Wednesday afternoon and evening.

We arrived at the B&B and we walked to the door of a place that is right next door to the one I stayed at two other times. These are huge stone houses with three floors of rooms. We rang the bell (the door was locked). The woman who answered did not smile and asked us what we wanted. Mary told her we were the McMaths. There was little recognition and still no smile. I introduced us by name and she still didn't tell us who she was.
I then remembered that my cousin called her Mrs. Glum (not her real name which is Mrs. Marshall). I waited for Mrs. Glum to smile, but it never happened. BUT the rooms were great and clean and perfect for us, but we really did feel unwelcome.
I was glad to get right back out. Mike drove us to Mary MacMath's house in town before getting his break. Poor Mike... sometimes I feel sorry for him driving us, but then I remember he is getting paid and I don't feel so bad.
We went to see Mary MacMath who is the wife of my dad's late first cousin, Forbes MacMath. Did I mention why the spelling difference? Well, there is no reason that anyone can tell me with definity. Forbes' father, who was a minister, just decided to change the name... no reason given.

My second cousin, Andrew came all the way from England for a couple of days to see us. So he and cousin Mary greeted us when we got to Mary's house. I was a little sad to see Mary. Her sight has deteriorated to the point that she can hardly see. Her memory loss is great and her posture is sad. BUT it was a great lesson in being happy in the moment to see her. She is happy to just be. I love her energy and can't help but smile when near her. She was so happy to see us. It was a heart felt welcome.
Andrew is my favorite cousin and he loves seeing us, too. He has missed having his father around and said my dad reminds him of his dad and just enjoys being around us. Soon after we arrived, Moyra (Andrew's sister... Mary's daughter) stopped by. She lives a few houses down. She and I have been exchanging emails and we have connected enough so that it was like seeing an old friend. Her daughter Harriet (17) was in town from school in Glasgow to see us. She is a terrific 17 year old. I was impressed with her maturity underneath the teenage facade.
Dad would have stayed there forever. It was great. Mary would ask him a question.. he would go on and on with the answer. Then she would ask again, and he could talk again.
BUT we had to get back to the B&B again. Moyra asked if Mrs. Marshall was as glum as she thought. Mary and I both said "Yes" at the same time. Dad said that she wasn't glum, she was shy. Don't know where he got that! Sometimes Dad can be really sensitive.
Anyway, we booked dinner there for all 7 of us. We were told we had to be on time at 7pm. It was an order more than a request from my point of view.
I won't go into details about dinner, but Mrs. Glum got gloomier and gloomier. Luckily, she was out in the kitchen pretending she was a 5 star chef. Her server, Lizzie was great. Bubbly and friendly. Mrs. Glum's husband William was friendly, but poor guy... he was so hen pecked.

Dinner was actually pretty good... well... Dad liked it and that was the point. BUT, they charged for a cup of coffee which was not a good thing.
There was another couple there who was listening to our insane conversations. I was sitting next to Andrew and Harriet. Harriet had a cold and Andrew was mumbling about cigarettes. Mary and Moyra were laughing about Mrs. Glum. Dad was telling cousin Mary the same stories over and over. Anyway, the couple told us they thought they had us figured out. I know that is a fun game to play, so we asked them to tell us our relationships. The said Dad and cousin Mary were married. Moyra and Mary were sisters. Harriet was the daughter of Moyra (they got one thing right!) and Andrew and I were an old married couple.(what??? ... Andrew loved that!). All of this became jokes for the next 24 hours. They were a funny couple. Mary and I wanted to go out on the town that night, but were not told the code to the inner door. The other people knew it and said they would tell us later (unfortunately, they went upstairs before we got it). Mary and I are too old to have babysitters, but we asked twice for the code and they told us to come back within an hour and they would still be up. HUH????? We are paying them.

We did put dad in his room and went with Moyra and Andrew back to Moyra's house to have a glass of wine and chat. Yes, we needed more to drink to get ready for the busy day the next day. "My husband" and "Mary's sister" were good hosts. Though Andrew said he wanted to divorce me for nagging him about smoking. After our hour of freedom from Mrs. Glum, we had to go back before the doors were locked to punish the crazy McMath clan.
We tried writing the blog, but access was in and out so we went to bed and vowed to walk the next morning at 7.