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Random acts of kindness
Also known as the kindness of strangers As we headed into New York’s Central Station, heading home, and loaded down with six months’ worth of luggage, the wheels of the newly purchased secondhand...
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What’s your favourite…?
Now that we are home, people are asking us about our favourite place, house, event, memory, meal. We saw so much, and experienced so much in the six months of travel that the question is impossible to...
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Green gets a
Like British Columbia, England’s Lake District begs to be painted in watercolours. The problem with that is I don’t think enough shades of green exist to do the countryside justice. There must be...
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Edward’s Castles
If you’re a history buff, like keeping track of royals, or saw Braveheart more than a few years ago, you’ll know a bit about Edward I (b. 1239, d. 1307; reigned 1272-1307). Known as Longshanks because...
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Totally self-indulgent meanderings
My favourite kind of reading is historically accurate fiction, especially those works written about the Henry VIII – Elizabeth I period. Years ago, I discovered an author who quickly became my...
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Pipes and highlands
A couple of days ago I posted a blog about the highlands. Today, I got this link from Vancouver cousins Lance and Lorraine. There are some amazing shots of them (the highlands, not my cousins) in this...
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Just stuff
Living here in Dornoch for three months at a time has taught us things that we hadn’t noticed before. I’m talking quirky things here, not enormous stuff, like right hand drive and driving on the...
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A venomous story: a cautionary tale for travellers
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by dangerous things. Perhaps it’s my version of being hooked on fast vehicles or activities. These dangerous things usually focus — then and now —...
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Traveller attacked by ravening conker
A traveller, visiting family in Dornoch was attacked by a conker that can only be described as ravening. “I was just walking down the street and this, this, this thing came flying through the air and...
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To Dornoch, with love
Imagine the sheer boredom of having nothing better to do every day but walk on the beach with nothing before you but mile and miles of beautiful white sand, nothing beside you but endless miles of...
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The colours of the Highlands
Mother Nature is the master of all master painters. Who else could defy the colour charts with new colours and colour combinations? Who else could dazzle our eyes with the sights she presents every...
View ArticleA musical memory book
So when did our week in Spain become a walk through a musical memory book? The day we arrived as a matter of fact. Let me make a short story long. Our trip started out in a usual enough way. We had our...
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Bonfire night lights up the sky
The sky was clear. The moon…full The air ….still, and more to the point….dry A perfect night for a a bonfire. And boy did we have a bonfire. Where, oh where to start? How about with this little snippet...
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The roads taken
To drive past Loch Ewe and Gairloch is to pass through scenery of wild and magnificent proportions. The ribbon of road picks it’s [sic] tortuous way through cliffs between sea and mountain with each...
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I came to my love of history late. And for that reason I have often apologized to many — but definitely not all — of my history teachers for thinking that history was boring, and for not paying...
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A bit of whimsy
I love serendipity. I found myself in a serendipitous moment today as two seemingly unrelated things streaked across my horizons. I take a lot screen shots of things I see on the Internet to remind me...
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The world is my oyster
Cancale, France. Ahhhh. Warm sun, clear skies, gentle ocean breeze, incredible beaches and beautiful sights. And oysters. Now I’m not much of an oyster fan. My Dad used to eat smoked oysters on...
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Is it a bird, no is it a plane, no, it’a misshapen birthday cake
I wonder how often I have to learn a lesson for it to finally sink in. Lessons and habits seem to go hand in hand. You have to do a thing so and so many times before it becomes a habit. Unless it’s bad...
View ArticleScottish memories
We have been travelling to Scotland since 1972. Many memories from that first trip are still sharp and clear. Plane travel was exciting. This particular trip represented only the third time I had...
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Sticks and Stones
Dry stone walls have always fascinated me. From our first trip to Scotland in 1972, I have marvelled at them. When you fly over any part of the UK and look down — well, OK, it has to be a clear day —...
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