I’m finally finished developing all those photos from the Scotland/Spain trip and stuffing them into albums. Thought I’d post a few favorites here before tucking those memories away…
Spent my last day on the Isle of Mull here at Duart Castle. Legend has it that the laird of this castle, incensed by his barren wife, rowed her out to a tiny island and her left on the rocks so high tide could drown her and he could remarry. Her brother, wise to the plan, rescued her then invited her murderous husband to a fine dinner. There she surprised him and pleaded for his life lest her brother kill him. Later another brother did. Tragic if rich story fodder!
Here are the remaining stone crofts of the two abandoned villages along the headlands of Mull. Once thriving, both were destroyed during the Highland Clearances. I found it so moving to walk among the ruins and imagine the full lives once led there. They were very humble people but what a kingly view!
Fast forward to Edinburgh and The Chocolate Lounge, one of my favorite haunts in the city :). Here we recover from long walks on the headlands and lost history by watching gourmet cupcakes on tiny conveyer belts whiz by. Is it any wonder I spent a couple of tea times right here?!
Vanilla bean cupcakes and Earl Gray are a winning combination.
But Red Velvet will do nicely, too!
Nothing like restoring perspective by wandering in a graveyard, in this case one along the Royal Mile when the trees/flowers are in full bloom. Being from a long line of Duncans and Ballantynes/Blantons, I found this gravestone especially interesting.
Making the switch from sunny Scotland to sunny Spain wasn’t hard to do! The roses in Spain are hard to describe. Their perfume is so potent ~ and the sky so blue.
Hats off to my little brother, Chris, for putting up with me for the month of May. My room was off the little balcony to the right in this photo. Wishing for some Spanish sunshine here in the misty woods of western Washington!
Are you having a sunny summer where you are? Or just dreaming of a sunny spot like me?
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Thanks for sharing more of your photos, Laura. You took some real beauties. Love the one of the Isle of Mull. Such a fascinating looking place. Makes me want to go exploring. 🙂 And the cupcakes looked SO yummy! My sweet tooth was drooling. LOL!
It’s been pretty sunny here (and very hot) for about the last week, though the heat wave finally broke last night. Now we’re getting a bit of rain and thunder. But we can use it as we haven’t had a good soaker in a while. The sweet corn here is looking gorgeous, so I can’t wait til it’s ready to be picked. Hope you’re having a great summer, my friend! 🙂
Angi, So good to touch base with you :). I can imagine your heat and all those fields of corn! We had a big skillet of fried corn the other night and for all I know it was gotten from your neck of the woods because corn is one thing we cannot grow here, lol.
Wish we could have shared a teatime together over in Edinburgh. Those cupcakes were delicious but very unlike American ones. These were very dry and not so sweet! Now I’m trying to NOT think cupcakes and think walking instead, sigh…
Hope you’re having a good summer there, my kind friend!
Hmmm…fried corn? That sounds interesting. I’ve never had it that way before. You’ll have to tell me how you fix it. Yes, we’re getting close to the time of sweet corn festivals where you can go and have as much as you want FREE of charge. SO good!
Oh, tea time with you sounds like fun! Do they have different flavors of tea like we do here? I’ve often wondered, but never thought to ask. 🙂
Angi, Good question – they do have lots of flavored tea over there but the standards seem to be English Breakfast and Earl Gray (my personal fav) and some other Scottish specialty ones.
Oh, your FREE corn sounds so good – nothing better hot and dripping with butter and salt. I do hope you try fried version. It’s an old Kentucky, or southern recipe, taught me by my granny. My men love it and request it even over corn on the cob:
4-6 ears fresh sweet corn
1/2 stick butter
salt and pepper
cream or whole milk
pinch sugar
Shuck corn and cut kernels off with knife along with the ‘milk’ into a large bowl. In skillet, melt butter. Add corn and pinch of sugar and 1/3 cup of cream/milk and bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, stirring often. Salt and pepper to taste.
As you can see, it’s not for the calorie conscious. I use A LOT of butter, more than the recipe I gave you…
I hope you enjoy it if you try it!
Ooooo…THANK YOU, Laura! Your recipe sounds AWESOME! Will definitely have to try it! YUM! 🙂
Enjoy every bite, Angi :).
The pictures are beautiful. The cupcakes look awesome especially with tea.
Right now it’s been sunny and hot. But there are thunderstorms moving in. I am actually looking forward to late summer and family. I can’t wait to help my mom start canning the things from the garden. You can take the girl off the farm but you can’t take the farm out of the girl.
Dear Carissa, Oh, so agree about the farm girl thingy:)! I always say you can take the girl out of Kentucky but you can’t take KY out of the girl!
And you’ve named one of my favorite things – thunderstorms. I even snuck one in Love’s Reckoning with Silas and Eden and their first kiss (but you know that!). There’s nothing quite like a southern thunderstorm – I even love the smell of it if you know what I mean. Here there are virtually no thunderstorms. And lightning is rare, too. But we do have lots of rainbows, thanks to the rain!
Bless you, Carissa, as you go about your week.
Lovely! Scotland and Spain in very different ways. Though if I had to choose, you know which it would be.
It’s dreadfully hot here. Severe clear. Being outside isn’t really an option, so I miss my woods and mountains. There really isn’t an elevation out of the heat just now. But since I just got my content edit notes, I’m anchored to the computer for next month or so anyway.
Lori, YES, I know which one you’d choose – and I back you to the hilt :). There’s just something about Scotland…
Oh my, content edits! I can just see you working on them at your desk with your air-conditioning on. I actually miss that heat and also the feel of AC, believe it or not but Randy agrees with you wholeheartedly and thinks it miserable. Am sure you’ll make book 2 shine like always! I think the second go round is much easier on the mind and emotions. Anchored is the right word. That’s what’s happening here as I stay offline for the most part and polish book 3 Ballantyne before it goes in next month. Though it was a rough go of it for awhile I’ll miss these characters very much when I’m done.
Prayers with you as you work, dear Lori – and for your temps to cool! Maybe the berries will be even sweeter this year :).
Those pictures are just beautiful Laura. Definitely would have enjoyed the red velvet cupcake with you. Weather has been warm lately, woke up at 6 am this morning with a thunderstorm, didn’t seem to be that bad of a storm though, went right back to sleep.
Enjoyed a nice few hours sitting at the library on the internet this afternoon, and am sitting at McDonald’s right now making use of their wi-fi. Was able to watch my show tonight the one i’ve mentioned to you. 😀 Quite, quite good.
Michelle, After watching the clips from that show, I can see why you are a fan :). Me, too, and I’ve not watched a single episode! Right now I’m smitten with the BBC’s DANIEL DERONDA. Oh my! Am only halfway through but it’s riveting. Very well done. I feel a little toward Romola Garai like I do Elspeth but…
Enjoy sitting at McD’s enjoying that Wi-Fi and air-conditioning! Wish I could join you – only I’d pull you over to Panera’s Richmond Road :)!
Gorgeous pictures–and such fun stories, too! We are sunny here, as usual, and longing for the cool of fall, which usually doesn’t really come until late October! Not much traveling this summer, so it’s been fun to see your pictures and imagine.
Anne, I am so ready for fall, too – and the abundance of autumn pictures over on Pinterest means we’re not alone :). I could take some of your Texas heat in a heartbeat and would gladly send you some foggy, cool temps. We are wrapped in mist this morning which reminds me of Scotland, actually.
Thanks for sharing the fun of these last pics. I have the travel bug but am home now for a long stretch. Hope you have a wonderful week!
Ohhhhhhh, I have been spoiled for LIFE after 2 weeks in The Med.I just went on a travel website and looked at hotels on Santorini, because I’m crazy like that.There was one spot that had rooms for 6000$.
A NIGHT!!
HAHAHAHA!
Yeah, umm, I booked us in YOUR name.
My reality cheque has already been cashed, though, with everything from a trunk of Lego in the living room and work boots in the front hall.
If I want, I can go and look at the 1250 photos I took.
That’s sorta cheaper than booking a hotel room for 6000$.
Oh my! Pricey venue! Jennifer, I had to chuckle at your 1250 photos because I took around 1600 or so and 1250 of them didn’t turn out well! Sadly, I am no photographer. But at least there are a few good ones, which are the ones I posted here, lol, and previously. I am sure you are a much better picture snapper!
I can only imagine how blessed you are from that Med trip. I can only imagine! Me thinks you will return, Legos and work boots aside :)! I so know the reality cheque thingy!
I just adore the pictures! What a splendid trip it must have been! I am a wee bit jealous! The weather here has been HOT! It is suppose to cool down some this week. It is cooler today, but very humid. And we have been having some nasty thunderstorms. There have been lots of power outages around here. Thankfully, ours has never gone out yet! I am dreaming of a lovely mild summer, with a cool breeze. I guess I shouldn’t complain though. It is better than the HOT, HOT, HOT summers we had when I lived in Arizona. At least in Michigan when it is hot, it doesn’t last half the year! 🙂 And those desserts are making me hungry!
That legend about Duart Castle is so tragic. It is amazing at what people will do to get what they want. If only they realized that they were never in control in the first place!
I start my new nursing job in one week! I am excited but so nervous! I hope you are doing well, Laura! Blessings to you and yours, my friend!
Oh Emma! SO thrilled for you with that new job of yours! HUGE congrats for that. You must be over the moon but yes, a wee bit nervous. Prayers will be covering you. Am sure you will shine! And feel more at home day by day as you learn the ropes.
You’re so wise about Duart Castle. Isn’t it terrible? The flesh is so tragic and weak and selfish. Inside the castle it is very dark and heavy and oppressive as if all that sad history can’t rest.
I just heard about your heat wave! Guess I need to come out of the 18-19th centuries! We’ve had so much fog and cold here but it finally cleared about an hour ago and the sun is shining but it’s still a shivery 60 or so degrees in the shade.
Thinking of you and praying, my sweet friend!
What a beautiful view from those ruins! I think I could sit there for awhile. : )
The Spanish roses are lovely too. I’d love to see and smell those in person!
Thanks for sharing all your photos here. I enjoyed looking through them.
Cathy, Bless you for being here and for your gracious words :). Those roses are truly amazing! I’ve never seen anything quite like them. I went to the very old Moorish palace, the Alhambra, one day while in Spain and walked among acres of roses. It was like being in a perfume factory! I’ll never forget it. And yes, the view from those ruins made me never want to leave. I can only imagine the heartbreak those crofters felt when they were forced to go.
Thanks so much for taking time to stop. Have a blessed week!
I’ve been meaning to get to this post for a couple of days! I saw it come across my email two days ago and I popped over to take a look, but was called away. So happy I finally made it back. Such lovely pictures, intriguing stories and beautiful memories. Some of my greatest treasures are pictures from traveling.
It was unbearably hot here in Minnesota last week, but this week it’s been perfect! Mid to upper 70’s, bright blue sky and just a hint of a breeze. It’s been dry the past couple of weeks, so the mosquitos are almost gone. It’s weather like this (coupled with our beautiful scenery) that remind us why we live in Minnesota! I wish I could bottle it up for the months of January and February.
Thank you for taking us along on your journey. And thank you for the beautiful praise post about Robert Murray McCheyne. Exactly what I needed to hear today.
Gabrielle, Always a joy to see you :). I so agree about travel pics – great treasures to relive. Like taking a trip all over again!
Your weather matches ours here in the northwest – I tend to think of MN as a lot like western WA – lots of woods and lakes and cooler nights. Love that bottling the weather comment for our long winters. I so agree!
Glad the McCheyne post spoke to you, too. I always share the things I need the most. We learn so much from those old time saints. And I’m learning to praise Him for everything, even the hard things, especially the hard things. Am so thankful He promises to bring good out of them. Only He could!
Lovely pictures, Laura! How wonderful to have such sweet memories to tuck away and treasure forever.
Gosh, those roses are gorgeous! Roses are my favorite – we have so many rose bushes all around the house but only a couple of them have that sweet, delicious scent, though I’m sure they don’t hold a candle to their cousins in Spain!
And, I would have spent a great many tea times in The Chocolate Lounge, lol! Chocolate is a real weakness of mine, sugar in general really. Thanks for sharing a little tease… I mean, taste with us 😉
My summer has been hot and humid either rain or shine. We had our central AC running nonstop these past few weeks and it finally gave up the ghost this past Friday, in the middle of a heatwave no less! It ran it’s race well but was rather ancient, so I wasn’t too surprised. Praise the Lord we got a new one installed Monday and for a very reasonable price. All things work together for our good. Sometimes we lose things for a time to make us appreciate them more. I’ve never appreciated the blessing of an AC more than I do now 🙂
Hope you get your sunny spot, my friend! Thanks again for sharing your wonderful trip with us here 🙂
Blessings,
Amanda
Dear Amanda, I’m happy to envision you and your fam cool as cucumbers again :). I can only imagine how uncomfortable that was during that heat wave! Believe it or not, we don’t have AC here as it’s too cool all the time, even in summer. I tell my boys, who’ve never experienced AC, that it’s like our outside temps (60-70) but they still don’t get it :). I confess to turning out heat on here and it’s late July. Sniff! How I would love to send you some of our fog and chill…in exchange for your heat!
I knew you’d love the Chocolate Lounge. It’s a fun memory and one I wish I could relive over and over. Sugar is my weakness, too, my friend. I don’t just have a sweet tooth but sweet TEETH! I have a feeling that you could whip up some mean red velvet cupcakes that make those Edinburgh ones cower, lol.
And yes, those roses are amazing. I kept walking around thinking how like paradise Spain was, especially that fragrance. I do believe Spain has us beat for roses!
Hoping you have a blessedly cool rest of the week!! So happy you came by. It’s made my evening of working late extra nice!