Real Estate

Riffing a bit off yesterday's post, I once lived in Edinburgh. Now, I live here.

In some ways, Portsmouth and the 'Burgh are similar. Now, despite my love for the Old Town by the Sea, I would never claim that P'mouth can equal the sophistication and glamor of the capital city of Scotland. However, both cities give off an aura of importance, an sense of the epic, if you will. You look around at the architecture and the streets and the natural features (the river for Portsmouth; Arthur's Seat, Castle Rock, etc. for Edinburgh) and you know that important things happened here.

The photo above is from a photography blog called The Daily Portsmouth. Check it out for a better description of the photo's background and setting. Or, just click on the photo to make it bigger and soak in the grandeur. :)

Word Redux

(NOTE: Justin and Andrew will enjoy this post, I imagine. Probably also Kate and Monica, if she still reads the blog. Why? The former two because it's about the different meanings one word can have and they are sometimes casual, sometimes serious linguists. The latter two because it's about Edinburgh and what it meant to me, and by extension to them. And forward we go!)

The other evening, I saw a photo on a Scottish blogger's site, titled "Morningside by Night." I remembered the name (it's a neighborhood of Edinburgh), but couldn't remember where in the city it was located. So I looked it up on Google maps, realizing as I did so that I hadn't typed "Edinburgh, Scotland" into that site for longer than I could remember. That in itself was strange to me - before, during, and after my time there, I looked at map views of the city a lot.

I eventually found Morningside (south & just a touch west of the main part of the city, near the A702). Finding it prompted me to swing north and east and seek my old stomping grounds. Because you know what? I had forgotten the name of that neighborhood, too.

Eventually, find it I did. And I had a moment of "Newington . . . right . . . I lived there." Such simple words, but imbued with such meaning. I LIVED THERE. I woke up in the mornings hearing the chirp of tiny birds in Holyrood Park. I walked to class through the streets of Newington and the lanes of the Meadows. I picked up coffee and sandwiches at the shops along Clerk St. I settled down with a pint and good friends in a pub on West Preston St. I went to sleep at night to the sounds of university students singing their drunken way home in Pollock Halls.

And now, I live about five minutes from a small town called Newington. For Portsmouth residents, Newington is the collection of malls, fast food restaurants, and speedy oil change places along Woodbury Avenue. It's far from special. When I first visited State U, I got turned around and couldn't find my way to downtown Portsmouth. I ended up driving through Newington instead and thinking to myself, "Oh my. Why does everyone like Portsmouth so much? This is Strip Mall City." Now, it's where we go when we want fast food, something from a big box store or to see a movie - that's it.

So, yeah. Your personal relationship to a word can indeed change dramatically. I wish I could trade New Hampshire's Newington for Scotland's. :)

NERAX North

Last night, Justin and I attended NERAX North. What is NERAX North, you say? Well, that's a valid question. As J. pointed out, a NERAX sounds like a Seussian character. However, it stands for New England Real Ale Expo and the North designation means it took place in Haverhill, as opposed to Somerville, where the March event takes place.

In essence, it's a small beer drinking festival for those who appreciate "real ales." According the the NERAX website, real ale is "top-fermented beer that complete its secondary fermentation in the [vessel] from which it is served. Cask-conditioned beers are real ales served from the brewer's cask."

At any rate, we ended up spending four hours at The Tap, the hosting restaurant, and had a lovely time sampling (small) quantities of a selection of American and British ales. The beers we tried are listed below, along with tasting notes from the NERAX booklet.

• O'Hanlon's (Whimple, Devon, England) - Port Stout

  A black beer with roast malt in the aroma that remains in the taste, but gives way to hoppy bitterness in the aftertaste. ABV: 4.8%

• Marshall Wharf (Belfast, ME) - Wrecking Ball Baltic Porter

  Complex malt backbone, brewed with molasses. ABV: 7.8%

• Gwynt y Ddraig (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales) - Haymaker Cider

  A fruity medium cider bursting with the flavour of apples. A true Farmhouse Cider with a smooth finish. ABV: 6.5%

• Inveralmond (Inveralmond, Perth, Scotland) - Lia Fail

  The Gaelic name means Stone of Destiny. A dark, robust, full-bodied beer with a deep malty taste. Smooth texture and balanced finish. ABV: 4.7%

• American Flatbread (Burlington, VT) - London Calling

  They brew this traditional English style as one of their flagship session ales using Maris Otter malt, UK Goldings to bitter, late boil additions of UK Goldings and UK Fuggle, and on this batch, a whirlpool addition of locally grown Goldings and Cascade, fermented with a London ale yeast. ABV: 3.5%

• Orkney (Quoyloo, Orkney, Scotland) - Skull Splitter

  An intense velvet malt nose with hints of apple, prune and plum. The hoppy taste is balanced by satiny smooth malt with fruity spicy edges, leading to a long, dry finish with a hint of nut. ABV: 8.5%

• Ridgeway (South Stoke, Reading, England) - Ivanhoe Pale Ale

  Traditional warm, roasty, and fully-rounded English malts are punched up by a subtle yet direct shot of aromatic and refreshing English hop bitterness. ABV: 5.2%

On our way back to the car, we walked up an alley between two old brick buildings and I felt compelled to take the photo at the top, after stopping in my tracks and saying, "Ooh, look. It's like we're in New York, circa 1890." I'm such a history nerd.

New Bookshelf

You guys!!! I got a new bookshelf for my birthday a few weeks ago and Justin kindly put it together for me on Friday and it's set up now and it's AWESOME. :) We now have an entire wall of books!

Peep it:

The Boy's true name!

(Note to Hodoeporicon readers: this is my transparent attempt to make up for underblogging in the month of October by revealing a big piece of secret, uber-important information. !!! Will it work? We'll find out!)

So the man I'm going to marry has a real name. He wasn't born "The Boy." I figured it was time to go ahead and tell you what is was, for three reasons:

1. Most of you already know, since you know me in real life.
2. I used to nickname men I dated, in order not to reveal anyone's identity. However, The Boy is going to be the father of my children someday, so he's sticking around for awhile.
3. He shares co-ownership of Wer Ond Wif with me, so his name is right up on that page for all to see.

Anyway, without further ado, The Boy's true name is Justin.

(crickets)

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Vacation Photos, FINALLY

Hey, so, remember when I went to PEI over the summer and then came home and told you I went and then FAILED UTTERLY to post any of my photos? Yeah, sorry about that. Consider that officially rectified right about . . . now.

I went up first at the end of July into the beginning of August with my parents and grandpop. We had a fairly low-key time. It was really nice to be able to relax a bit.

Our house got a new porch . . .

and hammock.

We went fishing . . .

and caught this scary mother.

Oh, and we went blueberry picking.

Justin and I went up for the last week of August for four days. Too short a time, but we got to see lots of my friends. And here is us at the beach for Justin's first visit!

We wrote our wedding date in the sand there for our Save the Dates.

Then, went to my lovely cousin Bobbie's wedding!

Us in our going-to-a-wedding finery . . .

And us being typically ridiculous.