Born in South Dakota. Moved to New York State. Bumbled my way into Scotland ... but I think they're gonna kick me out any day now. Until then I am filling up on Cullen Skink and Dalwhinnie.
It is fairly unlikely I have Scottish blood, despite reports to the contrary (see The Reverend John Dorcas). I was neither born nor raised in Scotland. I hadn't even set foot in Scotland until I was 51 years old. But my name is all over the friggin'
It was April. I was standing on the edge of the Salisbury Crags, the plateaus which jut out underneath Arthur's Seat, the highest point in Edinburgh. I surveyed the entire city of Edinburgh, its beautiful stone work, its ancient church towers and clocks, the blue Firth of Forth
It sounds like an Anne Tyler novel. The first time I saw the Library of Mistakes advertised in the e-newsletter Edinburgh Genealogical Society (who are nuts about all-things-researchy)... I said, "Ah! The Library of Mistakes! This is the place for me!" I love mistakes. I make them all
The Usher Hall staging of St Matthew's Passion involved 150 chorus members, a full orchestra, and an enormous authentic pipe organ. It was a spectacle beyond compare. And Festival audience members experienced it in the way Bach intended: ... with a big ol' beer in their hand. If
The first thing you need to know about the Edinburgh Festival is ... It's big. Big, big, big. It's bigger than big. Bigger than a bread box? Oh yeah. Bigger than life? You bet. Bigger than the sky? Just about. Even with the festival barely started (it&
Next to pub crawling, the most popular Edinburghian time-whittler is reading. Rare and used bookstores are all over. Readers with paperbacks are scattered across the parks in summer. Add to that the Edinburgh Book Festival which is held in August concurrently with the other Edinburgh festivals. This is a town
OK, so I'm reading a Higgs Boson Particle infopanel in the National Museum of Scotland when a 10 year old boy stands next to me and starts reading too. "Do you understand any of this?" I ask him. "No," he says. He walks over
"I think it stopped bleeding," The Craigmillar Castle caretaker says, dabbing at the gash on my head. "It doesn't hurt," I reply. "I'm really sorry about this. I thought I was ducking down far enough" "Oh no worries. It
Cooking is one of the most delightful, most fulfilling activities on Earth. Also, it's a total pain in the ass. Making food taste really, really good requires an awful lot of face time. You must plan your menu very thoughtfully. You must shop for the freshest and best
"Edinburgh ... you gotta share with the tourists." John pointed his plastic cup of beer at me. "But Glasgow. Now that's where you come to have fun!" Everyone knows share and fun do not belong in the same experience. It has to be one or
Finally found out what that smell was! Man, if I had a nickel for everytime I said that in my life. But this. This was the particularly confounding case of the Edinburgh Smell. And yes, there is an Edinburgh Smell. I'm not just imagining it. In an older
Every culture has its emblematic food. France has tender, juicy escargots. Australia has Shrimp on the Barbie. New York City has chopped cheese. What does Scotland have? Its Own Food Group Haggis. When I told people Amy and I were moving to Scotland for 6 months, their number 1 response