Signspotting with Jane

It was a lovely day here in Edinburgh, sunny skies with big puffy clouds and a not too brisk wind. My friend Jane is currently visiting from D.C. and we went out and found the Scottish National Museum of Modern Art, which was a very nice break from the too many people currently crawling all over the area where I live. We practically had the museum to ourselves.

I am a real fan of Modern Art. It may be because a lot of the times I look at what people have done and I think to myself "I could do that," (even though I know it is not that easy) because my favorite pieces are often the most simple ones. simple lines and color scheme. This could prove beneficial when I grow up, become an adult, buy a house, and have to decorate. They didn't allow pictures inside the museum, but the museum's building is quite cool, almost Pemberley.

The modern art earth form out front:

Jane and I:



After my first and last afternoon tea at the Balmoral Hotel yesterday (it was just like you imagine, little sandwiches, little scones, little desserts, you hold your pinky out as you drink, THANK YOU Jane!) we came across a traffic sign exhibit that was really quite amusing. A lot of the signs were from the cities and towns in the United States. I didn't take pictures of all of them, but figured I would post pictures of the ones I enjoyed the most.










This one may just have to be posted as my new blog photo:

The Highlands with Friends Part 2

Day 3: Driving around the Isle of Skye

As we hiked up to some rock formations, this was just one of the many views from the trail.


The rock formations we were hiking to, Old Man of Stoer

These were more rock formations that you could hike to. But since there were a ton of people and no place to park we took pictures from the car.

Another view, I think I take too many panoramic shots, but it is hard to resist.


The closest we came to a Highland Cow, other than the Highland cow that charged our car a couple of days later. This guy was very willing to stare at us with his one uncovered eye while we took our fill of pictures.


Dunvegan Castle. We didn't want to pay the entrance fee and you couldn't see the castle from the road so we followed the road a bit farther until we came around a bend where we could see the back side of the Castle.


View of the bay on which Dunvegan sits.


After seeing all we could see on the Isle of Skye we headed towards Glencoe since nobody can visit Scotland without visiting the place where my ancestors massacred the ancestors of my sister-in-law. We also learned that there is no good places to eat around Glencoe.


Day 4:

This pictures is more for the clouds than for anything else. It was pretty cool to watch them lift off the hill and then disperse. This is the bay on which our B&B sat in Duror. It is at the southern end of the loch system that runs southwest through Scotland starting with Loch Ness just south of Inverness before emptying into this bay.


From Duror, we again drove north towards Ullapool. A very cool little town that we explored for a few hours. Instead of the following the main road farther north to Lochinver, our destination for the night, we followed the recommendations of the nice young man at the tourist information office took a mostly one-track road that would put us at our destination. It turned out to be a brilliant choice. The drive was beautiful, there were not many cars, and we got some great photos.

To use the road you have to pay a toll to these sheep.










I'll save another post for my pictures around Lochinver, any more on this post may just overwhelm you.

The Highlands with Friends Part 1

I have enough pictures to share that I think I can get two or possibly three blogposts out of them, and since I am always looking for things to blog about I am going to take advantage.

Two of my friends of graduate school days in Indiana came to visit me at the beginning of August and we took off to Northwest Scotland before dropping back down to Edinburgh via the east coast. It was a brilliant time and I never tire of my friends company. Here are some pictures from the first couple of days.

Day 1, on the way to the Isle of Skye: Inveraray Castle: This was built by the first Early of Argyll, which you will notice was Colin Campbell, so this castle has historical significance for my family, my mother is a Campbell.


These are the white pillars spoken about in the above sign.


And this is the castle today.



Loch Lomond. Had not yet seen it, and it was worth the drive.


Every trip deserves at least one random wood carving picture


This is from the summit going from Fort Williams to the Isle of Skye.


Eileen Donan castle. I find that I like using my B&W feature for taking castle pictures, because the stone used to build most of the castles has very little color in them to begin with.


Day 2: Isle of Skye - We were lucky enough to be on the island for the Isle of Skye Highland games. It was a small event compared to the highland games I had seen a week earlier in Edinburgh. But it was better because we were able to sit fairly close to the field and see the many events. The video below is of the caber toss, and it is video of the only man to completely toss the caber 180 degrees.

New post name

While living in Indiana for school I completed a questionnaire to determine what kind of pet I should own. Based upon my responses, it was recommended that I own hermit crabs because they require very little care in order to survive. This led to my being given the nickname "Pinchy" and my friends started referring me as Kirsten P. Just thought I would put the story out there to respond to any questions about why my blogger name has changed, most specifically my sister who thought "Pinchy" was a creepster commenting on her blog.

Now I need to write that blog post with pictures of my travels to the Highlands. Why does it feel like blogging requires so much? But there is really no excuse now for not doing it. The dissertation is done. Before this weekend is over, that is my goal.

More to Come

I am working on getting the dissertation into tip top shape. Once that is finished I will be able to post a longer bit about my trip to Highlands with MBC and the Coordinatrix. It was good times.

Until then, I give you a small, yet delightful, taste of what is to come. I can honestly say that Northwest Scotland has some of the most beautiful scenery.

This is the light house at Old Man Stoer. It is north of Lochinver, Scotland.