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Back and Forth Across the Pond

My English hubby and I moved to the Scottish Highlands in June 2016 after over seventeen years in my home state of Florida. As a result, the posts have become Scotland heavy. Which is great because Scotland is stunningly beautiful. However, we do like to travel and I do visit my family and friends back in the States, so you can never be sure what's going to crop up next.

It's Official

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- June 14, 2016

I take a break from posting photo blogs to announce that my visa has arrived, and we have booked our plane tickets to Scotland. We leave for the next chapter of our lives on June 28.

Wow. Just . . . wow.

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Inverewe Gardens

- August 31, 2017

We stopped at Inverewe Gardens on our way home at the recommendation of one of Steve's work mates. It's a property within The National Trust for Scotland, so admission is free to Trust members. We had been pondering joining since we first moved here and decided to just bite the bullet and sign up whilst we were at the gardens. We only have to visit about four more places to have the membership pay for itself. Since the Culloden Battlefield near us in Inverness is part of the Trust, and our membership also grants us access to England's National Trust locations, we figure our membership will end up saving us quite a bit within the year. Inverewe Gardens was once the estate of Osgood Mackenzie. He built his mansion house on a rocky promontory overlooking Loch Ewe in the mid-19th century. He dreamed of having a walled garden of flowers and vegetables and set about excavating a raised beach and building retaining walls and terraces. By 1870, Osgood had created a productive gar...

The Clootie Well at Munlochy

- August 07, 2018

Munlochy is a village nestled in the Black Isle northeast of Inverness. The clootie well there harkens back to an ancient Celtic tradition where people would visit holy wells and springs in search of healing. They would take a strip of fabric or a rag (known in Scots as a clootie), saturate it in the holy water, and tie it on a nearby tree. Originally, the pilgrims prayed to the local spirit or god. After Christianity arrived, Christian saints supplanted the local deities. The Munlochy well was dedicated to St. Boniface, who served as a missionary in Scotland circa 620 AD. Today, the Clootie Well attracts tourists who festoon all manner of fabric-esque items all over the trees in the area. Steve and I visited the well early on a Sunday morning. I found myself of a divided opinion about the perpetuation of the tradition. On the one hand, I love keeping old traditions alive and like that so many people want to be involved. On the other hand, it's obvious that many people are doin...

London: Day Two

- July 14, 2017

Our first full day in London initially had a full schedule. After breakfast, we took the tube over to the famous Harrod's department store to have a look around and to do some souvenir shopping. I've been to London several times, but this is my first trip here. The building is enormous! The store fills up every level, too. As well as the basement. Like I said, enormous! The interior was pretty spectacular. And air conditioned. A definite plus. Just for grins I checked the price tags on a couple of handbags. One was over £1500! The other was a bargain at just under £900. Our next stop after Harrod's was supposed to be the British Museum so Christa could see the Egyptian exhibit housed there. But when we arrived, the admission queue was insanely long. It snaked back and forth, but if it was a single line, I reckon it would extend at least a couple of blocks. We opted to find a cool place to sit and enjoy a beverage. Surprisingly, the line moved prett...