edinburgh, glasgow, london

The posts on this blog have been a bit thin lately. Here's what I've been up to:

march update

I've been on hiatus for the last little while so here's an update:

We've been packing up our stuff, cleaning our flat, making arrangements and tying up loose ends because we're going to be moving again. We've already left our Edinburgh flat and are going to be floating around for the next little while. When we do settle down again, it will be in Paris. I have never been there and am really looking forward to it. As much as I like Edinburgh, it will be nice to experience another country and explore a new city. Both the hubby and I are very excited about this next leg of our trip.

then and now

It was around this time five years ago that Dario and I had our first date. We met up at SAIT, a post secondary institute near where I lived, and walked around talking, eventually going for tea at Weeds Cafe. I was smitten.

This evening Dario and I went for a walk and ended up at the Elephant House Cafe, where J. K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books. It's one of the only coffee shops open past 7:00 in this city. We drank lattes and shared a piece of pecan pie. When we had finished the pie, Dario licked the plate and got whipped cream in his beard. That's my fella.

christmas at the hudon-verrelli flat

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

Christmas this year was very different for us. Even the lead up to Christmas was different - much less busy than usual. We opted out of gift giving/receiving this year because we didn't want to end up with a bunch of stuff that we would either have to drag around Europe with us, or end up shipping back to Canada. That instantly lessened my load as I find it so stressful to try and find the perfect gift for everyone every year. D and I ended up just getting one small gift each so that we'd have something to open Christmas morning.

Being in a foreign country, this was the first time during my 29 years that I didn't do the family thing. D and I just spent the day together, sipping mulled wine, eating cheese and bread, and watching movies. It was really low key and nice. I made us eggs benedict for breakfast and then we had shepheard's pie for supper (Aunt Norma's recipe).

the cemetary near our flat

Seems appropriate with Halloween coming up...

recent photos of life in edinburgh

• the cute alley that leads to our building:


• even in the UK, we managed to be invited to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving:



• I've been making bread. This is one of my attempts:

edinburgh buildings

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

Yesterday Dario and I had the most wonderful day together. At one point we went for coffee and I did some drawings of buildings in my sketchbook.

edinburgh update

Things are going really well out here. We now have our own flat - which is really nice and comfortable - and we're finally both working. I have a part time job at a bed and breakfast and my husband is working part time in a retail job. I've always either been a student or had a full time job. This is the first time in my life where I'm not working full time and I love that I have an opportunity to draw and work on my illustrations.

In addition to doing lots of drawing, I've also been to some local music shows. Withered Hand is really good. I went to their CD release on Wednesday. On Friday night I went to Sister Spit, a spoken word event. Yesterday, Dario and I went to the National Gallery to see an exhibition of Spanish art: Spain - From Goya to Picasso. It was pretty good. I get excited about seeing works in person by famous artists I studied in school. I didn't usually have that opportunity where I lived in Canada.

the back garden

our fabulous temporary home

This 150 year old, 3 story, stone house has really great old details and the owners have really great stuff. Check it out.

• the original door, knob and detailing - even a keyhole cover


• inlaid flooring


• a servant bell from back in the day


• the most elaborate crown moldings I have ever seen


• the view from our room on the second floor


• the most beautiful old grandfather clock


• the skylight and light fixture above the stairs


• staircase with gorgeous railing


• intricate tile floor in the entrance


• I absolutely LOVE that they still use keys like this :)


• a collection of blue and white ceramics


• kitchen art


• backyard garden (I'll take some outside shots if/when it stops raining


• one of 3 gorgeous fireplaces in the house. This one is my fave because of the detailed tiles


• upright piano


• the sun room - I covet a room like this for myself someday






The last 3 are of the sun room, which is where I'm headed now to spend the rest of this rainy day sitting, drawing and drinking tea.

hee hee hee

good-bye, first UK flat

We moved out of our first flat today. We had only rented our room, one of three in a shared flat, for the month of August so that we'd have a place to live while we looked for something more permanent. Although it had a good location and some lovely features, it wasn't the most comfortable space for us and we're quite excited about the flat we'll be moving into, just the two of us, on September 14.

I took some photos of our room yesterday after we had packed up our few belongings and cleaned.

Beautiful crown moldings:


Very tall window with shutters on the inside:


Our fireplace (didn't work though):


We also had a mouse and the kitchen/living room was prone to slugs:


We have been living in Edinburgh for just over a month now and we have been lucky enough to meet some really, REALLY kind and generous people. The friends we've made have offered us beds in their homes for the next 12 nights while we're homeless. We're also going to be taking a trip up to the Scottish Highlands.

The home we're staying in now is so beautiful and quaint and cozy and clean. We've been here since lunch time today and we're already so comfortable. I'll try to take some photos of it tomorrow so that you'll know what I'm talking about.

Here are a few random shots from around Edinburgh:

edinburgh international book festival

Yesterday my husband and I went to a reading at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. It was part of the Imprisoned Author Series and the poetry that was read was all written by Tibetan writers and read aloud by authors at the festival.

It was excellent. The poetry was so beautiful and moving. I had forgotten how much I liked poetry. One of the readers was a Scottish author and she had the most lovely reading voice and accent. I absolutely loved it.

As a bonus, one of my favorite children's book illustrators, Pablo Bernasconi from Argentina, was one of the readers. I was thrilled to meet him when the event was finished.

dolls & marionettes

Yesterday afternoon I spent several hours at the Museum of Childhood. They have tons of old toys: all kinds of dolls, doll houses, miniature furniture, elaborate train sets, tin toys, teddy bears, bikes, board games... There was an entire floor of old dolls from around the world that I really enjoyed. My favorites were the creepy marionettes. I found the museum to be really inspiring. It's only about a 10 minute walk from our flat and it's free so I can go back as many times as I want. And I will.

from my travel journal

arthur's seat

There's a small mountain in Edinburgh called Arthur's Seat. Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful weather to hike up to its summit. Part way up are the ruins of an old chapel from the early 15th century.