An Anniversary in Edinburgh...

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated 4 years of marital adventure! We commemorated the day with a feast at the ever-popular "Nando's" on Lothian Rd. Yeah, it is a chain restaurant rather than the fancy local places where we have celebrated in the past in Austin and SLC. Still, we decided that splurging our small luxuries fund on a restaurant are for the times when we don't have the novelty of living in Scotland. Indeed, we do have a several day holiday planned through Isle of Skye coming up in just one month time. Best save the wee fund for that this year! And to be sure, this year's celebration was the best I can remember really.

Can you see the excitement on Matt's face about to dig into his Peri Peri chicken, chips and mushy peas as he rolls up his sleeves?

As good as the meal was, I have to confess that the best thing about it was their BOTTOMLESS fountain drinks (with ice nonetheless!). It is a real rarity in these parts to have such free flowing soda fountains, as abundant as you would find in the ol' U.S. of A. I felt like singing The Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Would you believe our blustery, rainy spring Edinburgh lit up with sun for the hour after our dinner? Just long enough to get a picture of us in front of the Princes Street fountain that we pass so often on our walks to campus this year.

That was an event in and of itself as we happened upon three elderly Basque women on holiday to take the picture. We exchanged picture taking services with them since they hadn't gotten one of them altogether and explained with Spanglish and wild hand gestures (turns out that Basque and Argentine Spanish is not as comparable as one might think) our story of being in Edinburgh as they were interested in us being Americans. It was the perfect encounter for the occasion as it added yet one more memorable event in our year long stint here in Edinburgh.

I have to say, when I look back on my 4 married-to-Matt years, that in spite of the fact that they still haven't "hung the jerk who invented work", I have good reason to be singing "The Big Rock Candy Mountain". Truly, life has proven to be "a land that is fair and bright".