Wandering Where We’ll Be

Well, we had a bunch of our photos transferred from the memory cards to a CD, and we were able to upload the London ones to our Flickr site www.flickr.com/photos/timdan2. We’ll try to get more of them uploaded soon.

Also, I’ve created a map that shows where we’ve been, so far. I’ll try to keep that updated as we move along.

Tim

Scotland… sounds exotic, with lots of plaid tartans, bagpipers and whiskey, right? Well, from where I’m sitting right no, it seems pretty “normal” — well, mostly normal. The dog I just heard slurpng down his water dish is now standing in front of me, wagging his tail and looking for attention. It’s evening, so I look out the window to darkness; soft ceiling lamps brighten the room. A guitar leans against the wall behind a music stand with a music book on it. A piano, also with an open music book resting on its stand, sits in the corner just over my shoulder. I hear the faint theme music from a movie that Dan is watching in an adjacent room. I have just set down a book by Bill Bryson called “Notes from a Small Island,” which had been suggested by one of our hosts, Robert, as appropriate reading for travelling in the U.K. Then, there are comfortable love seats and chairs on a wood floor with area rugs. And, CDs on a small shelf spill over onto the top of the nearby piano. And, behind me is a hutch with photos of smiling children and nicely dressed adults.

What in this room reminds me that I’m not at home — in fact, that I am probably far from home? One of the most mundane things: the electrical wall outlets are wider than they are tall and contain an on/off switch for each of the two outlets. And, the outlet itself doesn’t accept the typical two vertical and one round prongs that we have in the U.S. Rather, it accepts a plug with three rectangular prongs, two horizontal and one vertical. Hmmm… what else? Two fiddles sitting on a table in the corner. The two oldest boys are taking fiddle lessons. Sam (the oldest boy) began by taking classical lessons, but switched to traditional because he enjoyed the music more. And, let’s see… the wood burning stove. The house in which our hosts live is heated with wood in the winter. And, by the way, they’re working on rigging up a big metal drum to convert used deep-frying oil into bio-diesel to fuel their cars.

So, who are the hosts we are staying with? They are Robert and Justine and their four children, Hazel, Sam, James and Angus. Hazel is 15; angus is 4; and I’m not quite sure of the ages of Sam or James who are somewhere between. They live in the beautiful Scotland highlands near Strontian, Scotland on Loch Sunart.

Hazel is a very bright girl (soon to be young woman) who takes pride in her various arts, crafts and photography projects and wants desperately for the family computer to be back online after an upgrade, so that she can “talk” with her online boyfriend, who lives in England.

Sam, with dark, wavy hair, plays fiddle, a bit of piano and a bit of guitar. He also plays Shinty, a sport, a sport somewhat similar to field hockey that’s popular in the Gaelic regions of Scotland.

James, also with dark, wavy hair, is a very bright young boy who — based on hearing his attempts — and his mother’s urgings — to complete a writing assignment — seems to be too impatient with the act of putting pencil paper to put his thoughts into writing. He is also the child (of all the Dunn children) to be pegged by a neighbor as having “high hohpes” of being a true capitalist despite his parents’ left leanings.

Angus — little Angie (said AYN-GEE, with a hard G) — the first of the kids to greet us. The blonde, four-year old Angus, naked as a jay bird, ran out to meet us, grabbed Dan by the hand, and led us upstairs to see his “new” room.

So, where are the kids now, you ask? Angus is already in bed, and the others are in town for either sport or youth group activities.

[Entry finished at a later date]

Dan and I are sleeping in a caravan (that’s what they call a camper in the U.K.) owned by the Dunn’s. It’s very comfortable, with electricity, water and a heater. However, we eat meals, shower and hang out in the house. We grab and eat our own breakfasts and lunches in the kitchen, but we eat suppers with the family around the table. The food is always excellent, and the wide-ranging discussions at the table are fun and informative. (We’ve learned quite a bit about British pop culture!) Although, James thinks the discussions are boring: “We’re just talking again,” he’ll groan as he grows impatient withthe inactivity.

So, what kind of work are we doing? Well, the Dunns began a mushroom-cultivating operation earlier this year, so we’ve seen and helped with most of this process. Very simply, bread-loaf-sized blocks of the mushroom-growing medium, including sawdust and wood chips, are sterilized by heating, inoculated, sealed in a specialized plastic bag and held at about 80 degrees F. Later, the blocks are remmoved from the bags and placed in a special, climate-controlled “fruiting” room. (No, that’s not where Dan does his impression of Jack from “Will and Grace.” ) There, the mushrooms grow, and we harvest them using a small knife. For more detail, check out their website: http://ardnamushrooms.co.uk/

The Dunns also have a vegetable garden, six pigs and several chickens, so we’ve helped a bit with the garden and with feeding the pigs. The other small tasks we’ve helped with include picking up the drum for bio-diesel conversion and “turning” a compost bin that is part of a community composting project.

When we weren’t working, we did several short biking and hiking trips in the neighboring highlands. But, Friday was a beautiful day, so we did a longer hike to the top of nearby Beinn Resipol, at a height of 2772 feet. Since we started essentially at sea level, we hiked up nearly every foot of those 2772 heet. The trail was very wet and muddy along most of the route, but the 360 degree views at the top were MAGNIFICENT!! Robert drove us to the starting point, and we hiked to the top and, then, improvised our way down the opposite ridge, ending up — after much mud and brush — back at the Dunn’s. The entire hike, including a short lunch break on the slope, took just under six hours. Upon returning, we washed up,, had an excellent curry supper (Thanks, Justine!) with the family and, then, participated in their “family movie night” by watching the eerie film, “Godsend.” It was a great way to top off our excellent stay with the Dunns!

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