Blarg

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: