Fallingwater, with Falling Snow

 I shall finally post my comments and experience of my overdue first trip to Fallingwater.

To paint the scene, I am stationed in Maryland, a vacation house that sleeps 16, with my assorted maternal kin - there are about 14 of us.  8 folks signed up for the tour and were totally psyched about going, but only 6 of us ended up going... why, you ask?  Umm... snow.  It snowed like 5 inches in the 4 hours before we were destined to make our trip!  Nevertheless, those of us who fearlessly braved the slush had a frickin' blast!

I guess I didn't realize how huge the place was, in terms of square footage, with all the separate rooms.  The more private areas are definitely smaller feeling with the lower ceilings, but that's the idea - more intimacy...  I'm pretty much a big fan of every part of this house, save the hallways.  According to our guide, Frank L'Wright didn't believe people should linger in hallways - they are merely a vessel for getting from Room A to Room B.  I'm not sure I agree with that, but I reckon the shoe fits at Fallingwater.

I have to say, some of the highlights were the windows that opened up over the waterfall - I can see myself working in the room and opening the window to drown out the bustling brash of my cohabitants (I despise loud noises from other occupants).  I can also imagine myself falling asleep to the churning of the waterfall, despite it being loud.  I also loved that every room had a slender 5' foot or so high window in them.  And that they were operable - gotta love operable windows, fo' sho'.  I kind of like the idea of having a "sleeping room" and a "dressing room."  It would be nice to just have a totally isolated and specifically designated sleep space, to which you can retreat at the end of the day, knowing that you haven't junked it up during the course the day.

The only problem with our visit, was that it was probably 30º outside with freezing rain.  So I was just absolutely frigid and could not muster the strength to partake in the walk around the surrounding paths, or I believe it was called the "Nature Walk?"

Another bummer with the adventure was that we were unable to take photographs inside.  I wonder if we had purchased the extended tour would we be allowed to - they made it seem like such was the case on the website?

Anyway, I definitely think Fallingwater is a spectacular building, and you probably won't appreciate it as much until you visit it.  It's pretty remarkable the condition that it is in, particularly after the millions (or was it just over 1 million?) of visitors who have trekked through its rooms, ascended its stairs, and peered through its windows.  Oh, the balconies galore were pretty sick too.  I'm not sure I buy the idea of continuing the line of the furniture out onto the parapet - afterall that makes for a very precariously undersized guardrail - it looked like 18 inches!

Unfortunately I am a bit distracted by the assorted holiday activities abuzz around me, so this post may be a bit stream of consciousness and disjointed.  However, I am trying to get back into the swang of thangs!

I plan to do some biographical reading on some architecture/design-related folks, and make some posts on here about it.  Also there are probably some comments I can make since I am working in the field now.  Maybe I should do some sort of "fictional" story or plot line that develops as I have encounters in the workforce.

Anyway, I am sure I will find the occasion to make more compelling comments about Fallingwater in the future - for now, let this suffice!

Over the River and Through the Woods, to Louis Kahn's House We Go!

It was something like October 10th.  The Corm and I were desperate for architectural exploration, and a little fresh air.  We deduced an itinerary for the Chestnut Hill/Elkins Park/Germantown Ave area.  And then the journey began!

Although we were unable to secure entry to ANY of the architectural wonders we encountered that day, we did get up close and personal with them.  And I think that is much better than just reading about them or seeing someone else's photos.  Here are some thoughts about the various works we visited:

Baltimore Ohio Railroad Depot
Frank Furness
Flipping sweet.  This was built in 1886?  Get out.  I'm sure if we had made it inside we'd notice more signs of its age, but from the outside it looked pretty intact!  That's not to say the local Chestnut Hillians didn't sponsor some restoration, because that is so them, but it looks excellent.  The detailing was most pleasurable, the Cormster grabbed many a snapshot of the various intricacies of the project.  Why couldn't the East Falls train station be like this?

Venturi House
Robert Venturi (Bob)
I always pictured this building as light brown or tan, definitely not blue.  Maybe I've only seen older photos of it.  Anyway, it is definitely a unique one.  There is so much going on which you can really only get a sense of by creeping over the backyard fence.  With all the awkwardness on the exterior, I have a great curiosity about what sorts of architectural jests Bobby made on the interior.  The assortment of clerestory windows and interlocking masses gets me pretty excited.  I wonder how many 40, 50, 60-year old trick-or-treaters they got on Halloween... maybe we should have postponed our adventure 2 weeks for the perfect alibi to get a glimpse inside the houses!!!

Esherick House
Louis Kahn
Secluded on an elusive drive, the Esherick House presents a mysterious facade.  The graphic nature of the exterior's contrasting wood and concrete finishes makes it delightfully novel.  With a big-ass window and an ittby bitty balcony, I can picture some exquisite invite-only parties here.  I'm not sure if I agree with its current landscaping...

Beth Sholom Synagogue
Frank Lloyd Wright
I've been to this beast before, with my architectural history class, so although we were turned away on account of the Sabbath, I do have some recollection of the interior.  The strongest memory I have of the place is the 5 or so trash cans that were strategically placed throughout the seats and aisles to capture the rainwater trickling through the aging translucent panels.  I don't know how soon the roof began to leak after construction, but I do recall that it is too expensive to replace and that the panels were originally not yellow.  I think this was one of the earliest applications of these kind of panel system, so a more recent installation would prove less penetrable.  They always say Frank was ahead of his time.  Again with the detailing, this place is laden.  I haven't been to many synagogues, but I suspect this one (on a clear day) offers is congregation a very spiritual escape.  I remember that the sections and rows of seating were angled and sloped in such a way to give vast views of the central space.  You could make eye contact with other members of the congregation during the ceremony, without turning your head.  I thought this was pretty cool.  It is quite a deviation from my experience as a Catholic parishioner sitting in straight rows, facing forward.

to be continued...

The Architect in Fiction: Battle for the Ultimate TV Architect.

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Ted Mosby Vs. Mike Brady Vs. Marshall Darling

Let's look, first, as to why they’re similar:

 

They are all men and TV Dads who are all the ultimate authority when you’ve accidentally stolen something, or have hit your sister with a football, breaking her nose and ruining her chances for romance at the dance (or did it?). While they all proudly state they are architects, we rarely see them working. A little odd, since architects LOVE to work and rarely do anything else. When we do see them working, the work is beautifully crafted or impeccably drawn and pretty much finished. In my limited experience, that is pretty much impossible on a first go.

 

Ok so that is how they are similar. How are the Different?

 

Contestant Number One: Ted Mosby How I Met Your Mother

 

            How do you make holidays special?

·        I watch my friends slap each other

 

            What do you look for in a woman?

·        I always ask is she the kind of woman who I could marry and discuss constantly but never meet until my show is no longer profitable?

 

            Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

·        Oh My God I want to be married.

 

Ted Mosby is a funny dude, and out of all three of these men, most blatantly carries on the quirks common amongst architects. Ted is equal parts neurotic, egomaniacal, earnest and sneaky. He will a become a Mike Brady but he is still in the early stages, making mistakes and finding his Carol. Ted is more ready to geek-out then his rivals, I think my favorite moment being when he goes on and on about the 5 architects he would like to have dinner with, I realized I had done that myself, many a time.

 

Contestant Number Two: Mike Brady The Brady Bunch

You need to cancel your weekend plans because of rain, what do you do instead?

·        Might I recommend a house of cards to settle a family dispute?

What color best describes your personality and why?

·        Either Burnt-Sienna or a Chocolate Brown. Neutral, safe and probably smells like meat-loaf.

Your work let's you out early, what do you do with this free time?

·        Potato Sack Race, Bitches.
 

Mike Brady, The most stereotypical TV Dad available just happens to be an Architect. He does that thing where he pauses before speaking, as if what he is about to say is the smartest thing you have ever heard, even if it doesn’t make any sense. Throwing Latin around all willy-nilly and yet we still believe him. Unlike the other two, Mr. Brady is a vague architect, never really showing any interest in his work, which is understandable, because, well, he has 6 kids.
 

Contestant Number Three: Marshall Darling Clarissa Explains It All

Your house is on fire, what do you grab as you run out?

·        Besides my children? My awards.

If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?

·        I would design more buildings that look like things.

What do you wish you could change, if you could change one thing?

·        I wish my Mies-esque mentor would remember my name.
 

Marshall Darling is a mix of Mike and Ted. He has the vague wisdom of a Brady, but the endearing quirks of a Mosby. Unlike the other two, we get a clear window into the kind of Architecture Mr. Darling works on. He designs buildings that look like things, making him an inexplicable post-modernist. Unlike Mike Brady, Darling embarrasses his children with his excitement rather than his general lameness.

 

So who wins the TV Architect-off?
 

Personally, I think Ted Mosby wins this one, even though not technically a “TV Architect Dad”, (He is a father in the show, but we never see him actually interacting with his children, as they are in the future after the story-line is concluded.) He is the best portrayed TV Architect.
 

So why Ted?
 

Because he is the narrator and protagonist, we get the most feel for him out of the three so unlike Darling and Brady, Ted is not a satellite character who is in constant but distant control. Ted tells you he is facing hardships with a rival, or that he had to turn to academics when his attempted one-man firm failed. That insecurity, timed with the Older Mosby’s witty interjections, work to create a fuller kind of depiction of an architect. Ted Mosby proves that architects aren’t born old or wise, but many become that way just because they keep finding new ways of messing up their lives and live to embarrass themselves further.

But that’s just my opinion: you be the judge, do you pick:

1. Immature yet Sincere, Ted Mosby
2. Boring yet Wise, Mike Brady
3. Geeky yet Handy, Marshall Darling

 

Escapism

So here is what I've decided to do: every so often I decide to get away, while sitting on my couch. So I design imaginary hide-outs. I'll post them all when I get to 50, 50 is a good number of hide-outs to have. Keep watch.

Magical History Tour

I forgot to put this up last summer... enjoy!

Busta Guggenheim-en

Too graphic?

Anyway, today was my first venture into the facility known as the Guggenheim New York. 'twas most appropriate as a first visit as the primary exhibition contained the life's work of a certain Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright. (More on him in a subsequent post.)

I will preface my observations by saying that I had first read about the exhibition in, perhaps it was June's, Architectural Record. In the issue were two articles, one intended to alert readers of the summer-long exhibition and one intended to critique it. The critique was pretty... harsh? To paraphrase, "the displays suck, the tables suck, the lighting sucks, even the name of the exhibition sucks. You can't ask a museum curator to understand architecture." Perhaps I dramatize. Additionally there was an article in a recent Metropolis magazine highlighting the exhibition, though the contents of the article were far less pointed.

In mine own observations, off the bat the "bowl" portion of the museum seemed small. I reckon in the glossies, there is always a tendency to convey a much larger space than as in actuality (I felt a similar volumetric letdown at the Jubilee Church by Meier). It was a little chaotic getting started - maybe I was just exhausted from my foot trek around NYC, or I was overwhelmed by the masses of people. The elevator was an implausible first step (huge ass line), and the stairs were fragmented - a couple flights here, a couple flights there. I imagine it would be a far more enchanting experience if it weren't for the humidity and swarms of tourists. Damn people, ruining architectural space.

Descending the ramp, I found the irregular slope to be somewhat uncomfortable. Maybe that's due to my positional sensitivity and proneness to vertigo. Like how I offer jabs and follow up with excuses? As the museum is round, it does seem impractical. How many paintings or artworks do you create on a curved medium? The way they rigged the drawings against the rounded outer wall had a rather adverse effect. It made an already darkened (from age) drawing difficult to read. I guess you can't shine light directly onto 90-year-old masterworks. Also the tables in the center of the floor were odd, though I'm not sure how else one would display items in that space. I think the various models were displayed quite nicely, however. That is, the ones that were head-height. Placing a fine-crafted model at waist height is somewhat of a... waste. Pun intended.

In conclusion, the building would be a much more comfortable experience without all the people congesting it. That's somewhat of a crummy sentiment when it comes to a public building. Then again, that's just me, and heaven knows I my designs have flaws.

As for the work contained within this great white beast, I found them most satisfying. I had hoped to see more residential projects, as far as I remember only Taliesin was the only one presented. Most of his presented works were "unbuilt." Though it was definitely righteous to check those out. It is possible I missed a side room that contained more of the smaller scale projects, but somehow I doubt it. I will also note that at several drawings I couldn't help but think, "man, if I showed up to a crit with this I'd get torn up." Not to say his drawings weren't beautiful, he tended to turn each one into a composition. But some of them, I could see a juror saying, "if that's how you're going to draw cars, you should just leave them out of it." or "are those figures to scale? They look disproportionate." Or "your inconsistent hatching is distracting." Again, dramatization.

Perhaps further comments will surface in the future, for now I am spent. 'twas a long hot day and I have exhaustion. I will conclude that I am super glad I finally got to the Guggenheim and that it was for this exhibition. I wonder if it is always as crowded as it was (we waited in line about 15 minutes for tickets).

And Then There Were Three

We have all at least heard of the New York Five, a group of provocative architects who were the standard-bearers of neo-modernism, each one of them a unique individual, each one of them obedient to a common dogma. Personally, I like to think of them as the characters of a Saturday morning cartoon show or a boy-band. Just think. It totally works:

 

The Quiet One

The Tough One

The Funny One

The Cute One

The Nerdy One

 

I’ll let you guess which one I think is which. Of course, Arthur Drexler is Simon Cowell.

 

But on a more serious note, this month we lost Charles Gwathmey at 71 to esophageal cancer and while he may not have been the most famous of the Five, he was part of a movement that defined a lot about what architecture is today, especially in the United States. Gwathmey was born in 1938 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He did his undergraduate degree at Penn and got his masters from Yale. His first major work was the house he designed for his parents in the mid 1960’s:

 

 

This work, unlike so many early modernist works of the 1920s and 30s, is not additive, but subtractive. When looking at any Le Corbusier work you’ll see his theories of the basic Roman forms connecting to create a whole, but here in the Gwathmey House you’ll see that the building was already a whole, to which the cuts have been made and portions removed so that we may live in the nook. Like a bird living in a tree or marble as it is chipped away to become a sculpture. Where modernism stopped there the Five began.  

 

Probably the most famous of all his works was the addition to the Guggenheim Museum in New York, originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and opened in 1959 (Wright had died six months before the official grand opening). In the early 1990’s Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects LLC was commissioned to make an addition to the iconic building and the controversy was rampant. There were some who would have preferred an entirely new building built to house the over-flowing connection somewhere else rather than an addition to the pre-existing. When Gwathmey and Siegel’s scheme was revealed the collective snickering response was:

 

 “They’ve made the Guggenheim into a toilet”  

 

 

 

(This was especially true for me, because I was seven at the time and anything that has to do with a toilet was, is, and will forever be, hysterical.)

 

However! If we look past the one-liner, we can see that by creating an addition specifically different in form, texture, philosophy and soul, Gwathmey wanted to create a balance for the Guggenheim. Gwathmey put up something so radically unlike the original that no one would ever confuse them. By creating a building that is a humble backdrop (though he would never agree that the addition is either humble or a backdrop), Gwathmey may have saved Frank Lloyd Wright’s magnum opus the shame of having a pretentious copy built next to it. Can’t you just see it? Just lying there, embarrassing everyone who would have had to walk by. Love it or hate it you have to admit Gwathmey was wise not to try and imitate or intimidate a master.

 

As for his affiliation with the New York five, they went the way all boy-bands go. One of them flirts with an equally volatile pop-singer who drives a wedge in the group (I’m looking at YOU Michael Graves/Postmodernism) and eventually they all break off and start solo-careers. Some of them can escape the Teen Scene (Architectural Record), Tiger Beat (Harvard Design Magazine) and, god help you, BOP (Architectural Digest) posters but most can never shake what they used to be. But Gwathmey didn’t want to, like Richard Meier, he truly believed that modernism holds the answers to Architecture. This is not to say his style didn’t evolve and mature, but he never lost what the New York Five was really about.   

 

 

 

Also, in case you were wondering:

 

John Hejduk

Richard Meier
Peter Eisenmann

Michael Graves

Charles Gwathmey

 

In that order specifically.

 

R.I.P. Charlie you'll be missed.

2009 Design Awards

So here are the winners of the 2009 Design Awards from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum :

TADA!


#1: SHoP Architects -

On their website SHoP architects have a flash intro on their basic beliefs.

"Efficiency and great design are not mutually exclusive"
"Push Design, embrace responsibility"

These two statements are clearly a reference to sustainable design. I have to complement them on the fact that they could touch on sustainability without having to use a word that is getting simultaneously tired and taboo: Green. Throughout my time in architecture school one of the driving points was to create a building that was as "green" as possible, that is, environmentally friendly. This often meant that the grand gestures were either:

a. diminished
b. bullshit.

This lead me to believe that the only truly environmental building is this:



I think SHoP design follows a great change in the discussion about sustainability: through these two dogmatic statements they explain that environmentalism is not the goal of architecture, it is a method in which architecture will flourish. I believe this method that will become standard. Just like steel 100 years ago.

they also had another one:

"Building Buildings is better than talking about buildings"

ooooh SHoP you're so edgy. You know, I like this.....I especially liked it when Frank Furness said it in 1880.



nice try.

SHoP Architecture Projects:



this one is almost a little too much Shigeru Ban. But I buy it. 




#2: Architecture Research Office

"ARO communicates ideas clearly in a consistent language. It frames city life as well as natural beauty. Ideas about site, program, and daily activity are conveyed through its use. Compelling to look at, appealing to touch, this architecture is as sensuous as it is intellectually rigorous."

How retro. Architecture that is concerned with texture and materiality more than their statement about texture and materiality. The other thing I find interesting about this particular firm is that they're not afraid to have an individual style. Sometimes it's nice to look at a building and know whose behind it. 






#3 Michael Maltzan

"Michael Maltzan... creates progressive, transfomative experiences throughout the concentrated exploration of movement and perception, charting new trajectories for architecture, urbanism and the public realm"

Transformative? I'm sorry but if spell check is confused by your word choice: I start getting suspicious.

So I began to research: going strictly textbook, the word "Transformative" comes from Transformative Learning Theory. which is:
"becoming critically aware of one's own tacit assumptions and expectations and those of others and assessing their relevance for making an interpretation"

So let me get this straight: you are "critically thinking". No matter how usefull you think your thesaurus is, there is only so far you can go with it. The only thing Maltzan really proved with that statement is that he likes to make cool forms and thinks that he needs some Mezirowian filler to make it legitimate...that and he passed freshman english 101.

Michael Maltzan Projects:






I had one other problem with Maltzan:

  

Can you tell who was the architect between these buildings? On the left is Michael Maltzan on the right is another, much more famous architect. I know it's sometimes considered unsporting to base an opinion solely on aesthetics and I don't even know if Maltzan is influenced by the other architect. But all I can say about Michael Maltzan's aesthetics is that:


   =  

I can't believe it's not Zaha.

COMIC UPDATES!

Eisenmann and Graves part 1

http://chillicheesefries.deviantart.com/art/E-and-G-part-1-129145656

Eisenmann and Graves part 2

http://chillicheesefries.deviantart.com/art/E-and-G-part-2-129145811

Eisenmann and Graves part 3

http://chillicheesefries.deviantart.com/art/E-and-G-part-3-129145955

Louis Kahn gets into fights part 1

http://chillicheesefries.deviantart.com/art/Kahn-starts-fights-part-1-129146214

Louis Kahn gets into fights part 2

http://chillicheesefries.deviantart.com/art/Louis-Kahn-fights-part-2-129146345

Maya Lintakes out a restraining order

http://chillicheesefries.deviantart.com/art/Maya-Lin-is-worried-129146650

Scotland: Last Day

Part 18: And you thought there weren’t anymore castles…silly, silly. GLAMIS!

So tomorrow we leave via Aberdeen, and but there is still time for one more outing; to Glamis Castle in the small town of Glamis in Angus. The town of Glamis is a charming village, but unlike the charming villages of the north, there is a staged quality to them. Like a walk-through at a museum.

CASTLE!

http://www.paranormalknowledge.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/glamis-castle.jpg

The Castle Glamis most recently was the home of the Queen Mother as well as the birthplace of Princess Margaret. There was a strong attachment to both of these women; the Queen Mother because she represented the last of a Victorian culture that was dying out and Princess Margaret, who represented the fearlessness and confidence and spite of the 60s. Though the two women whom the now castle represents are polar opposites, there is an indefinable association. I mean, what family doesn’t have the uptight grand matriarch or the rebellious aunt?

The architecture of Glamis Castle can be traced back to an early Pictish grave:

http://www.uoregon.edu/~klio/im/med/pict.gif

however, for the most part the construction took place relatively between 1200 and 1400 A.D. however, as is a recurring theme with Castles in this area there is a timeline of additions, remodeling and demolition (either by choice or by war).

The final result is an extremely heavy form that carries with it the battlements, ramparts and a collage of fenestration that shows the evolution of style. The hard thing about analyzing Castles is the lack of arecurring exterior consistency.

It’s a case by case basis as to the aesthetics, and I’ll be honest, while I like the look of Glamis, I think I preferred Fyvie. The true difficulty of these Castles is that they kind of a smack in the face of everything you learn in architecture school. One of the themes that gets pushed down your throat is that everything must have a concept and must have a deep psychological or metaphysical meaning, and that any other solution is something somehow less meaningful or stupid.

In the design of Glamis Castle there is essentially nothing much more in the concept other than power, defense and maintaining image. Here you will find no questioning our place the universe, no romantic-poetesque whimpering about how unfair the world is; rather each move made is not in anyway humble or apologetic and yet, not overly arrogant, strangely balanced in that way. Sometimes I feel like a lot of contemporary Architecture is constantly tripping over itself either to deliberately offend or overly apologize but here the Castle gives off the sense of “Do what you want, I don’t really care”. It’s powerful in its apathy, like those kids in high-school who would hang outside the 7-11 and smoke.

The main problem with the interior of Glamis is that they have too much stuff. While the architecture is apathetically powerful, the interior is hopelessly Victorian; layer after layer of tapestries, ceramics, paintings, oiled wood, and Italian plaster. I mean elegant objects and true elegance are different. To paraphrase:

“Simplicity is the sign of true elegance” and to probably misquote my brother: “Elegance is simplicity and efficiency; Example 1: Violence. Maybe not always the best option, but you cannot deny it’s elegant.”

In addition to tapestries, Glamis Castle is also wallowing in myth and folklore.

Myth 1: It is in this castle that the Literary Macbeth lived. You remember the Historical Macbeth lived in Cawdor. We entered the room which inspired the setting for the murder of Duncan, which was cool, but built about 200 years too late to have been accurate.

Myth 2: Earl Beardie and a few of his guests were playing cards one night on a Saturday and were warned by a servant that it was growing close to midnight and it’s a sin to gamble on the Sabbath. The Earl ignored the warnings and continued to play, just after midnight they were joined by a handsome stranger who played with them. Just before dawn the Earl mentioned how much fun he had had and said “I would play that game til’ the end of time”. Lo, his wish was granted, because the man who had joined them was, in fact, the Devil. It is said that if you put your ear to the stone on Saturday nights, you can people playing away. The game they’re playing? Probably “Patience”.

Myth 3: In the chapel there is always a place saved for “The Grey Lady” thought to be Janet Douglas, The Lady Glamis who had been burned unfairly as a witch in 1537. It is said she wafts in from time to time, says her prayers and disappears.

That any much, much more, next time of Scottish Tragedy Theatre.

The last, and best, part of this castle was the garden, in particular the trees, which ranged from Oak to Cedar. One row of trees looked like topiaries, but when you walk through it’s a wonderful surprise because looking up you see a wild tangle of branches that defy the trimmed and perfect look from the exterior. The madness within.

After Glamis we drove up to Aberdeen and got checked into a hotel just in time to catch the last of Michael Jackson’s funeral.

It finally happened

Part 17: Monkfest 1282

It had to happen sometime; we had to go to a ruin that wasn’t a castle. Lo and Behold we found Elgin Cathedral. We started off at the nearby Biblical gardens of Elgin, which were charming, but had some really strange statuary.

http://www.armin-grewe.com/holiday/scotland2001/elgin-biblical.jpg

They weren’t really copper or steel; they were plastic filled with foam.

ELGIN CATHEDRAL!!!!!!!

http://www.electricscotland.com/historic/pics/elgin%20cathedral%202.jpg

So super sweet. The interesting thing about this cathedral is that unlike many cathedrals built at its time Elgin Cathedral did not have a specific allegiance to any one order of monks. Elgin had in it’s midst Benedictines, Cistercians, Fransiscans, etc. etc. depending on the time. This means that their architecture is somewhat unique. Each branch of monks would have had particular things they would have done in the building of a church. In particular the Cistercians, who would use the same floor plan in every structure they built. It was once said that any monk could find his way around any Cistercian Cathedral as easily as they could get around their own room regardless of where in the world he was.

But this somewhat politic disassociation means that they don’t have to pay homage or follow the rules of any of those lofty orders. Nope, this was strictly for the Bishop, who, by the way, had really nice digs on the opposite end of the Cathedral.

http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/images/p4455.jpg

The galleries on either side served as semi-flying buttresses, they pull weight away from the interior of the building, but they are not strictly structural, it is also important to note that they have rather thick regular buttressing along the exterior. Because of the thickness and regularity of the columns in the nave as well as the relative short height of the roof there was no need for there to be massive flying buttresses anyway. The front façade towers were pretty interesting, unlike many other cathedral towers I have been to, Elgin actually lets you into the rooms throughout the towers, which would have been used for meeting rooms, storage and living quarters if necessary. These are actually pretty expansive rooms with the Musicians’ gallery serving as walkway from one tower to another.

The Chapterhouse was another very interesting part. It was organized as a Heptagon with 5 of the sides being used for seating and two being used for entrance and exit. This is where the higher-ups of the church would meet to discuss the rules of the monasteries. One would sit under one of the five symbols etched into the glass and stone above your head. Quite possibly these symbols represent the vows you would take when you entered monastic rule: Poverty, Chastity, Obedience, Silence and, above everything else, To Serve God.

So what happened to Elgin? Why did it become a ruin. Well, three reasons.

First, in 1390 it was partially burned down by a Knight who had been excommunicated when they stopped paying him protection money.

Second, in 1402 it was again burned in an attempt made by the landed gentry to confiscate the church’s power in the region.

And Finally, after two attempted destructions it finally succumbed to the Scottish reformation and fell apart from abandonment around the 1600s.

Still, it is painfully, tragically beautiful.

Part 18: Can you believe this wool?

The next stop was at a local Cashmere factory, where I splurged and bought a coat (which was ironically not cashmere). BUT! IN MY DEFENSE! It had been marked clearance, was not much more that a coat I would have paid for at home, and was super, super cute.

It turns out that Cashmere factories in Europe are facing a tough time from Chinese manufacturers; over and over again I was lectured on the benefit ofquality over price. And I have to admit there were some beautiful pieces on display that were worth more money than my life.

Hermes, Versace, things like that. Man, it must be convenient to be obscenely wealthy.

For lunch we stopped at nearby Baxter’s Factory and café. Baxter’s is essentially Scotland’s Campbell’s, so what can I say besides mm. mm. good.

Part 19: The Valley of the Deer

We rounded out the day with a tour of the Glenfiddich distillery, the whiskey which takes its water from a spring the river Fiddich takes its name from the valley. This literally means “The Valley of the Deer”, hence the stag on the bottle. Here are a few things I learned on the tour:

1. Glenfiddich Scotch Whiskey is always stored in oak barrels for at least 12 years

2. They have their own coopers (barrel-builders) on the premises

3. They have an artist in residence that changes every year

4. The wood used in the barrels must have had another kind of liquor in it first, most of these either come from Spain (where they use it for sherry) or from the U.S. ( where they use it for bourbon)

5. These barrels are only used about 4 or 5 times and then they are turned into furniture, or rarely in the case of the Tuns (the large heated vats) houses.

6. I can, in fact, still drink scotch whiskey (something I thought I was incapable of). I must therefore conclude that I am no longer capable of drinking cheap whiskey.

Overall a nice tour, but I couldn’t escape the thought that they just wanted to get me drunk. I resisted however and returned to Buckie.

Well that’s all for now. Stay tuned for the last day in Scotland tomorrow!

McCormick-out.

Myths and Mulligans

Part 16: The Spey Side Trail

Today was a pretty easy day, mostly hanging around the house until late in the afternoon. However we had to do SOMETHING so we took a walk on the Spey side trail that leads through Buckie to Buckpool and onwards onto Portgorden, it goes farther down the trail but that’s really more for bikes. The highlight of this trail is that halfway through the trail is supposedly a rock where Seals sunbathe. Well, I’m happy to report that we saw not only one but two beautiful seals. Next to the rock was a plaque which told the tale of the Selkies.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Faroese_stamp_580_the_seal_woman.jpg

The Selkies are mythical creatures who can transform themselves from Seals to Humans and back again.

The female Selkies come onto the shore and then remove their pelt to feel the sun. If you capture the pelt then the Selkie becomes your wife, as they are terribly beautiful. But you have to hide the pelt because the moment the find it again they will return to the sea and abandon you and any children you may have had together.

Male Selkies are a different, they can either wreak terrible revenge on you for acts of Ill will against the sea or they will seduce your woman while you are away. Maybe a the latter is a method of the former.

On the way back from the trail we got lost and finally found ourselves on a golf course. (How stereotypical is that?) But it doesn’t stop there, we asked directions from an old man who rolled his r’s and was walking a Scottie dog and a West Highland terrier.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-AQCn0usvaJyq1uEiJukJpVjPrF4nCWCJ-YprGudc92Ot4jnkNyz_0vZBkn4vQymuejU-Fobwwenfru24lUPJWgNH0TIWzOy3wS79KlWIZP2vYbiBU78p_eRVPQREz4tc4Injrrlwy-E/s400/Scottie+and+Westie.bmp

“Oh surrre you just go up a little faerther on the rrrood.”

Then we found the road and had ice cream.

More Highland Adventures!

Part 14: Clan Gunn Heritage Center

This is the part where I mention that I am part Scottish on my mother’s side, though for the most part I take my heritage from the Irish and the Norwegians. The Scottish part of me comes from Clan Gunn who can be found in the highest parts of the highlands, from the Isles of Uist to the Shetlands.

Fun Facts about Clan Gunn:

- The motto is Aut Pax Aut Bellum meaning “Either Peace or War” (While those are typically your options, I think it essentially means “Suit yourself, We’re easy”)

- The origin of the name Gunn is Norwegian. The word "Gunni" means "War" or "Battle".

- The was an ongoing feud with Clan Keith that began in the 11^th c. that didn’t officially end until 1978

As tribute to our forefathers and in order to do some research we traveled the four hour drive to get to the Clan Gunn Heritage center. The Gunn center wound up being in an old Church with a large graveyard that had members from the clan, lots of Sutherlands, Setons, Gunns and a very few Williamsons. Though this got me thinking:

Does this mean that Keifer Sutherland (A.K.A. Jack Bauer) and Tim Gunn (of Project Runway fame) might be distantly related? Could this possibly mean the combining of two great shows to create the GREATEST SHOW KNOWN TO MAN?! Ok, so here’s the pitch:

You have 24 hours to complete a fabulous look; if you fail Los Angeles is destroyed by a North Korean nuclear weapon. In the meantime you face treacherous models, torture and a shortage of black thread for quick patchwork. Oh I forgot to mention the suspense building “tick-tick-tick-tick” in the background.

Oh. So. Good.

Anywho, at the center we met a family from New Zealand who were looking to complete a family tree, it was kind of humbling to know that a few hundred years ago we could have shared a patriarch. As a side note; here is the tartan of Clan Gunn.

http://www.clangunnsociety.org/images/Kilt_500.jpg

Unfortunately the only thing we could really glean from the center was that women would typically do all the work while the men would either:

A. Stealing Cattle

B. Paying Blackmail for the Cattle

C. Be hired out to kill some dudes

Blackmail as it turns out is actually a Scottish word: Black for the most valuable cows, and Mail meaning a duty that was owed.

My by far favorite part of the museum was a sword that had with it an interesting legend. The army that had the sword would be victorious, but he who carried the sword was destined to die in battle. So here's the question, do you accept the sword as a valiant gesture or do you pawn the sword off on the least liked of your clan?

Part 15: The Long Haul

On the way back we found ourselves on a logging road and just as it began to start poring I realized that it was actually hideously dangerous. The road got tighter and tighter and there were people on bikes going the opposite direction. We needed something quiet and politely distracting, we listened to BBC 2 for a while but didn’t get anything just right, so we looked around and found ourselves a hefty Miss Marple marathon.

Oh Agatha Christie, why do you make such great yet simultaneously irritating detectives?

Hercule Poiroit – a pompous little overly precise man

Miss Jane Marple- a hopelessly Victorian busybody.

Before we knew it we were back in Buckie. It wasn’t until we looked at the clock did we realize we had been on the road for 5 hours.

Boats. Boats and more Boats

Part 12: Haggis Vindaloo

The day started off really slowly and we did'nt get up and moving offically until 11:30 in the morning. The first thing we did was drive out to a friend of my Aunt's who needed some books delivered to her. We hada mug of tea with her and her dog joined us shortly.

(on a side note, her dog was awesome, a perky yellow lab who brought all of his toys in to show to us. adorable.)

Then she invited us to stay and watch Wimbledon, but we had to get to Portsoy so we politely declined.

Before we got to Portsoy we stopped in Buckie to get lunch as, though the tea had been nice, we were starving. The place we found was called the Bengal Brasserie and is the only Indian Restauraunt in town. Really really good food, though I think I saw through time when I first tried the spicy curry. Oh, p.s. Benjamin Franklin says "hi".

Part 13: The Portsoy Wooden Boat Festival

So, one of the highlights of this trip was that it coincided with the Portsoy Wooden Boat Festival. The Boat Festival is one of the most exciting times of the year for those in the fishing villages as it celebrates something they have in spades. Which is..well..wooden boats.

Last night the festival took place and it was really an interesting cultural experience, an interesting mix of ancient and contemporary themes, they had explanations on the evolution of the techniques in the process of boat making as well as local artists interpreting what they Sea means to them.

However, in the evening we went to a concert. The first part of the concert was traditional music in the nature of sea shanties (which surprisingly included a song about Baltimore and the Chesapeake bay) , but the second part that was....weird. I think the singer was a local hero because everyone seemed to be really into him, but every song he had was even more depressing than the one before, allow me to give you a window into this world:

Set 1:

A song about mermaids

A song about leaving your home country

A song about dying old in Canada

A song about three friends dying in a car crash

A song about a man who becomes mute and weaves objects out of grass

A song about a man who gets MS and arranges to kill himself

I'm not even going to talk about the second set.

Of course, after over an hour of up-beat sea shanties, MS suicide theatre seemed to come out of nowhere. We found out later that the singer is a member of the Scottish Parliament as well as the former director of Edinburgh University. Go figure.

The other thing to mention about this particular concert was that I was the only person there under the age of 55.

Q: Does that make me a loser?
A: Yes.

More Castles you say? Well Give the people what they want.

Part 8: Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness

Today we got up on the early side to take the long trip down to the Isle of Skye, which is about four hours away, but fear not, for we had much to do in the meantime. Therefore we moved out of Aberdeenshire towards the western coast. After about an hour and a half we reached Inverness where the river Ness begins that will become a loch, it also happens to be the ancient home of the Picts, the native people of Scotland. This leads us the Urquhart Castle at little farther down the loch.

http://www.photo-pimp.com/kim/misc/Urquhart%20Castle.jpg

The legend of Urquhart castle is that sometime around 500 A.D. St. Columba,

http://historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/images/st_columba.jpg

(who I was surprised to learn has little to no association with these two things:

http://wizzyswandrings.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/columbo.jpg

http://www.primosdowntowntampa.com/images/P/yogurt.jpg )

came across the Pict chieftain who lay dying, but just as he was about to pass St. Columba blessed and baptized him, and the next in line said they would build a great castle on that spot. And so they did. Well, they build a stone house that would BECOME a castle.

Urquhart was then, like many other castles built upon by generation after generation until it became a sprawling campus-like setting where one could find A lord, his servants and their servants; A lady, her ladies in waiting and their servants, their friends with their servants and their servants’ servants, a Chaplain with, well you get the picture. All I’m saying there must have been a ton of thatched roofing going around this place. The most coveted job, at least in my opinion, would have been that of the Ale wife, if you’re wondering what that job is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. The whole campus sits along the edge of the water like a great heavy ragged whale washed upon the shore, a dark ominous mass which is riddled with holes and history. The high light of the Castle is the Tall tower in which the Lord would have lived. It overlooks the sea and though the Castle is exposed and destroyed does not mean it is any less imposing, in fact it has the worn visage that you might see on someone who has lived a lot of life, scarred but powerful. In this particular tower if you look hard enough you can find graffiti dating all the way back to 1881.

The most interesting element of this castle however is how it became a ruin. Sure it had been subject to Viking attack after Viking attack but what really did it in was it’s owner. In 1692 the Williamite owners of the castle, knowing that they were to be taken over by the Jacobeans blew up the castle and everything in it rather than have it given up to the enemy.

And so we went farther down the famous loch and took the opportunity to avoid the tackiest of Nessie shops. Sometimes I actually like kitschy things like that, examples being South of the Border, S.C. and the Corn Palace, but I was having none of it this time. The palpable beauty of the landscape did more for the soul than a shot glass with a cartoon water dragon could ever bring me. I did buy stamps and candy though.

Part 9: Landscapes. Landscapes. Landscapes.

My God does the north of Scotland look like the Pacific Northwest. I mean it’s almost uncanny. All you need is the local football team in a school bus chanting relentlessly. I imagine that the climate is what makes that so, similar to Oregon and Washington the general weather is that of grey compliance and rain. But in the few days we’ve had here the sun has been so bright that everything look as if its stepped out of a fairy tale. The fog rolls off the hill and you can almost spot Brigadoon.

The other thing to notice is how the landscapes really lead into the colors of the kilts, the regionalism of these clothes cannot be understated. If you lived by a lake your color would be blue, navy for the magpies, red for the ground, things like that. And watching the many shades of green hue and reinvent themselves one can see them in a whole new light. Plus, you know, plaid. Who doesn’t love plaid?

Part 10: Eilean Donan Castle

Are you getting tired of Castles? Yes? Well too bad there’s one more on the way and it’s a lovely one. Lo! Eilean Donan Castle the most photographed Castle in Scotland…apparently.

http://www.etravelreviews.com/eileandonan/

Eilean Donan is still the ancestral home of Clan MacRae, who still use the castle from time to time. The castle has two legends of Origin:

The first being one about a boy who can speak to birds and is told by the birds that one day he will be master of all the land, the current clan leader finds this appalling and sends the boy away. The boy then makes his fortune using his ability to speak to birds and returns to the village a wealthy man. The clan chieftain, who does not recognize him then prepares a feast for him and offers him his daughter in marriage, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Then they built a castle.

The second and much cooler myth is that the King of the Otters, who was known by his fur of gleaming silver and gold had traveled far and wide to find a place of pure perfection. After many years of searching he finally came across an island in the middle of the loch and went ashore with the rest of the Otters. Then he turned to his followers and told them this was where he was to die and that he was sorry to leave them but he had brought them to this most beautiful of places so that they may live there. And with that the king of the Otters died and the other Otters were so saddened by his passing and so touched by this last act of kindness that they all turned into stones and became the foundation for the castle as a testament to their leader. It is said that the Otters in the lake come to pay tribute to this act of kindness and will too eventually turn to stone at the bottom of the loch.

However! In reality the story is much more straightforward. Originally constructed in the middle ages to keep away Vikings, like many other castles it eventually fell to time and war, that is until the 1930s when one of the descendents of Clan MacRae decided to buy it, reconstruct it and live in it with his family. Lt. Col. John MacRae-Gilstrap then went about painfully reconstructing the castle to make it nearly identical to what had existed in the Middle Ages. I am torn by this, on one side I admire his strength in not subjecting the castle to an art-deco addition, but at the same time did it have to be exactly the same? Not to sound too much like a juror at a critique but, where’s you in this project?

But I think that’s nit-picking. It is beautiful out on a rock in the middle of the river and since it was a clear day we could see all the way to the Isle of Skye.

You might recognize Eilean Donan Castle from the following movies:

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

Highlander (1985)

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Part 11: The Isle of Skye.

There is something so terribly beautiful about the Isle of Skye that you feel feeble in its prescence. I know that’s a little cliché because EVERYBODY says that, but EVERYBODY also says the Mona Lisa is beautiful. I’m just saying.

Unlike the Pacific Northwest similarities you find near Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye is mountains and glens that dance and shoot out beautifully and the hills are so lush with grasses that they look like great expansive expensive emerald green furs.

http://www.caranddriving.com/features2/300/travel%20-%20motoring%20in%20isle%20of%20skye.jpg

Did I mention waterfalls? They also have waterfalls.

The first time we stopped was on in the town of Portree which is pretty cute with Caribbean painted buildings and the low ringing and clanging of boats. We had dinner there next to the harbor.

The other thing to mention about Skye is the White-tailed Sea Eagle. The Sea Eagle bears a striking resemblance to the North American Bald eagle, which makes sense, seeing how they are in the same family. The only real exception being while the Bald Eagle is pure white on its head the Sea Eagle has a more caramel colored plumage at the top. They are beautiful birds and I hate birds.

So that’s it for now, stay tuned for the Portsoy Wooden Boat Festival.

Scotland Wars: The Gardens Attack

Part 6: The Fishing Villages of the North and Pitmedden Garden

This morning we drove along the coast of the North Sea and enjoyed the quaint pleaseantness of towns like, Cullen, Banff, Portknockie, Findochdie and a series of other towns which are surprisingly difficult to pronounce. The best, in my opinion, being Portsoy and Pennan. All of these towns have a very similar style of houses, low to the ground, painted in lighter color with wooden doors and tiled roofs. Higher up on the hills sometimes are the more Victorian style (think Oak Park, Il.) houses using all the same kind of brown-stone rather than the found stone of the houses by the harbors, in these houses you can find some of that well-known ginger breading but never in wood, always in carved stone, with a formal room in the front and an upstairs that overlooks and identical building across the street. Even farther back you can typically find newer developments which try and copy the vernacular but seemed to have gotten their wires crossed with a ranch-style with exposed wood paneling and instead of the traditional slate tile they use a version of Mexican roof tiles. I don’t know, you tell me, who thought that looked good? It doesn’t. I’m not against re-inventing a style, but it seems as if the sources are almost too eclectic and in combining them they seem to be losing their train of thought, just a little too ambitious I guess.

Pennan is interesting mostly because it was the setting of the fictional town of Ferness in the 1983 movie Local Hero it’s a picturesque village where the wind wafts off the sea and there are, apparently, dolphins, otters and seals. Though mostly all I saw rocks.

In Cullen was one of my favorite parts of the day which was the pet cemetery, and unlike other pet cemeteries I’ve heard of the animals you bury here do not come back to life inexplicably evil and thirsty for human blood. In this, non-revenge-seeking pet cemetery was the loving tributes to loyal bygone friends. And if even if it’s someone else’s Smudge, Snoopy, Lassie or even Julie, the hamster, it makes you remember the first time you lost a pet.

Ohh, Goldy the goldfish, the good die young…often from overfeeding.

The next on our adventure was the gardens of Pitmedden. The Pitmedden gardens were at one time owned the Seaton family, who had once been royalist flag bearers for the king. The gardens were created to show off the wealth and power of the Setons in 1675, but fell then after into abandonment. They were recreated in the 1950s and are owned by the National Trust for Scotland however they seem to be suffering from hard times. Lilies replaced with pansies, things like that. This by no means discredits the garden’s beauty; in fact it’s a testament to box hedges. They go on and on creating a meticulously perfect walk through the gardens. But great testaments to wealth are often as difficult to maintain as they are to create. Just look at the Seagram building.

Part 7: Fyvie Castle.

In 1982 Fyvie Castle was in terrible peril. Like the Pitmedden gardens the owners could no longer afford to maintain the opulence and had put it up for auction. Fearing that their national treasure would be lost forever the National Trust for Scotland leapt into action and along with the heir to the castle Sir Andrew Forbes-Leith saved the Castle from a fate worse than debt.

Instead now you get to enjoy this castle for a small fee. This castle was originally established in 1370 by the grandson of Robert the Bruce of Braveheart legend. It was then expanded, attacked, shrank, expanded, attacked, attacked, shrank, abandoned, expanded, expanded and there you have it over 700 years of history. The exterior of this building is an undulating and serene expanse of stone and stucco, again with characteristically small windows but rather than the typical medieval pitched roof you can spot later Elizabethan-aged turreted additions. The interior is a mish-mask of medieval, renaissance, baroque and regency neo classical with sprigs of modern thrown in here and there (Plumbing! There’s plumbing!)

The most astonishing feature of Fyvie castle was the Art; during their zenith of the Leith family’s control over the castle they had Henry Raeburn as their artist-in-residence. Raeburn was the preeminent Scottish painter at the time, proving portraits for Sir Walter Scott, Robert Fergusson and of course, this guy:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/The_Skating_Minister.jpg

They also had an entire set of Hogarth original prints, from 1747,just hanging out in a hallway. I haven’t been that shocked since the slightly damaged Diego Rivera sketches at Falling water. These Hogarths were actually a full set of the story of Industry and Idleness, what is essentially a Gofus and Gallant story. Sometimes you got to wonder about Hogarth, was he aware, even a little bit of the heavy handed story telling. I mean really, Gallant becomes the Mayor of London and Gofus is executed for something. Robbery, maybe? Who knows? I mean either way it turns out mediocrity does not exist in the mind of William Hogarth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_and_Idleness

Towards the end we see some larger scale portraits of Admiral Nelson, indicating he was on friendly terms with the family and a spectacular gallery. That or they wanted everyone to think they were friends. Kind of like that time I got my picture taken with Goofy at Disneyworld.

Next time on Blog:

Is Urquhart Castle having a love affair with Loch Ness?

Will the Isle of Skye’s Sea Eagles continue to imitate the North American Bald Eagle?

And Landscape, Landscape, Landscape.

Scottish Adventures Part Duex

Part 4: Cawdor Castle

After waking up in a fog the sun rose into what seemed to be an opulent kind of brilliance and after a brief walk down by the rigs, we headed towards Cawdor Castle. Cawdor Castle is known by those in the area as “Macbeth” castle…or if you’re superstitious “The Scottish” castle. (This, I am sure, gets confusing) The reason it is called Macbeth castle is this is where the –Historical- Macbeth Mac Bethad mac Findlaích had ruled Scotland from 1040-1057 AD and unlike the Macbeth of the Bard’s retelling, this Macbeth was actually a pretty decent king, who had won his crown after his predecessor Donnchad mac Crínáin or Duncan I (who was a young man, and not an old, wise, paternal figure) was killed by his own men near Elgin after attempting to invade Macbeth's land. As for Lady Macbeth, her real name being Gruoch Boite, there is no historical evidence of her being a heinous cow.

Architecturally the castle was an intriguing introduction to the Scottish vernacular, there was that lingering sense of the utilitarian that had been attempted to be softened over time by adding a 17^th century addition, a few hedged labyrinths, foxglove, topiaries and obviously, a nine-hole golf course. One of the more interesting aspects of the castle was down near the dungeons, which had allegedly been the foundation where a holly tree still stands. The holly tree, according to legend, had been a sign sent by God as to where the Thanes of Cawdor were tobuild their headquarters. However now the tree branches have been siphoned off and could be mistaken for any kind of tree, personally I think the Holly is just there for Christian symbolism and it really could have been any kind of tree.

The most noticeable thing about this castle was the lack of windows. Some Architects would say that it’s a huge problem not to have expansive windows (I’m looking at you Palladio) and that by doing so, you fight against nature and your relationship with it. My response in this case is: It gets really cold here and they didn’t have double pane glass in the 9^th century. Give them a break. Glass is a luxury and one that Thanes, could not afford in a war-torn and clan-run culture, Brocade yes, Glass, no. Tapestries a must, I mean what else would you hide behind to hear someone’s asides and monologues?

I almost have to argue that the lack of windows makes the light ever-so-much-more precious than it would be otherwise. There is almost a poetic exoticism to the light as it shafts down through a balistraria, as if it may be the last light you ever see.

Part 5: Culloden Battle Field

Ahh, the Jacobites, is there nothing you can succeed at? It’s like every time you get your neck ruff just right, some Hanoverian comes out on nowhere and ruins everything. First you’re all like, “Let’s grant non-anglicans religious freedom” and then they’re all like “ pfft…eff that. Let’s have a Glorious Revolution and force you to flee to France instead”. Then, just as you think everything is going to be all right. BAM! Battle of Culloden.

Basically the Battle of Culloden was Scotland’s Gettysburg, it didn’t end the war, but after that it was pretty clear how this war was going to end. Also like Gettysburg, it’s a battle that still brings up pangs in the national gut of Scotland. In the end it panned out well for the Hanoverians, not so much for the Jacobites, and more importantly, the native clans of Scotland. The clans, who up until this point had kept their traditional dress and customs, were more than happy to jump the bandwagon for “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (who, if the Jacobites had won, would have granted them civil, cultural and religious liberties the kind of which they had not seen in centuries). However when it proved that the Bonnie Prince, (or “The Young Pretender” as he was known on the Hanoverian side) was not the great savior that had been praised, but rather a spoiled brat who had wanted more power and skived off to Rome after this great defeat, the clans paid dearly for it.

So why did the Jacobites lose? They had financial support from France, a pretty passionate group of followers as well as political influence in many metropolitan areas, such as Edinburgh. So what happened? Well I think we can grope the simplest answer from this painting.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/The_Battle_of_Culloden.jpg

Never bring a knife to a gun fight.

After the battle the English forces ransacked the villages to smoke out whoever had fought against them most of them being either killed, banished, shipped off to the Americas, or in the case of the French, made prisoners of war, the wounded Scotsmen were forcibly denied treatment for their wounds and many died from infection as a result. The French had it the luckiest, they would be given back in troop exchange, for the rest of the Jacobites, this was treason and therefore the British could do whatever they wanted to them.

The most painful result of this war was the banning of their heritage, after the battle of Culloden clans and tribes were dispersed, no kilts or plaid were to be worn and under penalty of death one would be forced to pledge allegiance to the Hanoverian crown. This subjugation would continue until 10 years ago when the Scottish parliament was established in Edinburgh.

Then we had a picnic outside the visitor center.

For more thoughts on the Scottish Parliament building and a really bad pun:

http://wolveswithkeys.livejournal.com/2007/11/04/

Scotland Trip Day 1

Part 1: DC to Paris

Some claim that trading in American Express miles would therefore mean that the tickets you received are free, this is a slightly incorrect claim, they are not free, you pay in suffering.

I know that sounds overdramatic, but take the journey with me here, on the epic flight from DC to Paris.

Step one: the seat was incredibly cramped and we were right near the bathroom so every about 5 min or so came the unmistakable stench of human refuse and lemon pine-sol. Step two: As it happened the man in front of me had the legs of a giant so therefore pushed his seat all the way to the back and his scalp and I had a brief but meaningful relationship, as in there was dandruff in my drink. Step three: Across the aisle were the two loudest German teenagers in his history of German teenagers (and that INCLUDES Martin Luther), so every time you get closer to drifting to sleep comes another comment about the armrest not being shared properly. However! On the plus side, wine is free on Air France so I decided to drink like a champ. This was a mistake when we finally got to Charles De Galle and I met with my ancient enemy, the wine hangover. the wineover.

Part 2: Paris to Aberdeen

One thing I’ve always loved about Charles de Galle, are the rabbits. Architecturally its alright but those bunnies are the whole reason to go. They live under the runway and run in the green patches inbetween the airplanes. Don’t believe me? PROOF!

http://www.jaunted.com/files/admin/runwaybunny.png/

Though I’m not sure the bunnies aren’t completely deaf, what with sensitive ears and massive airplanes landing above their houses all the time. Well, maybe they don’t move because it’s the only place in Paris that’s rent-controlled.

The flight to Aberdeen was considerably easier as I slept through the entirety of it. When we arrived in Aberdeen we picked up the rent-a-car and drove to the town of Buckie on the North Sea. We’re staying at my aunt and uncle's and while I was told repeatedly that the weather was going to be terrible, the sun shone relentlessly..until 11:30 at night.

Part 3: Welcome to Buckie

Buckie is a tiny fishing town on the North sea of Scotland and its beautiful, we’re staying at a house that is directly next to the water, its almost enough to want to sing a sea chantey. IN FACT I think I will.

When I wasa little boy so my mother told me, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

That if I did not kiss the girls, my lips would all grow mouldy, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

Way haul away, the good ship now is rolling, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

Ahhh….the sea.

As for the town of itself BEHOLD! Bustling downtown Buckie:

http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/images/p4436.jpg

It’s really a charming place though, I’ll be sure to explore it more when I have the energy to move.

Shilling with the highest degree of respect

Just in case you desperately need some art. I now have a store available at Etsy.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7527502

If you would like something commissioned
Commissioned , just email me at

MollyatEtsy@gmail.com

Reflecting Back

I am still unable to process that I don't have any more reviews to prepare for, no more desk crits to endure, no more jurors to fend off.  It's absolutely over.

As I find ways to pass the time in my unemployment, I find the occasion to think back over the past year or past five years.  It's been long.  It's been painful.  But it's been necessary.

I received my copy of my process book in the mail yesterday.  This morning must have been the fourth time I've paged through it.  Man it is long.  It's 167 pages.  And about 100 of those pages document the process work I've done in the spring semester.

What's funny, in an ironic sort of way, is that as I'm looking through these pages, particularly at earlier schemes, I find ideas that I had presented to earlier jurors, who subsequently shot them down instantaneously.  At the final crit, though, these same ideas were the ones the jurors were throwing out at me in their rebuttal.  Hmm.  You really never can win.  Much like the customers at my yardsale this weekend, jurors always want to undercut you.

I wonder if Retley will be reading this ever again?  We needs to be in touch.  And I need an actual profile picture.