Have Pen and Camera, Will Travel

Friday, February 5, 2016

Old Stories and Photos--Hopefully New to You

A Few Antique Cameras

It’s difficult to write a travel and photography blog when I’m not traveling and I haven’t had the camera out for a month. I do have a couple of stories and some photos from past travels that I’d like to share. I will have some new material in a few weeks—when we get back from Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and Zion. Until then, I hope you enjoy these:

Local residents, Amulree, Scotland.

Woody

In the far northwest corner of Scotland, this gang of ducks pecked our car until I got out and paid ransom.

Sleeping In

Our Scottish niece, Ailsa (adopted by us after living with the B&B family since she was three years old), has the good habit of working hard on her studies and thus being tired often. She also has the bad habit of not being easy to wake up. Jim and Elizabeth often stay and run the B&B when Ailsa’s parents are away on a trip. This particular evening Jim was teasing Ailsa about missing the school bus (a bus from her private school picks her up in front of the B&B six days a week—rigorous school program) the last time her folks were gone and he had to drive her the forty minutes to school. She promised, promised, promised that she’d be on time for the bus in the morning.

A Canby jay

So, the bus pulls up the next morning at 7:00—we can see it out our bedroom window—and waits for about three minutes. No Ailsa, the bus drives away. Two minutes later Ailsa screams, “Oh, no!” and hurries downstairs and out the front to no avail. Jim had an early appointment, so this time Elizabeth had to take Ailsa to school. Believe me, Liz was not happy about it as she was supposed to be fixing breakfasts for the guests. The only thing that saved Ailsa’s hide was that Anne and I and our friends the Gordons were the only guests and we were okay with fixing our own breakfasts.

Ailsa made me promise, promise, promise not to tease her about sleeping in. I’m just terrible about keeping promises.

A Fur Coat and a Winter Snack

Osprey, Cullen, Scotland

I think this is Mrs. Jay.

Anne at Gurnsey Broch in the Orkneys.

Defending the Dinner Table

Anne and I had had a full day of touring in southwest Scotland. We’d played 18 holes at Stranraer GC, visited both Corsewall and Killantringer Lighthouses (thirty miles of single track road), and wandered the seaside village of Portpatrick with its own old lighthouse. We stopped in at the Crown Hotel for a beer and some writing time.

Exterior of the Italian Chapel in Orkney.

Interior of the chapel made by Italian POWs in World War II.

Dueling Spires, Minnesota

The Crown Hotel’s pub, we discovered, had been recently named Seafood Pub of the Year by one of the foodie magazines. We felt good about our drinks and writing, the menu looked very inviting, and the kitchen smells were extremely enticing. It was still too early for dinner and the restaurant didn’t take reservations, but we did want to eat at the Crown tonight and we didn’t want to give up our great table. Anne devised a killer plan—time killer, that is. As she worked on her journaling and nursed her most recent drink, I wandered the village for some photos. When I came back to the table and my by now rather warm ale, Anne walked to the car on the other side of the village to get more for us to work on. With fresh drinks after she got back we worked a while longer successfully filling enough time to be ready for dinner at our window-side table.

Sunset at Portpatriek harbour, Scotland.

The Town Hornblower (Ripon, England): a horn blower has signaled that the town's night watchman is on duty for the past more than 900 years.

The Crown Hotel lived up to its awards. Dinner was fantastic. After a shared starter of bacon wrapped scallops, I had a beautiful fried mackerel (I guess it’s okay to call a dead fish beautiful) and Anne a wonderfully prepared North Sea Cod. It felt sort of gladiatorial to have had to defend our table for dinner. Veni, vidi, vici!

Horsetail Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

A replica of Stonehenge on a hill above the Columbia River in Washington state.

The Real Thing

Friday, January 1, 2016

Stories and People

This first post of 2016 goes back to some travel stories and photos of interesting people we've met in our travels. As always comments are very welcome. Have a Great New Year!

Portland Highland Games

Blackford Highland Games, Perthshire, Scotland

Bachelor Party at Deacon Brodie's in Edinburgh.

If It’s For Sale, Don’t Go

It was early in October when we had a couple of nice days on the Isle of Skye in the northwest of Scotland. This day we had already driven up to the Quiraing which in Old Norse means “Round Fold.” It’s a series of tables, pinnacles, spires, and escarpments that are part of Meall na Suiramach, the highest mountain in this area of Skye. We’d also visited Flora MacDonald’s grave; she is famous for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie (the Young Pretender) escape from the British after the Jacobean defeat at Culloden. We were definitely looking forward to having lunch in Uig on Skye after fighting 80-100 mile an hour winds at Castle Duntulm, a much ruined McLeod castle on the point of the Trotternish peninsula. The ferry terminal village of Uig (ferries to the Outer Hebrides) faces Uig Bay and has a pottery shop, a brewery with gift shop, a pub, a restaurant, and a couple of tea rooms. I talked Anne into going to the Tea House because we only wanted a quick sandwich or soup. Bad choice!

Tea Room Conversation, Kirriemuir, Scotland

The Tea House advertised itself as a tea room and B&B. The insides it could have been described as quaint, but really a better description would be tattered and sparse. Only one other couple was in the tea room and they were just getting ready to leave—it was a clue we missed. We had to wait quite a while to get any service—that was another missed clue. We ordered a ham and tomato toastie to share and a coke each. The cokes came in their cans with no glasses or ice and the sandwich came shortly after. The sandwich was barely toasted bread with two ultra thin slices of tomato (one in each half) and a similarly thin slice of rubbery, tasteless processed ham--no condiments or sauces. Anne described it as an ”ugly sandwich.” We each drank our cokes, nibbled on our sandwich halves, and left the Tea House as soon as we could.

School work bored him to death!

It was on the way out we noticed the For Sale sign on the property’s fence. Damn, I couldn’t even review the Tea House on Trip Advisor. I made up for my poor lunch choice by taking Anne to dinner at the Harbour View Seafood Restaurant in Portree (one of the best in town). From now on I look closely for those For Sale signs.

TV actress in a feature filming at Stirling Castle.

Bar keep pours a round for a tasting at Famous Grouse in Crieff.

Piper busking at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Study in Red and Black in Oxford.

Beware the Mead

On our trips to Ireland we kept seeing ads for Medieval Castle Experiences at Bunratty Castle, Knappague Castle, and Dunquaire Castle. Finally, we decided to give in to the ads and take in a show—unusual for us because we generally steer clear of things that seem too touristy. We visited Dunguaire Castle in Kinvarra Village (near Galway) in Co. Clare just outside the Burren (interesting geological area). We toured the 16th century tower house castle, named for King Guaire, a legendary king of Connacht, and then purchased tickets to that evening’s dinner show.

In the evening we drove about a half hour from our B&B in Galway to the castle. The evening’s entertainment consisted of a medieval dinner (soup, chicken, potatoes of course since we were in Ireland,veg, and pie), music, songs, storytelling, and poetry (Yeats, Shaw, O’Casey, Synge).

Anne, with the pitcher of mead right in front of her, she couldn't resist.

The star of the show, at least for Anne, was the mead (a fermented honey and fruit or herb drink) that was served before and during dinner. I had a small taste, but since I was driving I stuck mostly to water. Anne, on the other hand, had her before dinner cup of mead and mine and more at dinner—she thought it was very tasty. It was strong as well—mightily strong! Anne fell asleep in the car on the way home to the B&B and it was lucky the directions back were simple—with my lack of sense of direction we could have ended up in Limerick instead of Galway. The next day was a slight fog for Anne; she ate lightly at breakfast and can’t recall too many details of the golf we played later that day. So be warned: Beware the Mead!

One of Edinburgh's more colorful characters.

Street performer in Edinburgh. Bet nobody messes with him.

In a small pub in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, we visited with a gentleman who had played many of the same courses we had.

This is so wrong for many reasons! (Rockcliffe in southern Scotland)

Free Is a Good Price, But You Have to Wait for It

Recently when we have an early morning flight, we’ll stay the night before at a Red Lion Hotel near the Portland airport (the Best Airport in America) which offers a park’n’Fly program—stay the night and leave your car for free for up to ten days (avoiding airport parking charges). On one trip, after checking in at the hotel, we drove to a nearby mall to eat at Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Q. The meals at Dave’s aren't gourmet, but they usually are tasty, plentiful, and reasonably priced. On this occasion the place was quite crowded. We were given a beeper and told the wait would be about 15 minutes. The bar had room for us to have a drink while we waited. And waited. And waited. After about 35 minutes I asked the manager to check on a table for us. He came back and told us that we weren’t checked-in. I showed him the beeper. Sputtering now, he said he’d check again. We got a table in about a minute with the manager’s apologies for “losing us.” After we ordered, the manager said that our dinners were on the house with more profound apologies. We had to wait for it, but a free dinner was a great way to start a week of vacation in Las Vegas.

The Master of the Tables in the dining hall in Oxford.

Jim Craig, famous Scottish footballer (soccer player). visiting at Merlindale B&B.

Oregon Poet William Stafford at a conference on the Oregon coast in the early 80s.

Just your average visitor to Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

A Christmas Story and Some Photos

Let me start this post with some Christmas Trivia (with answers) and then end with a few of my favorite photos from this year, most of which I haven't posted before:

What state was the first to recognize Christmas as a holiday?
What was the last state to recognize Christmas?
When was Christmas declared a national holiday?
What country is the home of eggnog?
Who was the first ghost to appear to Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?
What are the three ships of the song “I Saw Three Ships?”
What ornament is most often seen on the top of a Christmas tree?

The answer to that last trivia question is the Star, the Star of Wonder, the Star of Bethlehem. That, too, is the topic of this particular post. Let me examine that special Star in more detail.

For some background, the star we are talking about is the star that guided the Wisemen to the newborn King so they could present their gifts. The Wisemen were not Kings despite what the song “We three Kings” says. The wisemen were most likely Zoroastrian priests or astrologers (Magi) who were coming to honor the Christ child. It’s a basic and ancient sky story where a heavenly event heralds some great event—for good or ill. And this is where we start getting in trouble in our understanding of the Star.

The problem is that to understand what the Star was we need to know when Jesus was born. Simple, you say, that was December 25th. Not so simple. The Gospel of St Matthew’s is the only book in the bible to tell the Christmas story and that book doesn’t mention the date. And for very good reasons. Years weren’t even numbered until 525 AD. Jesus’ birth is considered to be in the year 1 AD, but could be as early as 6 BC, and was most likely around the years of 3 or 2 BC. Dating Jesus’ birth is based on what we know of others. The story is that Jesus was born “in the days of Herod the King.” Herod died immediately after a lunar eclipse and shortly before Passover. These events favor the dates between 3 to 2 BC.

It’s also unlikely that Jesus was born in December for several reasons. First, Jesus was born six months after his cousin John the Baptist who was born in March. This favors a September date for the birth of Jesus. From Matthew we also have the clue that shepherds watched their flocks in the fields by night. That wouldn’t have happened in December, but would be likely in the other seasons. Finally, Mary and Joseph wouldn’t have traveled in December. The census was usually taken at the end of summer.

German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler tried to explain the Star of Bethlehem in 1614, but he didn’t have information about the correct date of Jesus’ birth. Some of the explanations given by Kepler and others include comets, nova or supernova, astronomical conjunctions, and others. Each has its adherents and detractors.

Comets, a fuzzy star dragging a tail of light, is one of the more popular theories for the Star. They are visible for days, weeks, or even months which would have been necessary for the Magi to be able to follow for a long trip. The Chinese recorded what we now call Halley’s Comet in 12 BC and again in 66 AD, but that is the closest record of a comet in that time period. And it’s not really close enough.

The exploding star theory, nova or supernova, relies on the fact that nova can be seen for long periods of time, some even visible during the day. The Chinese recorded two objects in 5 and 4 BC. But scripture notes that Herod didn’t say anything about a “star,” but had to ask his Zoroaster priests (the Magi). That probably means the sign was one hidden from ordinary people, but recognizable to experts.

This brings us to Kepler’s theory and one accepted by many: the conjunction theory. Kepler believed the Star could be explained as an alignment of planets or stars and planets. We had several of these conjunctions this year with Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn in various close alignments. Between May 19 and August 26, 3 BC, there were nine major conjunctions, mostly involving Venus and Jupiter. In June of 2 BC, Jupiter and Venus were in conjunction not far from Regulus (the brightest star in the constellation of Leo)—they may have actually seemed to merge into one bright star. As satisfying as the conjunction theory is, there is one more theory to consider.

The theory of Pious Fiction is particularly noteworthy. Matthew is the only gospel to mention the Star or the Magi. The Gospel of St John says that Jesus was from Galilee, not Bethlehem—we know him as Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Bethlehem. The Gospel of St Mark says the family lived in Nazareth and only traveled to Bethlehem for the census and then quickly returned to Nazareth. And finally, compelling to my scientific mind is that the Gospel of St Matthew’s was written in about 66 AD which coincides with the spectacular appearance of Halley’s Comet. Could it be that the writer decided that he needed a real “grabber” to begin his story?

Unless some indisputable archeological discovery is found to settle the question of the Christmas Star, it will remain a matter of faith and conjecture. Science can’t completely explain it. History offers no concrete record. Religion offers only untestable miraculous apparition. And while Pious Fiction seems to hold more truth than other theories, it too is just a theory. We can’t agree on the nature of the Star of Wonder, but the tale inspires millions every winter.

Trivia Answers:

1. Alabama 2. Oklahoma 3. 1870 4. England 5. Jacob )Marley 6. Camels of the Magi (camels are known as the “ships of the desert")

A few of my Favorite Photos and a set from a short trip to the Oregon coast this month: