May 17

May 17:

Stayed up a bit late and felt a bit groggy in the morning. We had eggs and toast for breakfast as a reprise of our last dinner meal. After we got all of our stuff together, we drove into downtown Stirling. A certain addiction to the TomTom has been fostered, so it was set on the task of generating the path to the information kiosk. We found it and they gave us a map of Stirling, and marked it with the location of the mythical Sainsbury's. We figured out where to park for the Stirling castle (saving £1.50 by parking not at the castle, but paying £2.50 more than zero, which we could have had if we knew you could park at a single yellow line).

We had lunch at the Portcullis and already Jonathan was starting to have a bit of a day. Prices were perhaps a bit high, but I mean it's right beside the castle--it is probably the most touristy place in a 100 mile circle. I had a steak pie (no ale) and it was served in the only proper fashion: with a baked potato AND fries. Like spaghetti with mashed potato! And the food was just fine. After lunch, we set off to explore the Stirling castle, which is in the old section of town. Against perhaps our better judgment we went in, and the kids were all right with it, but Will and Jonathan were pretty grumpy, and so we didn't get to see all of it. There was a guided tour that I very quickly abandoned with the kids since the Scot with the world's quietest voice was giving it. There were lots of cool buildings, and some weavers working on a tapestry. Apparently the one they were working on would take 4 years of dedicated labor by 2 weavers to finish. To do that as your job, I imagine you have to be the kind of person who thinks, "I can't believe I get PAID to do this!" because if I were sentenced to do that for 4 years I think I'd just hang myself with the warp or the weft.

After the castle, we set out to the Sainsbury's marked on our map by the tourist woman. I guess she started drinking very early that morning, because it was NOWHERE near where she said. Ruddy drunkard! Mythical, invisible, not bleeding there. We gave up and went to the Thistles shopping center, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because in the big mall I found a USB charger for Will's DS. It has been very difficult to charge the DS because it doesn't draw enough current for Sam's 50-1600W convertor to work. Now I can charge it through my computer, since the Apple power supply does both voltages. Whee!

In the mall we found Marks and Sparks, and that has made all the difference. Well, I guess it wasn't the road less travelled--but it was still good. For £8, Val and I got an Indian takeaway thing from M&S which honestly was as good as any of the takeaway we can find. Actually spicy, chicken was nice, came with some onion bhajis--nothing to complain about at all. Sam and Ev got some other pies after we all realized that there was no reason for us all to get the same food! Got a pizza for Eilidh and cottage pie for Will. Sam also found some mini and some full sized Melton Mowbray pork pies--praise be to pork.

Perhaps the prose isn't down to my usual standards--sincere apologies.

Showing the baker AND chips

Between two massive trees on the grounds of Stirling Castle

Contemplating his future in a dungeon

Lady and Lord of Stirling in the Great Hall

CASTLE

MOAR CASTLE

May 16

Quick post (may add a few more pictures later):

May 16 continued:

After packing up the car, we got on the way driving from Skye to Stirling in the mainland.

The boys were in amazing spirits the entire way, actually. We had singing and 'buhhh-buhhp!" (picture redrum voice applied to bup-bup) from Jonathan and Will the whole way. We were on the road before 10am and it turned out to be a long drive. We drove through Skye and ended up (edit: I write this like it was a fluke) at the land bridge between the mainland and the island. "Saucy Mary" watched as we took photos of this rather impressive Scottish erection.

I got a lot of chances to really enjoy the car on this drive. The whole trip was only a little over 200 miles, but this isn't "Saskatoon to Yorkton" driving. The roads are narrow and winding and have lots of traffic and generally require an awful lot of attention. I've become very comfortable with driving here now, but we did have one sphincter-puckering moment: During the trip we had to pass a lorry. This was not just any lorry--it was a left-hand drive extraordinarily wide lorry that was being driven poorly (val reports that he had a foot to his line on the left, which is bloody criminal). He was more than a foot in the other lane it seems as well, and it was a windy, narrow road, and I passed him doing 55 or so with one of my wheels literally half-on, half-off the pavement and no more than 4 inches clearance to the truck on my left. Brutal.

We took a slight detour (maybe added 15 miles, which is to say 3 hours) so that we could drive along the bottom of Loch Ness so the Loch Ness monster could hock a few rocks into the famous lake. We had a quick tea at a little stop maybe 7 miles away from Loch Ness; the kids had ice creams and flake bars, while I had cafe latte and a KitKat. The other grownups had scones and clotted cream. It was a nice stop after a couple hours of travel. Loch Ness looked much like the other lochs we've seen, but of course it was pretty. We were down on the south side; apparently it is wildly touristy up at the north end of the loch. As we travel out of the Hebrides I note just how many more tourists there are than there were on Uist and even Skye, and I am annoyed slightly (Sam is greatly annoyed--he would prefer the hotels and shops be open, but empty).

More travel later, when maybe 2 miles away from Fort William, I heard on BBC2 "and the coldest place in the UK right now is Fort William, at ... {not sure what was said here, vision was red and blood was pounding in my ears}." We really have had pretty pissy weather. Sam is disappointed that the weather didn't cooperate a bit better, and since we've had 15 days in a row where it has at least rained some (although only our day on Skye did it rain steadily the entire day) I'm starting to get less optimistic.

We did stop outside Eilean Donan castle so we could get a few pictures; we knew Stirling castle was coming up.

The valley of Glencoe (I guess the glen of Glencoe) was misty, with lots of beautiful stone walls. Sam explained some of the history of the massacre of the MacDonalds here and it was appropriate in restrospect. The day was getting eaten up quite quickly, and I think we were only averaging 30ish MPH including stops. We had one final stop in Tyndrum, which is a junction with basically a tourist stop--lavs, cafe, gift shops, and the best Scotch selection I have ever seen, and the best Sam has seen as well, for that matter. I scored some rugger kit here as well. Sam tells me that the urinals at this famous rest stop used to have the following 3 signs:

"We aim to please; you aim too, please"

"Stand closer--it's not as big as you think"

"Please don't sway in time to the music"

We arrived near Stirling, to stay in Cambusbarron, which is just a couple of miles down the road from the Stirling Castle. We got to the Foresters pub, above which our flat resides. The managers/proprietors of the place had always been fairly unresponsive by email. Ev had emailed them, but got no response, and I had been edgy about this. We arrived about 5pm, the bar lass called the manager, and he came by to show the place. He was sort of surprised we were here ("No one comes from Canada without calling to confirm since September.") We settled in and it's a strange mix of very old and new, but there's plenty of space. As we were carrying luggage in, the manager confided in me that there was "very nearly a major fuckup." He had people coming by at 7pm to take the place, so we literally were within minutes of having our stay completely kiboshed here.

I was feeling kind of rough and negative after all of this, and the kids were tired, so rather than driving into Stirling to find something to eat, we simply had scrambled eggs and beans on toast and sent the kids off to bed. There are a few problems with the place (broken fridge door, heaters that can't be turned off) but the internet works.

Sam, Val and I went for a pint (John Smith this time) in the pub below before turning in; was a nice time.

Loch Ness shores

The Loch Ness Monster

Eilean Donan castle in the background

May 14-16 continued

May 14th continued:

Closer to Lochmaddy there is a very old prehistoric [edit--"very old" is a robarded pair of adjectives before prehistoric] cairn building that Shona and Val apparently have been in at one point! It would have been a lot of crawling in and I wonder if some of it didn't collapse some since last they were here, some 45 years ago, when they were 6 and 9. It's about 300meters up a hill and the kids literally *ran* all the way up it, and even did laps around the cairn afterwards. I guess we're not running them enough. Was neat to see the scale of something like this, although why is it that the persistent structures are always about 'I'm dead, look at me'? E-peens.

We continued our way north to Lochmaddy on the way to catch our 4pm ferry.

Lunch was at this apparently shabby hotel with suprisingly fresh food and low prices. Kid's meals were cheap; £2.50 for more than any of them, besides hollow leg Eilidh, could eat. I had battered fish and chips and they were quite good indeed. Hard-living 50-something barwoman doing catering for a room of 15, the public and private sections. She was crusty, but our food arrived fast and fresh, and at the end when Sam tried to tip her £5 on 50, she said "oh! that's too much." It was as if we had offered her jewels or similar adornments. Eventually she took it and explained that she was going to drink it all after she got off her (11 hour) shift with a gap-toothed grin.

Nana got the kids some books and puzzles for the trip. By about 3pm we were in line for the ferry and unfortunately it was a bit late, but we got on by about 4:25 and we were back out to sea. Again I think that the ferry is a wildly civilized way to travel. I had a cafe latte (these automatic espresso machines are brilliant) and we got to Skye around 6pm. Beautiful winding roads through to our B&B. Eilidh was feeling a bit tired and grumpy but mostly the kids have continued to be troopers on our travel days.

We ate at "The Cafe" in Portree on Skye. We had 3 tired and crabby kids by this point and we had a great waiter who made a lot of smalltalk with the kids and went into the back to find toys for the kids to play with. I had a steak and Skye ale pie which was fantastic--a bunch of puff pastry on top with a steaky, aley gravy. I thought the ale might be totally undetectable, but it was actually really good and clearly there. I also got to try Peartiser (like Appletiser)--carbonated juice. Pear juice is good with bubbles.

I've never stayed at a B&B before, but I could get used to it after this place. The proprietor, Bonnie, has a wonderful pair of people who walk and feed here (Jan and Archie). Bonnie played fetch with the children--I threw Jonathan and Bonnie brought him back, and dropped him in a slobbery pile at my feet. We got the kids into bed by 9pm, a mess, and came into the room to find a coal and peat fire going and AMAZING internet access. I get better wireless speeds here than I do at home. Everyone else dropped off but I sat by the fire until past midnight with the lights low, getting megabytes of precious internet infused back into my veins.

May 15: Sunday in Skye

Sunday edition: We awoke to rain on the Misty Isle. It is well named. Jan made us a big breakfast which was great--sausage links, unsmoked bacon, stornaway black pudding, eggs, orange juice, Ribena (black currant juice from concentrate), French press coffee, potato scones, grilled tomatoes. I should have asked for beans. There were also rolls, cereals, and toast. This basically served as lunch as well, since it was so huge.

We decided to go out for a long drive around the island to see the top two loops of Skye using a couple of very narrow "non-tourist" roads. The kids were reading in the back, which is great, except for car sickness, which sets in much more easily on these winding roads than the "set the cruise control and get in the back" of the prairies back home. Jonathan barfed on himself, his jacket, his car seat... aggh. We cleaned him up as best as we could and pressed on. The scenery was beautiful, I am told. Driving on these narrow roads with passing places with cliffs on one side and air on the other is fun but demands most of my attention.

After doing one of the loops, we landed back in Portree and checked out the Aros visitor center, which was a nice tourist trap with a cafe, theater (we came very close to taking them to a movie), and many gift stores. We stopped at the cafe for some ice cream cones and shortbread-crust pie ("Do you want ice cream or cream with that?" then brings me basically a 300mL serving of double cream that would have cost more than the cream itself). The kids played outside on an extremely slippery castle that had extreme angles and no slip proofing. The only thing less practical for that island is if the playstructure had been made out of, say, pressed and unlaminated sawdust with big labels that said "DO NOT GET WET."

After we patched up Jonathan from the inevitable fall, we took the other north loop. There were a few spaces that would have had amazing views, but the cloud restricted everything--we could have walked through a cold gale a few hundred meters to a vista point at Cuith-Raing (see pictures), but chose that discretion could be the better part of valor in that case. I remember Jen once said something about "fog and heavy wind" and I asked, how these could coexist? Yeah, well, near the ocean, they can.

Just like on Uist, there are sheep everywhere (including on the roads) and fences everywhere. Ze fenses--zey do nozzing. Val asked Jan about it later in the day and she said that before the fences, the sheep were. EV.RY.WHERE. I guess these fences actually do do something--it just isn't clear what, to a visitor. Perhaps they just formed wool roads.

Stopped back in Portree at about 4:30 or so and went for a pint with the idea of getting the kids to eat early, but Jonathan had just had enough and became quite grumpy and intractable. I was about ready to pick up some sandwich meat and give up on dinner, but SuperVal came out and coddled him long enough for us to sit down at the Cafe again. I generally am not a big fan of repeating restaurants unless they're amazing, but here I honestly would have done anything, and our good waiter was there who took care of the kiddos again. Eilidh had a giant milkshake to herself, they served us amazingly large portions, and I chose to have "beef olives"--sausage stuffing wrapped rouladen style in thin beef slices, served with haggis (this was OK, nothing special) and more bleeding Stornaway black pudding.

We had a quiet and nearly boring (though I welcomed the quiet) evening at the B&B. Jan said "we didn't even know anyone was here"--we had 3 introverts and a shagged out me in the B&B common room. They were still having their roast meal around 8-9pm while we had long finished eating.

May 16: to Stirling

Monday edition: "We awoke to rain on the Misty Isle. It is well named. Jan made us a big breakfast which was great--sausage links, unsmoked bacon, stornaway black pudding, eggs, orange juice, Ribena (black currant juice from concentrate), French press coffee, potato scones, grilled tomatoes. I should have asked for beans. There were also rolls, cereals, and toast. This basically served as lunch as well, since it was so huge."

If you have Stornaway black pudding twice a day, 5 days in a row, you will discover that Stornaway black pudding (purchased in the hard, sausage-like shape of a 2-foot-long, 6"-across salami) emerges unchanged in color, size, shape, and diameter.

I am falling a bit behind; there's typically not all that much time for writing (by the evenings I'm beat). Nonetheless I guess I'm only about 20 hours behind right now. More later!

Hanging out on the ferry

Inset: what the view is supposed to look like

What it looked like on the day

Homemade pie with double cream

Bonnie and Clyde

three seconds before the stoning

Day 10: May 13

After a couple of days of very late nights for the kids (10:00pm+) they were a bit of a mess (Eilidh not so much, but she was even grumpier on the 14th. That's a literary device known as clumsy foreshadowing). We had a really lazy day as our last day on Uist. We had full Scottish breakfast which is becoming so much the norm that I don't write in massive detail about it, but rest assured I piled my plate with beans and black pudding and bacon and OMNOMNOMNOM.

I left Val to clean up the kitchen (thanks, dear!) and went to Donald and Margaret's to upload more content on the interwebs, but although the interwebs were working fine, blogspot's posting capability was down for about 4 days, so I was unable to put anything up. We tried to go down for a little walk to the loch behind the cottage, but a neatly manicured path quickly became a poorly manicured bog in dire need of a brazilian. There is so much long grass that the kids were able to play hide and soak until Jonathan just had had enough.

Came back and by the time we finished eating, cleaning, and arguing about socks, we actually had an enforced nap for the first time this trap for Will, Jonathan, and Val. Jason lay abed trying to warm up for a time and trying not to nap. Eilidh, however, went out with Nana and Grandpa and was out for a couple of hours! They went to visit some people that N&G knew and also stopped in at a graveyard.

We had a little trip into South Lochboisdale (like N. Lochboisdale, but with a smaller, windier road--we saw a couple of very old cottages which apparently have been renovated into rentable properties. Apparently Donald is considering doing the same for the original house that's still on his property.) We also walked down the path by the post office/internet cafe which was effectively the world's smallest causeway. Lots of sheepdip and Eilidh's sensitive nose had her back in the car. Jonathan chased some sheep and then they chased him. As we were driving back, we stopped at Grandpa's old primary school, est. 1909.

Our last dinner was at the Borrodale again, and Donald and Margaret joined us for only a drink, until (reminiscient of Father Ted and a cuppa tea) Sam armtwisted them into staying for dinner, with Donald doing the same for drink. I had a duck with cherry sauce which was reasonable (though for the price, not amazing). Just about had langoustines and salmon, but it was mostly a salmon dish, so I changed at the last minute. However, the key to that langoustine dish was an AMAZING cream-caper sauce which Sam didn't touch. I ate the whole thing on anything I could find--extra potatoes, and eventually, the kids' cold fries. Giant capers with lots of flavor--"tasty." They (Donald and Margaret, not the capers, though I suppose they did too, in a fashion) came back to the house for a moment because they had to pick up Davie at the Co-op at 10pm, and we said our goodbyes.

Not a whole lot happened, but we got some rest, and some of those days are needed too.

Day 11: Saturday May 14

Sam had in fact packed only some of the car the night before for our 11am departure. I got up a little earlier than usual (7:45?) and we got everything cleaned up and packed fairly quickly. We broke our fast on leftovers--baps, cereal, the remainder of the juice, a couple of leftover pieces of bacon and black pudding rewarmed. We packed up the car early. Everyone seemed pretty anxious to get on the road for our 4pm ferry, so by 9:45 am we were on our way to slowly drive north up the island.

Our first stop was Loch Druidibeg nature reserve just a few miles up the road. We had gone to the Co-op to pick up 75p worth of carrots. Driving up to the reserve, we found an empty fence and the ever present friends of wind and rain. Sam cursed the gods and we made our slow, sad drive away from the reserve (preserve?)... and then we saw a few ponies up the hill on our drive! We pulled the car over to take a look at them from afar, and brought out our carrots. The ponies stayed up on the hill for 3 or 4 minutes until the bravest noticed us and the carrots and trotted down to join us. After a couple of minutes we had all 3 of the kids feeding carrots to ponies and we must have spent a good 15 minutes with these "gentle midgets." I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Sam was really pleased because "FINALLY something had gone the way he'd imagined it!" Was a great treat for the kids to get to see tame wild animals. Definitely better than at a petting zoo, because we knew they were there not because they were penned up, but because they saw us as a harmless source of carrots due to our abuse of their genetic programming.

(A look into the future... OOOOOooooOOOOoooOoooooooOOOO! I see a B&B in our future... breakfast is being served as I am typing ... .ooH scarrry!) more later on the 14th and 15th.

In the bog on the way to the loch

Hide and soak

Jonathan takes on someone his own size

"I told you I would give you a pony."

Das handlicker

An elder child frolics with the fauna

A quiet moment for a pair of chatterboxes

On the wee causeway

Sheep thrills

Day 8: May 11 continued...

Previous post clarification:

Val has asked me to clarify that she "accidentally" hit me in the crotch "with her purse."

We've had rain every day (though not solid, thankfully) and this day was no exception. We went out to the cemetery with Ken and Theresa where many family ancestors are laid to rest. Ken's mother's grave is there, and Ken and Sam were able to spread some of Ken's father's ashes there, which I think was pretty significant for them. The wind was blowing and the rain was blowing and so was the wind. The sand dunes are very close to the cemetery, and we Keystone Kopped it to the dunes and back. I got a little bit grumpy standing in the rain, but the kids ended up having a fantastic time climbing the dunes and sliding back down. Eilidh dug some deep hole in the dune as long as her arm; Will clambered along the top of a 30 or 40 foot dune; and Jonathan was quite pleased digging and messing in the sand with a little low clambering and sliding. After the dunes, I spent an hour or two reading and relaxing (Val perhaps less so while staying with the kids.)

At 7pm we went up to Donald and Margaret's for dinner. A Tennet's went nicely with the suppertime fare. Margaret set the kids up at the island in the kitchen while the adults were in the dining room, which Margaret has continued to mention needs expanding with telling looks at Donald. Donald made a point of telling the kids to make a mess. Not sure if it's reverse psychology or honestly not caring much, but it was a masterstroke. They put the TV on and served them and even our 3 year old did just fine. Margaret served giant bowls of vegetable soup with noodles in--hearty fare for the weather. The second course was the biggest plate of something like Chicken Cacciatore (sans formaggio) with a giant pile of mash. Two full chicken breasts, probably two potatoes each. No one came even close to finishing... well, except me, pretty easily demolishing the whole lot. Margaret gave each of the kids an adult serving--in their Jack Sprat fashion, Eilidh ate all the chicken on her plate (impressive) and Will did the same with his potatoes, so between them they ate an entire serving. Jonathan made a fine mess of his, playing with his food with knife and fork. They certainly didn't go hungry, and finished off with bowls of ice cream in the living room (Donald: "it's hardwood. They can't make a mess we can't clean up with a mop."). We had a nice dessert and sat chatting. Davie, D&M's 18-year old son, is a nice young man, with the distinct ability to do all his talking without moving his mouth. I started to think we should be going as it got darker, but since it was only 8:15, I figured we might as well let the kids watch some TV. By the time it was 8:50, Val said "I think that clock is an hour behind." Suddenly it was 10pm (!) and we made our graceful exit.

Day 9: May 12

Toast and thick cut marmalades began our day. Our sun-dappled cottage (if sun-dappled meant "rain-drenched") kept us warm and dry, and although I was having trouble getting going, we managed to stumble out the door before noon.

Generic holiday schedule:

9:00 get up (Val and Jonathan may be up by now)

9:00-10:00 coffee

10:00 breakfast

10:53-11:48: argue with Jonathan about socks

11:49 Out the door for activity

13:00 Lunch

14:30 Activity

16:30 drinks and snacks

19:00 dinner

21:00 bed for the kids

22:00 the rest of us

At 11:49 we were off to the bronze age prehistoric huts right beside the sand dunes. A small little settlement has been nicely excavated. The center of the houses had been continually occupied for over 900 years, most of that presumably haranguing from the maternal line about redoing the kitchen. The kids were able to play in and about the structures, and Eilidh found a little nest in the wall from a ground bird that had a single egg in it (we left it alone).

Just up the track from the ruins was an astounding stretch of beach on the west coast of the island. For 20 miles the beach stretches on as far as you could see. Unfortunately the wind was howling so fiercely straight off the ocean that it was too chilly to go down to the beach. We ate at a pub (Borrodale Inn) which Sam and Ev had previously found lacking, but had been rejuvenated, and lunch was great. I had fish and chips (with a batter that tasted much like yorkshire pudding!) and the fish was hot and fresh and delicious.

Eilidh asks "can we go to the beach?" every four minutes, so despite the miserable weather, we decided to let Will and Eilidh try the ocean again. In a "grass is always greener on the other island" kind of way, with the rain coming down and the gales blowing, we drove the 20 minutes down to Eriskay to the same beach they'd had fun on previously. It was gray and cold and raining, and I took off my shoes and all my warm layers so I'd have something to get back into after getting wet and cold. Eilidh started out with "maybe I won't go in" but Dad's face flashed so dangerously that she quickly said, "Ok, let's give it a try!" and Will and Eilidh were able to play in the water. I waded into the Atlantic from the other side, and it's just as cold on this side as it is in Newfoundland. How they were able to play in it is beyond me, but I guess enthusiasm goes a long way. They probably only played 12 or 15 minutes, but they had a good time. Jonathan slept in the car while we played there, and when we finally got back up (all of us shivering, including me), changed out of our wet and sandy and dirty and sandy (you cannot get these shells off--it's like they're glued on) clothes and got into the car.... the sun came out. Eff ewe, weather.

We came back for a rest and Jonathan ran riot while I napped and tried to warm up. Around 6:15 we went down to the Lochboisdale hotel for supper, hosted graciously by Ken and Theresa. Ken wouldn't let you go without a drink or a starter or what have you for more than a couple of seconds. I tried some new ale (MacEachern) which was quite good. Jon(athan) and Isabelle, Ken's friends who came along, proved to be wonderful company. Jon has quite a way with children and clearly loves to play with them. He was constantly giving attention to the kids and took quite a shining to Jonathan, who like him was the youngest and shared a name. He's got a pretty quick wit and an impish grin and I quite took a liking to him. I tried cockles in a butter sauce (verdict: gritty, needed some washing) and then had chicken with Stornaway black pudding stuffing in a whisky cream sauce. I've only ever had the Stornaway black pudding, and apparently it's just the best. The rest of the black pudding is "just rot." (Donald). This was quite nice and I destroyed it with aplomb. Finished off with Strawberries Romanoff, which was a hot strawberry dish mixed with caramel/brown sugar and oatmeal served in a glass. I found a pitcher of single cream and they were very good together. At the end we had a nice picture of the cousins (Ken, Sam, and Donald), and then them with their wives. In the pub section, there was a real peat fire which they'd stoked up like it was January 12th and it was nice to see it burn hotly and cheerily.

My sentences appear to be getting a little simple "See protoss 4-gate. 4-gate, protoss, 4-gate!" so perhaps I'll end here. Another day and some on Uist, and then a ferry to Uig on Skye to stay in a B&B for a couple of days before about a week in Stirling. The trip is nearly half over! It seems to me that a good vacation probably should have an element of relaxing enough that you're willing to waste time (reading, which you could do anywhere, or playing an iPhone game, or just sitting and chatting). We could probably pack some more stuff in, but as it is, I'm losing track of days a bit and starting to unwind nicely.

Lots o' sand, lots o' wind

Cromagnons

Sand dune scaling

Sand dune sitting

Sand dune sliding

Scale to the scaling and sliding

Sand a'willin

Return of the beach

Brave child

Foolish father

Will doing crosswords with Grandpa

CANNONS!

:-)

Donald, Sam, and Kenny with Margaret, Evelyn and Theresa

Day 6: May 9, part dha

After our usual goofing-around until 11 or 11:30, we got in the car to drive to the isle of Eriskay. This is not as foolish as it sounds, because there is a causeway. We went to the local store there and found lemon-lime marmalade and short rib crisps. The crisps I have found and purchased to date:

Spare Rib

Prawn Cocktail

Pickled Onion

Asian hot&spicy shortribs --good

Bacon fries (corn snack)

Worcestershire sauce

We found the ferryspot which goes to Barra and a brilliant white shell-sand beach with gorgeous green-aqua waters revealed when the sun comes out. On Eriskay we went to An Politician, which means "the jerk" in Gaelic. They had relics from the Politician there, including Sam. Original whisky from the Politician were on one of the tables for display. The barkeep spoke Gaelic and it turns out Sam knew his father well. Sam spoke with him at considerable length which was really neat. We had fish and chips for lunch; the chips were excellent and the fish was breaded haddock, which was very very good, but slightly worse to my taste than the amazing Oban fish. Sam preferred it, however, so we've been doing well.

After lunch we went back to the beach and took the kids down to the water in their rubber boots. They spent a little time pottering by the water in the middling sun. The wind has been howling, but this didn't stop them from climbing on the rocks and looking at shells. Then Grandpa suggested that they take off their boots and socks and stick a toe in the ocean. Remembering how cold the Atlantic was at this approximate latitude from Newfoundland, I expected a couple of quick dips and even offered Eilidh a pound to go in up to her knees. One thing led to another, and soon

enough pants were being stripped off, Eilidh and Uilleam were getting more and more adventurous, and running into the water! Eventually the two got entirely submerged and the cold didn't seem to bother them much :) They probably swam and ran and laughed for half an hour in the beach. At the end, Eilidh picked some shells and we came back to the house. We washed the kids up in the tub--lots and lots of seashell sand.

One of the finds on Eriskay was lamb's liver for 50p. Ev lit up when I showed it to her and we had two packs for supper. At 5pm Sam and Ev went off for a drink with Ken and Theresa, while we made egg sandwiches for the kiddos, leaving all the precious lamb's liver for us. We are fairly sure that this animal was a hard-living lamb, chain-smoking and a heavy drinker. All the onions, bacon, ketchup, mashed potatoes, and triple shots of whisky were insufficient for us to get through more than half of it. In MacKenzie fashion there were pronouncements of distinct understatement.

Play along at home--match the comment with the familial line. One person is not a MacKenzie--see if you can find his/her comment.

1. V.MACKENZIE a. "this liver is not quite as mild as I remembered it when I grew up here. On South Uist."

2. J.HLADY b. "perhaps not my favorite."

3. S.MACKENZIE c. "we could put this in the fridge or freezer."

4. E.MACKENZIE d. "this is the acme of vileness and putridity and I hope we can hit the butcher with our car later on this trip!"

We put the kids to bed and despite a small territory dispute, a reasonable night of sleep ensued (Ken and Theresa came over, but I had gone to bed shortly before, and Val said hello, goodbye, and goodnight, all at once.)

Day 7: May 10

I woke up at 9am a bit on the wrong side of the bed. I woke up to bask in the island's rainy blowing blowy rain. Luckily my separate bed meant that I was on the right side of Val's. We had a latish breakfast. Val had a bacon and egg bap; I had half Scottish breakfast, voluntarily giving up the black pudding, staying at one egg, and only a couple of slices of bacon, BUT importantly adding beans and grilled tomatoes. For the third day in a row, though, the lousy weather cleared up by the time we were ready to get going at around 11. We set off north to Benbecula (AKA Benbeculum, AKA Benfecula, AKA BedBathandBeyondula, AKA Speculum) to search for replacement sunglasses, and to get Evelyn's blood clotting factor test. We stopped off quickly at the Lochboisdale tourist center and I bought a cool beanie touque and a puzzle book for Eilidh and Uilleam. We saw some of the gifts of Scotland trips past here, and we also were able (between this place and a spot on Benbecula) to find some gifts for Madam Ivanna, Master Matthew, and Madamaster Bort(ina). The kids were pretty patient through the whole trip, although because of the grand success of playing in the ocean yesterday, EVERYTHING that is not frolicking in the ruddy ocean is basically us abusing them.

Ev got her blood test done and everything has come back to normal for her, which is a relief--she got great service at the Uist/Barry hospital. Staff Nurse Cross was anything but. We found a neatish bookstore and I found a wonderful fleece there, but £50 was just too much. I wonder if I would have liked it if it was £10. Darren and I could probably both be equally happy with the same product at different prices, and would be dissatisfied with the identical product reversed.

We came back to the house and planned to get fish and chips from the F&C shop just down the road, but it is closed until May 24th, when it opens for the summer season. We instead all packed up and went to the Polochar (paw-lo-cccchhhh-aar) Inn, which Sam's great-great-great-grandfather used to be the proprietor... of. You should see the word usements I structure! They've gone for fancier fare there and there was no pub food, really. Most menus here in Scotland are 3-5 starters, 5-6 mains, and some pricy desserts. Last night I had Dover Sole "with cherry tomatoes and a herb butter", but really it translated into Dover Sole meuniere. Lots and lots of butter; the sole was really delicate almost to the point of bland. It definitely was my first time trying sole, and I liked it all right, but probably could have done with a little less butter (HERESY! get the hell away from my computer, Val) and a little more acid to cut the fat. The cherry tomatoes were roasted until they were as sweet as berries. Val had Eriskay scallops larger than the size of my arterial clots. I goggled at the size of the biggest scallop I'd ever seen--it was easily bigger than the size of Eilidh's clenched fist. It was swimming in bacon cooked in butter. The food felt very contintental 80s again. Between Will getting sick after lunch and Eilidh gagging from the smell of seaweed and barfing up her supper, the tally for J:W:E currently stands at 1:1:1. On the way out of the Polochar Inn, we were discussing where everyone had barfed, and then Val turned around and hit me in the crotch, spurring me to say "Och! Right in the goolies!" I then got to see this dowdy British woman sitting primly at a table looking aghast at this conversation. I'm positive she thought we were the nastiest Americans she'd ever heard, talking only about crotches and vomit. I sniggered my way home, leading the way for the first time.

I'm very confident now in the car driving on these roads. The Audi is just wonderful. I think I've forgotten how much fun it is to drive in something which isn't a minivan! 50 miles an hour feels like 50km/h in this thing, the roads are tight and curvy, and it's fun to drive quickly.

We are falling into the habit of getting up relatively late and falling into bed after supper-dessert. About 9 to 9 is the total time we spend in clothes, which is working reasonably well. The kids have switched to getting up 8-9am and going to bed around 9-10pm. We've given up on Jonathan's naps, and he catches some snoozes in the car from time to time.

Day 8: May 11

We are still unable to charge the DSes because we're not drawing enough current on 1 device for the voltage convertor to work. I expect Will to get a fit of the DS DTs.

Got up relatively late, had black pudding/bacon/etc baps and some beans. Ken Innocent dropped in to invite us for dinner on Thursday evening, so we'll be going back to An Politician. More later!

Some pics so far:

Shelter for mooring at Eriskay w/Uilleam

Eriskay rocks

The old homestead

The older homestead (neat old ruins behind our rental home on South Uist)

On the ferry to Uist from Oban

On the beach

Lunch in Oban on our first full day in Scotland

The cabin near Oban

Flora near Oban

Shelter on Eriskay

By the ocean near Polochar Inn

Supper at Polochar Inn

In Scotland (wasn't there for this picture!)

Likely also Scotland