I've been so busy lately that blogging has gone low on the priority list.  But I did promise photos of the Scotland trip.  And I suppose that an update on life might be nice too--at least it might provide me with the sense that I've been doing something lately.

I do have to apologize for the camera though.  It was acting up a lot, and I don't think the colours in some of the photos are perfectly true.  Still, I have picked the best of the lot to show you.


Cawdor Castle.  We've been there before, years ago.  I think perhaps it may have been my first trip to Scotland, or maybe the second, when Belle was a toddler.  If you know your Shakespeare, this is supposedly the scene of MacBeth.  It is an inhabited castle--so one isn't able to see the entire building, however the rooms we were allowed to see were very interesting.  One thing that helped a lot was the quiz the children were given to fill out.  It drew one's attention to details that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.


This is the countryside around Inverness.  I really really love this area.  My husband's Aunt lives up in this area, and we had a lovely visit with her.
The Fisher Woman statue in the town of Nairn, and the beach beyond.  It was a grey day but the sea was beautiful anyway.  The pinkish hue to the photo of the statue is due to the camera rather than the lighting.

Chatelherault, a former hunting lodge of the Duke of Hamilton, and now a country park with play area.  I believe the building, and grounds are often used for weddings.
The last three photos are of Bothwell Castle, again a place that we have been to on nearly every trip.  It is located about five minutes from my sister-in-law's house.  It is a very old castle.  We were actually there twice this trip.  The last picture is from the first visit, a late afternoon walk with Granny's dog.  I have a lot of good photos of the ruins from previous visits.  The castle is very photogenic with the red sandstone walls.  This time the weather didn't permit great photos, but I like this silhouette, even though the lines are caused by...you guessed it...the camera.

It was a bit rainy the second day we visited, when we actually went inside.  We climbed up a very steep, slippery, narrow, winding stone staircase to the top of the tower.  I didn't get photos of that because I was a) holding on with both hands to the rope attached to the wall, and b) because every time I looked at the stairs, I felt a bit dizzy.  Going up was difficult, and going down was SCARY.  But the view from the top was beautiful.  And yes, the kids went too--Daddy in front and me in the back, watching every step they took.  For some strange reason, nearly all of us had sore leg muscles the following day.

We had a great time browsing the wee shop in the castle and making some purchases to bring home, among them a book of castles (Usborne), and a fridge magnet for my collection.  The gentleman in the shop chatted with us for a long time.  I believe he probably hadn't had another visitor all day.

So a few photos of the trip.  It was a lovely visit, and fun to reminisce about it.  Just sorry the pictures didn't turn out better.