It feels like home to me. When Scots ask me if I like living here many take it as a personal compliment when I reply that I do, very much.The feel of HISTORY is everywhere....especially ancient history. Stone circles, standing stones, burial cairns which are 3-5,000 years old, cranogs (ancient artificial islands) are a common site. At some of these sites the energy is almost palpable. Photo: Templewood Stone Circle, Kilmartin
More recent history - 300, 400, 800 years ago - is also very evident. Castles are not far from any location you happen to be in. Some are still furnished while many are in ruins.
The LANDSCAPE is often wild and dramatic, and always stunning. I love the mountains, seas, lochs, isles, cliffs, hills, beaches, countryside.... I love to look out our front window and see an old red fishing boat, sail boats, or the mountains on the other side of the loch. When it's not cloudy I can look up from our garden and see thousands of stars, and sometimes planets.Photo: Isle of Skye, the Storr
The loch in front of our house can be silver or gold with the different light, has dazzling sunsets and sunrises, and the water can be flat calm or wildly choppy in a storm. Rainbows are a given after a rainshower.
Nearly the entire year something is blooming, even in wintertime we get roses. By February daffodils and snowdrops are flowering. In late summer the heather blooms purple and mountains are covered in it. It is not difficult to see why there is such an abundance of different plants and flowers which grow so quickly -- it's very wet here!
Photo: Benmore Botanic Gardens
The PEOPLE & CULTURE. I've found the people to be genuinely friendly. The language has many more differences than I could possibly imagine. Many books and dictionaries have been written highlighting the differences and many words incorrectly used can be very embarrassing. In parts of Scotland lallans (lowlands) Scots is used. Many words and phrases have implanted themselves in my subconscious over the years and surprise me when they come out of my mouth! Even after all this time I'm still learning new words.
ARCHITECTURE with character. As one who is not a fan of many modern buildings, I am most definitely in the right place! I love whitewashed stone homes, the hotels and pubs that are 200, even 300 years old, castles, old stone bridges, stained glass windows... One example of the differences between Scotland and the US is that Glasgow University was educating Scots before Columbus sailed to America...or wherever it was he landed.Photo: ok, this thatched cottage on the Hebrides is not a common sight anymore...but it's a great photo, eh?!
