Hello Neighbor

"Won't you please? Won't you please? Please won't you be ... my neighbor?" sigh Mr. Rogers. So goddam insistent. You had better be his neighbor, or the next 30 minutes is going to be ... well, pretty awkward. Here Comes the Trolley C'

The Paris of Appalachia

Our tour guide, George, counts them off on his fingers. "You got the City of Bridges. More bridges than any city on earth, including Venice. The City of Tunnels. The City of Champions. The 'Burgh. The Steel City. The Dirty 'Burgh. Hell With the Lid Off. Sixburgh,

Walking Around

It's my last day here in my 6 month Scotland adventure. What have I learned? Well, I have learned a shit-ton about Mary Queen of Scots. I learned she was kept in a tower for years and years, and they kept all the embroidery she sewed during this

Lunch

When you think of UK food, you think Yorkshire puddings, blood sausage, a big roast beef, maybe some scones with clotted cream. You think of lords and ladies sitting around the dinner table wearing pointy hats, gobbling a mutton leg dripping with gravy, and throwing the bones in the corner

Cheers

Dave, my hair guy, has a pretty stable Edinburgh accent, having lived here all his life. I have had 3 haircuts with him. The first, in April, I could barely understand him. The second, in June, I understood about 50%. And then last week I had my last Scotland haircut,

Well, Craig

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'

Imposter Syndrome

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

The Library of Mistakes

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

Nae Gatekeepers

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 Edinburgh Festival: A Primer

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&

The Main Point

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

The God Particle

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

A Castle I Can Live With

"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

Stove Lust

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

Sharing

"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

A Wee Dram

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

Scottish Cuisine

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

Daylight

Not liking the Beatles is as perverse as not liking the sun. -- Anthony DeCurtis, The Rolling Stone Record Guide Well, I'm not liking the sun these days. Also the Beatles suck, but that's another blog post. You Say Yes, I Say No Amy and I

The Reverend John Dorcas

I need a kilt. At the Ceilidh dances, I look like an American tourist, what with my Levi's 505 jeans and all. Disgraceful. Look. I can do the Gay Gordons, the Military Two-Step, the Virginia Reel, the Strip the Willow, the Canadian Barn Dance, the Dashing White Sergeant,

Three Intermezzos

One of my favorite writers is Amy Hempel. She specializes in writing really really short stories, like one or two pages long. Hempel was once asked for a writing tip. She replied, "cut out all the boring parts". Westminster Abbey Amy and I are in Westminster Abbey and

Living in Metric

The US government almost did something bold, sweeping, deep, and utterly rational in the 1970's. I know Millenials will find this hard to believe. But I lived through it, so I know. They almost switched to the metric system. As a 9 year old, my school (Lincoln Elementary

Ottolenghi

Amy and I are in Yotam Ottolenghi's restaurant ROVI in London. Our server pops over and pours us glasses of tap. We ask if Ottolenghi is hanging around. "I just started working here," she replies. "I don't think I'd know him

Gone to the Dogs

When Amy found the Scottish Kennel Club All Breed - 4 days of rollicking canine mayhem at the Royal Highland Showground in Ingliston, I wasn't exactly jazzed about it. I'm not a "dog person". Not their target demographic. I said, "Meh, I'

Giving Blood

TL;DR The post-donation snacks are better. Having said that, I am only in the UK for 6 months. I sign up to give blood the second week I'm here. I tell the intake person at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, and she asks, "You are