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Monthly Archives: August 2019

Some Scottish food porn

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

⬆︎ Pork roll with Yorkshire pudding, Royal Hotel, Stornaway Traditional Scottish cooking is strangely difficult to find. Many eateries — especially in places that cater to tourists — offer what I call “international tourist cuisine,” which is mostly Mediterranean and is pretty much the same wherever you go. On this year’s trip to Scotland I […]

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My first Impossible Whopper

Saturday, August 24, 2019

I wanted this burger to be a world-rocking experience. But unfortunately it was not. It was a perfectly decent burger. But yes, I could tell the difference. But recognizing that it wasn’t real meat wasn’t the problem. The problem — at least for me — was that the Burger King Impossible Whopper, like the burger […]

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Harris tweed

Friday, August 23, 2019

Vintage Harris tweed jacket bought in Stornaway The Scottish island of Harris is remote, windswept, rainswept, and underpopulated. How, then, did it become so famous? For Harris tweed, of course. First, a technicality. The usual way to refer to this place in the Outer Hebrides is “the isle of Lewis and Harris.” That raises the […]

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Home from Scotland

Thursday, August 22, 2019

A Scottish meat pie bought at a High Street bakery in Dunbar. Click here for high-resolution version. I’m home from Scotland, with stops in Edinburgh, Dunbar, Inverness, Stornaway, Tarbert, Uig, the wild west coast of the isle of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides, a quick pass through London, and a day in Oxford […]

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Taking a two-week break

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

I’m off to Scotland with my camera and walking stick. I’ll return to blogging the last week of August. The destination this year will be the Outer Hebrides — the islands of Lewis and Harris. I’ll also have a couple of days in Edinburgh and a day in Oxford. On the way to the west […]

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New title from Acorn Abbey Books

Monday, August 5, 2019

Denial will be released September 16 Acorn Abbey is proud to have Jonathan Rauch as the newest Acorn Abbey author. The book is Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul. The book will be released September 16 in a paperback edition and digital editions. This actually is a new, revised edition of this book. It […]

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How hatred and racism are backfiring on Republicans

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Periodically I hold my nose and look at the Facebook group of the Republican Party in my county. It’s a swamp of hatred and stupidity. There’s a sample above. Notice that someone named Sam Hill calls Democrats “Demoncrats.” Is the racism study cited above legit? I believe it is. Right-wing media made much of the […]

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They’re doing well

Saturday, August 3, 2019

The white deer is now well known in this area and is frequently seen on game cameras. I had not had a chance to photograph her in a while, though. She came through this morning with this year’s fawn. This would be at least the second year that she has raised a little one, and […]

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Some questions for the animals

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Chaser. Wikipedia photo A few days ago, the New York Times carried an obituary for a dog. The dog was Chaser, a border collie who was taught to understand 1,022 nouns. Here’s a link to the story: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies I often wonder if I should be ashamed of my […]

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