Northlands was official opened by Prince Charles.

First day orientation

Angela's alginate mold demonstration

Suzan the TA giving the big thumbs up .... or did she just hold onto a candle for far to long?

Both classes sitting down to a fantastic lunch ..... yuuum! This might sound a little strange but one of the dishes are hard boiled eggs coated with sausage meet then breaded and deep dried ...... they are fantastic!

Flowers collected from around Lybster

What do you mean this isn't a flower arranging class??

Sharone with our collection of plants, flowers and buds to cast.

Preping for an alginate mold.

Molds ready to be poured.

The lovely and talented Ebony Addinstall all the way from Melbourne Australia. 

On our way for dinner.

Michael the studio tech demonstrating his Technicians work face....  

The lovely and happy Jamie Gray.

Jamie's Tech face... 

All sitting down to a great diner.

Enjoying my dinner .... and my beautiful 12 year old Glenrothes ... for only 3 pounds a glass!! 

Back in the studio after dinner for a rubber hold making demo.

Angela pouring a rubber mold.

Pouring wax into finished molds.

                                         

Hotel where I spent my first night in Inverness. After over 25 hours of flying and 10 hours of layovers I happily just fell into bed!  

Buildings along the river in Inverness.

Central Inverness

Inverness Castle

These have nothing to do with anything but how crazy are they?? His and her USB air fresheners! 

After a morning of looking around the beautiful and picturesque city of Inverness and loving life I jumped on a bus for Lybster. The trip up was like one big long post card …. Beautiful stone house on cliffs overlooking ocean, beautiful stone mansion nestled into trees with brook flowing past, beautiful stacked stone wall, beautiful stone bridge over beautiful river ….. I think you get the idea …. It’s pretty beautiful. Our bus driver was very friendly and funny joking around with all the passengers like he knew them all personally …. And I think he did … and when I say he was funny what I should say is, I think he was funny because everyone was laughing …. I on the other hand couldn’t understand a word he said.

 On the bus to Lybster ... taken through the tinted glass of the bus window. 

I arrived in Lybster around 4:00 pm and popped my head into Northlands office to introduce myself. The lovely Lorna then took me for a quick tour of the town, got me settled in my B and B and dropped me off at the studio building where I caught up with Jamie Gray a friend from Calgary, Canada and also the assistant Technical officer here at Northlands.

Northlands studio building 

Jamie Gray in the cold shop. Believe it or not ... those are not real safety glasses.

Cold shop

also the cold shop

still the cold shop

Hot shop with beautiful electric furnace.

Hot shop

This is the view from the top of Lybster's the main street

A view further down the street. Now I think I heard this right .... apparently this is the widest street in the UK because they used to bring boats up from the Harbour and the street had to be wide enough to turn them around once they were up the hill. 

Despite the wind and rain I decided to have a walk around town and since that didn’t take very long I headed down to the harbour. Sheena the woman who runs my B & B ….. who makes a great breakfast if you are ever up this way… said that Lybster Harbour used to be the 3^rd largest harbour in Scotland with the town swelling to around 3000 people during the fishing season.  

View of the Harbour from up the hill.

Light house at the harbour. 

Just sitting at the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away .... yes I was just sitting at the dock of  the bay waisting time. 

These are mini waffles that Mieke Groot the creative director at Northlands brought from Amsterdam AND they have caramel sandwiched between them .... they are great!!! YUMM!

Ok gotta go to bed. class starts tomorrow morning. 

  

                                         This was the first view of England flying in from Dubai.

                                         English country side ..... not a straight fence in sight. 

It’s now 9:00 am in Inverness and after a shower, a shave and a good sleep I am feeling human again. I have just finished a fine Scottish breakfast consisting of as much percolated coffee as you can drink ….. I know all the Aussie’s are cringing but I must admit I do have a soft spot for it as if reminds me of Canada …. An egg, a healthy portion of bacon, two sausages, mushrooms and yes black pudding. I had to try the black pudding after hearing about it but never having tried it ….. it’s pretty good, although I did like the addition of a little “brown” sauce …. Which when I asked what it was, was told that it goes on meat ….

  It’s a bonnie Scottish morning …. Which means it’s raining and the weather report says to expect gain force winds later in the day …. So I am going to put on my rain jacket and head out to see a bit of Inverness …. And try to find a power adaptor …. Because I have just discovered that the one I brought doesn’t actually fit my computer plug!!!! Arrrggg! Then hop on a bus this afternoon and head to Lybster. Hope your all great and loving life.