Bagpipes and Bacon

I am home alone this morning. Sean and I woke up relatively early (for a Saturday) and I made a big breakfast while he watered the garden. I made waffles from a recipe in the Joy of Cooking and heated maple syrup with frozen mixed berries for topping. We also had bacon -- yes, real bacon in all its piggy glory -- and scrambled eggs with fresh basil. It was fairly decadent I would say. Unfortunately, our lovely morning had to end, as Sean was already running late for the Celtic Festival that the pipe band is playing in today. It will be one of his last gigs with the band before he "retires" from it in a couple of months. I know he really enjoys some aspects of it, but after eight years of dressing up in a kilt to play the snare next to a dozen amateur bagpipes, it seems that he's ready to let it go. I'll probably head over later to check out the bands and work on my winter tan : )

On an unrelated note...I have good news. I finally got my visa approved for New Zealand! Sean had gotten approved a couple of weeks earlier, so as soon as we heard, we went ahead and got our membership to WWOOF NZ. The book is supposed to arrive in the mail in a few weeks so we can start picking out places we want to contact before leaving. They have an online listing as well, which I've only explored a little. The places look incredible and I am thrilled to be going in the spring with my wonderful partner. I get all sappy just thinking about it. The next major step, of course, will be purchasing the plane tickets. That will be quite the expense, but there's no getting around it!