My first catch!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything. It kinda makes me feel guilty!! I have been busy though, so I have lots to write about even if it is a bit out-of-date now, lol.

A few weeks ago I went fishing for the very first time. I've gone quite a few times before but just watched my boyfriend and his dad fish. This time I actually took part. We went to a local lake/pond that had just been stocked with trout so it's kinda cheating; with the odds of catching something totally stacked in my favour, lol. Having said that, I did do exceptionally well!! My boyfriend cast the first line for me and even hooked the fish but he let me reel it in - I told him that it didn't count as me catching it so from then on I did everything myself. I went on to catch another 4 myself in the next hour or so!! My boyfriend wasn't fishing himself and his dad only caught one fish the whole time so I think I did pretty darn well for my first time out!! I wasn't all that keen on getting my photo taken though, since I looked rather rough that day, lol. Here's my catch though:

Fishing is Serious Business Fishing Shirt
by UTeezFishing

A week or so after the fishing expedition (lmao) we went over to War Eagle, Arkansas and visited the mill and the caverns.

The mill and surrounding scenery are really beautiful, and it was such a gorgeous day!! (I really wished that I had a better camera to do the place justice but my photography skills are, well, non-existent, so I really can't justify the expense of a quality camera.) We wandered around the mill inside and out. It seems to be a pretty darn unlucky place!!  It's been built and rebuilt four times in 1832, 1838, 1873 and 1973 due to flooding and fires!!!

After the mill, we went on to the War Eagle Caverns. We didn't go into the caverns themselves as we'd gone to do the gemstone panning at the visitor centre. I've loved gemstones since I was a kid and used to have loads of fun at the Creetown Gemstone Museum near Stranraer, Scotland (guess I was always a bit of a geek, lol). The bag of dirt for panning was around $10 and you know it's pre-loaded with a few inexpensive gems but it was still a fun experience and I did actually get excited to see the loot, lol.

Colorful Gemstones Poster
by RebeccaBrittain
Poster printing from zazzle

Anyway, now you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth; I'm just in Arkansas, lol.

Funny, strange & downright confusing place names.

Another one of those random thoughts that pop into my head!! I was thinking of some Scottish towns annd villages that have really bizarre spellings for their names and the confusion that it causes. Case in point - Milngavie. Anyone who doesn't know would pronounce it "mill-n-ga-vee" but it's actually "mull-guy". Could be confusing if one were to tell a visitor to Scotland to take the train to "mull-guy" and all they saw on the station signs was Milngavie!!

I know of one or two other confusing places nearby to where I live and I thought I'd look around for some more to compile a list. So here it is:

1. Kilncadzow, pronounced "kill-caig-ee". One of my particular favourites, lol.
2. I have to add this as my fiance always gets it wrong - Edinburgh. He pronounces it as he would Pittsburgh but it's actually "ed-in-burr-uh" or "ed-in-burr-oh" depending on whether or not you're posh, lol.
3. Culross and Culter are both pronounced with a "coo" but in the case of Culross, the 'l' is silent.

Moving away from Scotland now:

4. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales. I won't even attempt to guess how to pronounce it!!
5. My fiance's home sate: Arkansas. Most of my family pronounce it exactly how it's spelled (I do too in my head when I'm writing/typing it, lol) but as most people know it's actually pronounced "are-can-saw".

Some fun names rather than mis-pronounced ones:

6. Okay, Oklahoma
7. Nameless, Tennessee
8. Girdletree, Maryland
9. Back to Scotland for another one: Assloss
10. This last one is so poular there is one in USA (Arkansas) AND one in Australia (Queensland). And it is .......................... Bald Knob.

The sign at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrnd by rahulbiswas	Bald Knob, AR City Limits Sign by city_limits
OKAY by statetostate	Cousins With Benefits by archwear