Patrick Audley // Identity Collected

As is now our custom, Patrick, Elizabeth and I spent our weekend “away” this year at the Peat Inn in Cupar. The Inn is mentioned as one of the top places to stay in Scotland and one of the top 100 places to eat.

The outside is relatively plain but the furnishings inside are amazing! Each suite is a split level with all lovely fabric and antiques flowing throughout. Italian marble and gold plated faucets, lovely old dark wood, fruit and cheese trays…….. Each suite is completely different and very beautiful and all look into a lovely country garden.

We dressed for a wonderful dinner. Upon entering the separate dining house, we were served a tiny slice of onion quiche and a cocktail of our choice. Our dinner and dessert orders were taken and we were guided into a truly lovely dining room (one of many) which looked over the garden. Each course was served and presented exquisitely. Patrick ordered the most tasty wine and desserts were a marvel. Everything was perfect.

It was a gracious and happy time for all.

Back now to Dundee. It has been a relaxing and fun filled holiday for me. Elizabeth is a marvelous cook and most evenings we have spent dining at CASA Audley/Farrell. My favorite, both this year and last, is Mexican Friday – Patrick makes margaritas and nachos. Most evenings, we watch a short DVD while eating dinner. The Family Guy is my favorite this year – off the wall but funny.

I found a really interesting treasure shop called “David Bottoms Ironworks” hidden down a winding lane. We have bought lovely things for the kitchen here and it also has colored duct tape in the hardware section. Unusual to find such quality items in a hardware store!

Patrick and I have walked many miles as per usual and I always enjoy shopping with him. Only the best will do – my kind of shopping!

Patrick and Elizabeth have a very large new apartment which overlooks the Tay River. It is wonderful for them to have so much room.

We have ventured out for lunch a few times and have found a new restaurant called “the Basement.” The food is exceptional and the atmosphere is pleasant.

I made a trip to the Wellcome Building and visited both Elizabeth and Patrick. I am very proud of both of them – they are so intelligent.

This year, I took the plunge and had my hair “foiled” in 4 shades of blonde and cut in a new style called “chunks.” It is beautiful but of course, it will never look the same when I do it myself!

Patrick and Elizabeth are wonderful hosts but I am glad that I am the last of company for awhile.

I am very pleased that they are so happy but I sure would like them to move closer to us all. I wonder where we will go for our weekend next year when I visit…

(still unpacking boxes, so many boxes…)

A small city in Southern Scotland just north of L[Edinburgh]. These panoramic pictures were taken by my co-worker L[David Martin] from the really high hill in the middle of the town (W[Law, Dundee|The Law]). I can’t offer much on the history or general information that’s not already in the amazingly extensive W[Dundee|WikiPedia entry on Dundee].

Living in Dundee was a vast change from my years growing up in the heart of L[Vancouver] and the sedate lifestyle provided a much needed haven. Though Dundee has it’s faults, I honestly enjoyed my years living there.

Our two cats! Aren't they cute?

I've added a video of Shiva and Oliver getting high on Catnip..

I started working at the University of Dundee after I moved to the UK to be with Elizabeth. It was, in retrospect, fated to be. I was spending all my time in Elizabeth’s lab learning everything I could about molecular biology (thanks Elizabeth!) and invariably ended up bumping into the only other people on campus that had an interest in large scale computing. After a very short and informal interview I started in the Computational Biology Dept. with a larger role overseeing all the high-performance computing in the faculty. This doesn’t sound terribly interesting until you consider the research powerhouse that the Life Sciences Faculty contained — to me, it meant being involved in projects with a huge range of research and some incredibly interesting problems to solve.

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