Continuing with my theme of off-season tourism, I went to Italy for fall break and fell in love with Lucca, Florence, and all of Tuscany. Florence in October is dreamy, beautiful, and outrageously scenic. It’s cool and serene in the evenings: And it’s warm and enchanting during the day.
Author Archives: Jonna
The Isle of Arran
I made a weekend trip to the Isle of Arran. It was cold, and the tourists had all gone home. So I found myself alone with the Neolithic standing stones at Machrie Moor: And almost alone on the Lochranza golf course.
Old Caledonian Forest
Remnants of the old Caledonian forest, the oak trees at Dalkeith Country Park are 700 years old. They were coppiced and pollarded hundreds of years ago, and they’ve grown back stunted, gall-stricken, and twisted. Some resemble giant hydras. Like the Ents presiding over Fangorn, they’ve witnessed the rise of machines and the fall of kings. […]
Poetry Fix: Hugh MacDiarmid
The shifting voice, along with MacDiarmid’s use of “Lallans” Scots, makes this a magical and moving poem. “The Bonnie Broukit Bairn” Mars is braw in crammasy, Venus in a green silk goun, The auld mune shaks her gowden feathers, Their starry talk’s a wheen o blethers, Nane for thee a thochtie sparin’ Earth, thou bonnie […]
Cute but deadly
The Highland cattle at Dalkeith would almost be cuddle-worthy, were it not for those horns.
Highland holiday
In between teaching R.L. Stevenson and J.K. Rowling, I made a weekend trip to the Scottish Highlands, where I got to take a charming rail journey from Fort William to Mallaig. Here’s the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct, used in the Harry Potter films, among others. And here is beautiful Loch Ness. I’m pretty sure I saw […]
The Orangery
My favorite building on the Dalkeith estate is the ruined orangery. Once topped with glass and filled with palms and figs and banana trees, the orangery required a ton of coal each day to keep it warm. The ovens beneath the structure sent heat up through vents in the floor. Built in the 1800’s, it […]
Scotland is lovely…
…even when it’s dark and foggy. I’m having a great time exploring the grounds on the Dalkeith estate.
