I’ll try to keep this as short as possible, but when you have visited a place so different from your usual haunts, and so utterly atmospheric and magical, it is hard to be terse.
The background: My sister spent two weeks on the Isle of Iona, after which I joined her for one-week stay, mostly on the Isle of Skye. While she was on Iona one of her friends remarked, “Scotland… it’s all about the light.” I agree, but would add it’s also all about hospitality as an art form. We had generally good weather, which in Scotland means it isn’t raining. Of all our days we had only one where it rained on and off all day; the rest of the time was a delightful mix of sun and clouds – which is what makes the light so delicious.
We met up on a Tuesday in Edinborough (not the original plan – for an elaboration of a travel nightmare, click here) and drove immediately to Forres, a little north and east of Inverness, where we found the very comfortable Cluny House B & B. In true Scottish fashion, when I called to tell owner Susan that we wouldn’t be there the night before (see elaboration…) she was more concerned about our discomfort than about losing one or possibly two nights of rental income. The village of Forres itself was delightful, featuring an amusing public garden full of ‘topiary’ – which proved to be iron frames in which plants were growing, rather like enormous chia pets.
Our main purpose in going to Forres was to position ourselves for a visit to Findhorn, the ecovillage and commune founded in 1962 by Peter and Eileen Caddy in a trailer park. We had wanted to see the gardens which were, over a period of years, created under rather inimical conditions, and perhaps to get a spiritual taste of the place. What we found was very much an institution, complete with property management and fund-raising offices prominently placed. Of gardens we saw only one, though it was quite pretty.
Most of the land around the many houses seemed unkempt and there was lots of junk lying around. The cottage gardens of Findhorn village were much more interesting and far better maintained. It had the feel of a place that was started for all the right reasons, but, once institutionalized had become somehow less. We were surprised when Susan told us that the community there does not do much outreach or give programs for area children. When we visited it made sense. I’m sure the programs they offer are excellent, and we were there for just half of one day – during which we felt we’d seen all there was to see – no doubt one has to immerse oneself in the community itself to get full benefit.
Our next port of call was Inverness, a small bustling city, where we stayed at the Bannerman B&B, another comfortable house where the owner fed us a huge and hugely satisfying breakfast. Chocolate Lab Hugo was extremely welcoming. The river Ness, on both sides of which lies the city, is interrupted by three islands that have been turned into a large and inviting forest park. The city has a 19th century castle on a hill which gives an impressive view of the rest of the city, including the spire-less cathedral.
But our true destination was the Isle of Skye, and that’s where we went next. I’ll tell you all about that in the next post…
Meanwhile, for a slide show of photos of the whole trip, click here.
(photo by 
it’s infinite, they’re probably multiplying as you read. It’s hard for the Captain and me to imagine the pleasure anyone would take from living in a metal box in the desert, but there must be a lot to it we don’t understand, as many seem happy to be doing it. Most of the license plates were from cold northern climes, and perhaps that is all the explanation that’s required. It was interesting to see that quite a few of these mobile homes are now generating their own power with solar panels and small windmills mounted on the roofs.
The streets of 
nal manner. We each received a very thorough eye exam, including the test for glaucoma. Several space-age looking machines stared deeply into our eyes and provided the rough corrections we each needed. Then we were ushered into a different room where our prescriptions were fine-tuned. Dr. Robles spent a very long time with the Captain who required two different kinds of glasses – one pair for regular life, and another with different focal lengths for working at the computer.
The restaurant where we sat on a second-floor balcony and ate some of the best nachos that have ever been constructed. Yes! That’s pulled beef under the guacamole and sour cream – yum!
This man, seen from our luncheon eyrie, was selling fresh strawberries. We bought some, forgetting that we probably couldn’t carry them back across the border. We later gave them to a passer-by.
You can’t visit Mexico without trying on a great big hat…
We didn’t buy anything from Elvis, but it’s kind of reassuring to know that the King still lives… in Los Algodones…
No, we didn’t buy a whistle, either, though it was extremely tempting.
Because there were only three beggars and because, sad expressions aside, they looked reasonably healthy, we assumed that it was some kind of controlled concession. But we still couldn’t walk by and do nothing… could you?
There are many date farms in the area, specializing in 
Then it was back past the miles of lettuce farms. I bet half the lettuce eaten in the US comes from this part of the world. Our friends from Tennessee say they eat the lettuce shipped by these growers. Here is what a really BIG red and green lettuce garden looks like:
We were pretty tired out after our day’s exertions. After a delicious dinner with our friends we crossed one last seamless border, and tumbled into bed in the Cocopah Indian Nation – at the 
“Desolate” is a word that popped into our heads more than once on the four-hour drive from home to Yuma, in the very southwest corner of Arizona. (
An Ex-Expatriate 
