broke down. That episode was recorded in this page. 

This time all went well and we were able to not only visit the beautiful Callender House in Falkirk, but also visit the Falkirk Wheel - a fantastic feat of engineering that might just be the eighth wonder of the world! I took 'hundreds' of photos of course. Here's a just a very select few,

I could post so many more from Callender House but best I stop now. Here's a couple from the Falkirk Wheel.

All such a brilliant experience and one I can heartily recommend to any of you planning to visit Scotland one day. 

I almost forgot, here's one for those of you over the pond. Smores cake on sale in the cafe in Callender House. It is the first time I've seen it outside the US! 

Note: I did not try it this time. Next time, for sure!

Finally, here's Silver keeping an eye on me in the craft room. 

That's me for this week. As usual, if you don't already do so, I urge you to join in with WOYWW. You can do this by clicking on this link,  Sarah's Craft Shed, where you will be made most welcome.

Take care and have a fabulous week.

Elizabeth

Friday Smiles - Falkirk, The Kelpies and The Wheel

Hi Everyone,

Warning! A photo heavy post follows.

I hope you having a lovely Friday and that there's been a lot to smile about in the week. Last week, on my post for Annie's Friday Smiles, I mentioned that we were off to Falkirk to celebrate my husband's birthday. Needless to say, we had a fabulous time, found plenty to smile about, and the weather was kind too. I took a ton of photos so I thought I'd show some, in the form of montages otherwise you'd be here all day.

Falkirk is a town that sits in the very heart of Scotland, midway between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The town has some very attractive buildings, this is just a few. Click on the montage to see it enlarged.

Falkirk Trinity Church, also known as The Faw Kirk, with it's ancient graveyard, is sited in the centre of the town. It contains important historical memorials from the time of William Wallace, the Battle of Falkirk (1298) and a later second Battle in 1746. The carvings are in the wall surrounding the churchyard.

All around the town on pavements and walls are engraved quotations, including part of William Wallace's famous cry for Freedom.

The magnificent Kelpies, designed by sculptor Andy Scott, are situated in the The Helix - a recreational park with visitor attractions that include a lagoon, wetlands, splash play area, trails and other outdoor events. The Kelpies, standing 30 metres high, are the world's largest equine sculptures. The name, The Kelpies, reflects the mythological water horses that are part of Scottish folklore. It is said that these water kelpies are shape-shifting creatures that occupy our lochs and rivers, much of their bodies being underwater and that they posses the strength and endurance of 10 horses.

Each Kelpie has a name, Duke and Baron, and a descriptive 'Head Down' and 'Head Up'.

They each have a quotation of their own too. Falkirk folk clearly love their quotations.

The Saturday we were there coincided with a National Addiction Recovery Walk, organised by the Scottish Recovery Consortium. Those that attended were each given a red rose which was ceremonially thrown into the Forth & Clyde canal that is located just behind The Kelpies.

After the Kelpies we went on to visit the Falkirk Wheel - another amazing feat of engineering. The Wheel is the world's only rotating boat lift. It's breathtaking. For even better photos do click the link, it is worth it!

And it seems we can't get away from the Kelpies, not that we would want to, because there's another set of 1:10 scale maquettes on display at the base of the Wheel.

And finally, we had a bit of a giggle when Alan decided he had to take his cap off while one of the security men obliged by taking our photo.

Apologies for the length of this post but there really is a lot to see in Falkirk. We didn't manage the half of it so will have to return, perhaps next year, to visit the places we missed this time.

Hope you enjoyed my Friday Smiles and if you would like to see more do pop over to A Stitch In Time so see more reasons to smile at Annie's.

Have a wonderful weekend.