Christmas Greetings and a Post with Signs

 MERRY CHRISTMAS What a year it has been. Anne and I have worked hard to stay safe and sane. We play golf whenever the weather and injuries allow, always social distancing. We only venture out when we need to shop. Anne has gotten quite good about knowing the best times to go to the safest places to get what we need when we can’t have delivery. We have a couple of social contacts we meet safely in garages or on patios. Otherwise, we’ve become very adept at Zoom Meetings. We hope you are well and safe and we all look forward to a

HAPPY HEALTHY SAFE 2021.

SIGNS — Maybe from Places We’ll Get to Next Year

As a senior at Linfield College (now Linfield University) I attended the Pi Kappa Delta National Speech Tournament where I competed in Oratory (persuasive speaking) and debate. My persuasive speech was really just a hippy-type college student’s rant against the machine. It was really a poor speech, but radical enough that I still placed in the top ten in the tournament. The speech was about the signs of society’s collapse. I could probably produce a speech today on the same topic and have it be relevant rather than rant. But that’s not the point of this post. That speech was likely the start of my fascination with signs.

Signs of all kinds are interesting on several levels and they tell us a lot about ourselves and the world we live in. They also tell us about those who came before us and thus our history. Petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (rock paintings) are part of the cultural language of many of our ancestors (for me, particularly Native American ancestors). 

Other signs also speak to our history. For instance, “the barber’s pole reminds us that once upon a time a barber was a leech, and practiced phlebotomy, the red and white pole he hung at his door being supposed to represent the bleeding limb and the white surgical bandage twisted round it.” [Inns, Ales and Drinking Customs of Old England, Jennings, 1895]

Pitlochry, Scotland

In our travels, especially to the UK, I’ve collected pictures of many interesting signs. It’s been easy because as one English essayist noted, “Our streets are filled with blue boars, black swans, and red lions, not to mention flying pigs and hogs in armor, with many other creatures more extraordinary than any in the deserts of Afric.[sic]” So I here present some of those signs categorized as signs of Business, Direction, Information, Inspiration, Place, and Miscellany.

Business Signs. We have plenty of business signs in the US, but few match the interesting signs of the UK which has a history of compelling by law businesses to display signage since 1393.

B&B in St Ives, Cornwall. Strange name means a tropical food fish.

A Cornish pub in the tin mine area in Zennor, opened in 1391.

Pub in St Ives, Cornwall.

Pub in Linlithgow, Scotland, named for Mary Queen of Scots' handmaidens (all named Mary).

York pub.

This Red Lion is a pub in Avebury, Wiltshire, and is in the middle of the Avebury Stone Circle. This pub is one of the most haunted in England with at least five ghosts including a ghost coach with horses which pulls up to the inn at night.

A pub in Porlock, Exmoor Park, England, named after an English children's game we would call Keep Away.

The Dolphin Inn, Penzance, Cornwall, is another very haunted site with a violent smuggling history and used as a courthouse and jail from a famous hanging judge. Room 5 is the most haunted with many guests leaving in the middle of the night.

A subcategory of business signs are those which relate to the products being sold by the business.

Bourton on the Water, Cotswolds

Signs which Direct. We stayed once in a small village on the English side of Solway Firth where we complimented the B&B host on the good signage between the village and Carlisle. She was astonished and asked if we really followed the road signs to get to the B&B. We told her we did and she said, “You must live a charmed life because those sings change in the wind each day.”

Falkland, Scotland

Durness, far NW Scotland

Lonely sign on North Yorkshire Moors

Signs to Give Information. Many signs are meant to provide vital or interesting information and many do that job well. Sometimes, though, the information isn’t appreciated.

Political Protest

Warning of bears on the trail in Banff National Park, Canada. 

What are you doing fishing? On Sunday you should be in church in Scotland.

Signs to Inspire. These signs might inspire (or instruct) us to mighty deeds or profound thoughts. In other cases they may just cause us to say, “Duh!”

Cornwall, England

Fits too well 2020.

Signs which Put Us in Our Place. Signs can let us know where we are but often they also tell us something about where we are.

Our home base in Scotland.

This combination of signs didn't last too long.

In a couple of years it changed to this.

Lastly, Miscellaneous Signs. These are signs I couldn’t categorize, but didn’t want to leave out.

We stood around on the tee box for about an hour before someone came along and rang the stupid bell.

WTF

NEXT: Hopefully, travel will begin to open up as we help each other stay safe.

A SAD Story, but Some Bright Photos

Balnakeil Bay, Durness, Scotland

Hiking to Three Finger Jack early 1970s

 

Just when we think we’ll be overwhelmed by the news about the election and are faced with horrific stories of the pandemic, we then have to turn our clocks back and enter the darkest part of the year. It’s no wonder we feel depressed and lethargic. With all that baring down upon us it’s easy to see why we have little interest in usual activities. Most of us can readily acknowledge that we’ve got a case of the Winter Blues. But this year is worse and it’s more important to be aware of the real SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) syndrome.

CCC Cabin, Redrocks State Park, Nevada

Rannoch Moor, Scottish Highlands

Many will call it the Winter Blues, but the serious extreme is the clinical condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.  Most of us feel at least a mild winter blues when we notice the shortening of the days because of the time of year and the turning back of our clocks at the end of daylight savings time. But as many as 10 percent of Americans are more seriously affected. The impact is greater on those living in the northern areas and lesser on those living for instance in sunny Florida. The incidence of SAD is greater in women than men, according to most studies. And SAD hits hardest to those who are already struggling with mental conditions like depression, ADHD or eating disorders, according to the National Health Institute.

River Dochart at Killin GC, Scotland

Cascadia Mt, Banff National Park, Canada

Himalayan Blue Poppy

The Yale School of Medicine says that symptoms of SAD begin gradually in September or October and last through March or April. These symptoms include:

- Feeling depressed all or most of nearly every day, pervasive sadness.

- Lack of interest in normal activities.

- Changes in appetite — overeating or craving carbs.

- Problems with sleep — oversleeping (hypersomnia).

- Having low energy.

- Having feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness.

- Difficulty concentrating.

- Social withdrawal, like hibernating. 

- In the extreme, having increasing thoughts of suicide. 

Heron Reflection, Ankeny Wildlife Refuge, OR

On the Road to Death Valley

The causes of are more difficult to identify than the symptoms, but studies from National Health Institute indicate that 

- people with SAD may have reduced levels of the brain chemical serotonin, a                neurotransmitter, or

- produce too much melatonin, a hormone which helps regulate the sleep/wake    cycle, or

- may have lower levels of vitamin D which promotes serotonin activity.

Loch Morlich & Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland

There are treatments for SAD that are more effective than that used by one fellow who stared into the copy machine at work to get extra light on dark days. Light therapy, though, is one of the effective treatments for SAD. There are commercially produced light boxes which would allow affected suffers to to get extra light in the morning and evening to help reduce symptoms. Dawn simulators, lights that slowly come on and brighten, to wake sleepers more naturally are also effective. Simple things like a walk in the fresh air and winter light can brighten your day. This is part of the reason I have chosen bright photos for this post—hoping to brighten your day. Other treatments include Talk Therapy or psychotherapy (positive thinking to replace negative feelings), medications such as antidepressants (only under doctor’s orders), and increasing vitamin D (only mixed results).

Old man of Storr, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Reflection, Fisherman's Wharf, Victoria, BC

This year, the winter of COVID, it is even more important to be aware of the dangers of SAD. Professor Kelly Rohan, University of Vermont, said that when patients in a SAD study were hit by COVID restrictions they had dramatic increases in their SAD symptoms and that the symptoms didn’t disappear in the summer like usual. COVID isolation is going to make even a mild case of Winter Blues harder for all of us to tackle. Hopefully knowing more about Seasonal Affective Disorder, and maybe seeing some bright photos, will make these difficult times a little easier to handle.

Rainbow, Tarbat Ness, Scotland

Next: Will depend upon whether people wear masks and socially distance so we can begin to travel again.

Travel of Sorts

 The Farm Shop Post

It’s a sad day when a morning shopping trip becomes the highlight of a travel blog, but such are times. Along with yesterday’s shopping trip to a neighboring town, I’m including a shout out to a similar spot in Scotland which we are missing. Now to the story of mundane travel in the times of Covid-19.

Yesterday Anne and I drove over to Bauman’s Farm and Garden, just a couple of miles past Woodburn on Hwy 99E—a trip of about 15 miles one way. Huge for us under current conditions. Bauman’s farm was started by Elizabeth Bauman in 1895 and became a small family-run farm market at its current location in 1988. The farm shop now sells produce year round, particularly apples, corn, and berries. 

The farm bakery specializes in pies (berry, peach, apple, among others) and anything made with marionberries. 

Known for its apple cider, both natural and hard, the farm also contains a seasonal gift shop. 

The Harvest Fair, a fall celebration each year, had to be cancelled this year because of Covid-19 restrictions. We came home with veggies, pies, cookies, cider, and a few other treats—

The clerk is separated from customers by a plexiglass shield.

all-in-all, a good shopping trip.

Our Bauman’s trip reminded us of our favorite farm shop in Scotland. When we’re in Scotland we visit many of their farm shops such as Broadslap Farm (Dunning), Balgove Larder (St Andrews), and Storehouse at Foulis (on the way to Dornoch), but the one we go to most often is Gloagburn Farm in Tibbermore near Perth, about 20 minutes from our home base in Crieff. 

Opened in 2003 by Ian and Alison Niven, Gloagburn Farm is a working farm with a cafe, gift shop, farm shop, and deli. 

The cafe, serving breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, serves food mostly prepared on the premises. The farm shop has an assortment of veggies, meats, and prepared food, as well as a full compliment of deli treats. 

Outside we’ve been able to get up close with pigs, sheep, the popular Highland cows (hairy coos), and some of the 4500 free-range chickens. When we visit Gloagburn Farm it is mostly for a delicious lunch or sweet in the fine cafe.

We hope you have been keeping yourselves safe and have found ways to enjoy a little travel, even if it’s just to a special shop.