Here’s a hurried post from the wildly-crowded Edinburgh airport departure area with some one-liner observations about the last few days, and Urquhart Castle in the title photo.

• We both love Scotland. It’s got a great feel, a good vibe. Gorgeous and rugged country, especially in the highlands.
• We only had one bad weather day out of the last five, a great ratio. Unfortunately the cold/rainy day was when we e-biked in Foyers and we took the boat road on Loch Ness. But so it goes.
• Foyers Lodge was spectacular. Way out in the middle of nowhere, but sure beautiful. Real nice people running the place too.
• I’ll reiterate what a great job the Scots do taking care of their country, their land. We could learn a lot from them.
• After moving a dozen “little” travel details to drop by and see my brother in TN on the way west, turns out it’s not gonna work out. That’s frustrating. A story for another time.
• I made a great decision to not drive while I’m here. Much, much less stressful. And maybe not any more expensive, as I didn’t need a rental car, just paid private drivers when we needed to get from A to B. Pretty smart move, now that we’re in the midst of it.
• Tonight we stay in the Shannon area, and then tomorrow off to Dingle. I have no fucking idea what to expect in either place (clover? Leprechauns? indecipherable accents?), but I’m assured it’ll be great. We’ll see.
• Ninety minutes to boarding…next stop Ireland.

My on-the-lam camera has returned to me. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, aided by a traitorous backpack, the camera’s brief journey to Perth and parts unknown has come to an end. It took the efforts of four kind Scots to facilitate its return – Annette, who located the camera in Perth rail station’s non-communicative Lost Property office; an unknown honest person who found it under a seat and turned it in at Perth; Roger, our gregarious driver around Inverness; and Andy, Roger’s mysterious retrieval agent who just happened to be passing through Perth at the right time and was willing to coerce ScotsRail into releasing it. I hope I managed to send enough thank-you cash to Roger and Andy for their efforts. I won’t forget their goodwill.

Today is a mirror image of our first post-wedding days in Scotland 25 years ago. Rainy, overcast and cold, with no end in sight. Highlands weather. Our hotel here in Foyers is great, as is our room – hotel shown in title picture above. Elegant, situated with an amazing view of the Loch (when the clouds part, occasionally), quiet, and boasting a Michelin-starred rating. Our original post-wedding stay on the Isle of Skye was similar. But I’m much better equipped to deal with the forced stay-inside weather now than I was 25 years ago. Back then there was no Wifi, no laptop with me. A nascent worldwide Internet, certainly not present on Skye. And I’m much more tolerant of forced downtime now than I was then. Sipping coffee this morning in a plush sitting room, decorated as a turn of the century Britain library, watching the cold rain outside, is…OK. Reading, writing, contemplating…it’s all good. We planned to ride e-bikes today and do some hiking, but it doesn’t appear the rain will stop. We might go anyway – light rain in a hillside Scottish forest or in the tiny village square could be fun. We’ll see. Here’s the view we got yesterday upon arrival, during a brief break from the gloom as the storm approached from the west.

After our time here at Loch Ness, we leave for a long drive to Edinburgh, then a short flight from Scotland to Shannon, Ireland. We’ll visit Shannon, Dingle, Killarney and Dublin in our brief four day stay. The weather in Ireland looks a tiny bit better – there’s a chance it won’t rain at least one of the days we’re there.

It’s anniversary day today, our 25th. We have a good day planned, designed to be peaceful and stress free. That’s the good news. The slightly less good news is that the weather has turned, quickly and sharply. It’s Scotland, after all. Yesterday was sunny and in the high 70s. Today it’s overcast, cold and windy – maybe 50 degrees F that feels like 35 with the wind.

We spent a nice morning on Loch Ness, taking a boat ride from the Inverness end of things to Urquhart Castle and back. It was frigid on the Loch, with dark choppy water. Bone chilling wind. More of a scene from a murder mystery than of an anniversary trip. But we enjoyed it all the same. Loch Ness is a really interesting place – wild and deep, it’s a deep geologic fault line that runs for approximately 30 miles east and west. At 800 feet deep, it’s a huge fresh water reservoir. And no, we didn’t see Nessie. Later today we move on down the Loch to Foyers and Foyers Lodge, a highly rated hotel and restaurant, where we’ll spend a couple of nights.

More good news, due to a conspiracy among private tour drivers, I’m getting the Sony camera back tonight. Our driver from yesterday knew a guy who knew a guy, and they’ve collaborated to transport the camera back up to the highlands and to me. Very kind of them, and I’m gonna owe some big tips before this is all over (some already paid). The Scots are generous, and those involved in the tourist industry are especially so. But those big tips will still be cheaper than a new camera, plus I get the days of photos currently trapped on the camera’s SD card. ScotsRail wasn’t much help in all this – each option we came up with ran squarely into a ScotsRail limitation or policy blocking our retrieval. The latest was their lost and found office isn’t open on the weekends. But all’s well that ends well, I suppose.

I took the opportunity midday to read the news, including US politics. That was a mistake – what a shitshow. We’ve discussed Convict Donny with a couple of locals, and we all agree he’s the worst.

So goodbye shortly to Bunchrew House (pictured in title photo above), and on to the next adventure. Bonus picture below from the amazing gardens at Cawdor Castle in yesterday’s warm sun. One garden is surrounded by a maze of laburnum trees, the yellow in the picture.

Welp. It’s been a while. So much has happened, don’t know where to start. Feels like constant motion since leaving Socal on the 24th. At the moment we’re in a 300 year old Scottish hotel near Loch Ness, trying to deal with the 19 hours of sunshine each day (light till almost 11pm, nice and sunny at 4am) and resultant difficulty sleeping. Between eternal sunlight and jet lag, sleeping is a big issue. Same as it ever was.

The flights over were fine – Iceland Air business class was about what I expected. You get what you pay for, and I thought it was a fair trade. Our first two days in Scotland were…eventful. Picked up at Glasgow by friend Annette, got settled in at her place after Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride through 1000 roundabouts, then took a nice walk through her Glasgow suburb of Milngavie. The Scots have made “Milngavie” unpronounceable, so I’ve given up trying. But it’s a lovely little town and I wish US suburbs were more like it. Walkable, bike and hiking trails, a walk-only retail area several blocks square. I don’t have any pictures of it at the moment for reasons I’ll explain shortly.

Our first full day here we made a pilgrimage to Annette’s hometown of Dunoon, with lots of stops along the way to visit places mentioned by K in her book Puck’s Fairy Glen. That was a lot of fun. The drive around Loch Lomond was beautiful, and our first big stop, Benmore Botanical Garden, was superb. Giant redwoods and a profusion of flowers, all nestled in 600 pristine acres of valleys and hillside. So much to see there – it was a perfect example of Scottish environmental ethic – they really take preservation seriously.

After the Benmore hike and a stop at the title-centric Puck’s Glen a mile away, we went to Dunoon to retrace her characters’ journey, then to visit Annette’s family for an afternoon tea.

The trek around downtown Dunoon was cool, and the best was an unexpected visit we got in The Clansman pub. We were there because that’s where her characters started their journey, and because I wanted a Guinness. While there on the patio, in pops the roughest-looking quartet of locals you can imagine. Like characters straight out of Mad Max – shirtless (the guys), sweaty, bizarre haircuts and tattoos, one guy with a bloody nose and heavy attitude. Their attached girlfriends were equivalent. Most days I would cross the street quickly, just based on looks, but today I figured “what the hell?”. I said hello, we started a conversation. They were just returning from a three day punk festival (Punk on the Peninsula, held in Dunoon, who knew?) and were happy to talk about it. They were curious why an elderly yuppie-looking American was there, and I explained our book tracing journey. We got along great; they were really nice people. I left sad that I had judged them by look at first, and happy that I had broken out of my normal bubble. I didn’t get a picture of them as I should have, as I didn’t think fast enough to come up with a rationale that wasn’t a bit exploitive. But they’re safely in my memory, for what that’s worth.

The visit to Annette’s family in Dunoon was great, though a bit fuzzy in the aftermath. Turns out her brother-in-law is a scotch aficionado who seldom has a drinking buddy these days, so I obliged him. Also turns out that a Scottish afternoon “tea” can be quite a boozy affair – lots of little snacks on a rotating lazy susan with tower/tray, and a long menu of drinks. Tea optional. We all had a great time and then designated driver Annette carted us back to Glasgow, including a nice ferry ride across one of the ubiquitous bodies of water.

The final big event of the last few days was the loss of my Sony camera on the train. Long story short, my backpack popped open on the train from Glasgow to Inverness, lots of shit spilled out, just as we were leaving the station in Glasgow. I scooped it all up (or so I thought). After arriving at our quiet ancient hotel in Inverness, I readied for an evening photo walk, and…no fucking camera. It took a while to figure out what had happened, but I was pretty sure I’d never see it again. I went through the 77 stages of grief very quickly, as my primary sightseeing activity these days is/was photography. We contacted ScotsRail, and some honest passenger had found it under a seat (my old seat area) and turned it in at Perth, about 2 hours away from where we are now. ScotsRail is either going to put it on a train to Inverness today where I can retrieve it, or we’ll swing by Perth in a few days on our way to Edinburgh. All’s well that ends well, and I will be happy to get the Sony back. Though the backpack and I have taken our last journey together – popping open and regurgitating contents is a capital offense in backpack land.

Last photo for this post – a magnificent tree planted in front of our hotel in approximately 1700. A humbling thought.

Getting ready for a looong travel day today – about 20 hours door to door. A Southwest flight from San Diego to Denver leaving midday, a longish layover in Denver (by design, gotta go through international security/checkin there), then catching an Iceland Air flight from Denver to Glasgow. I chose Iceland Air because their business class seats were about half price of everyone else’s. That’s mostly because they have recliner-style seats in business class rather than lie-flat. I’m OK with that – it’s not like we’re going to Africa or Asia. It’s only seven hours from Denver to Keflavik (our stopover before Glasgow), and I’ve gotten pretty good at sleeping sitting up due to hundreds of hours on Southwest. So I hope the service and food are good, and we can get a nap or two along the way.

Once in Glasgow, we hunker down at a friend’s house for a day and a half – she’s picking us up at the airport. That’s perfect – if we’re zoned out, we don’t need to do much. If we’re rested-ish, we can get out and see the city. We’ve toured Glasgow before, and it’s a lovely city. On Wednesday we catch a train from Glasgow to Inverness, where the formal/scheduled/curated part of our trip begins. We’re not staying in Inverness proper, but at a nice little place on Loch Ness (Bunchrew House) for the first couple of nights. Then we move on down the Loch to a country estate, Foyers Lodge, where we can go biking, hiking, and take a cruise on the Loch. Two days at Foyers then off to Edinburgh for a short day there, then a plane ride to Ireland. The Scotland part of our itinerary will go by quickly (5-6 days total, depending on how you count flight days). I hope it’s relaxing – that’s the plan, but with travel you never quite know.

Final prep today – download travel apps from IcelandAir, RyanAir, and Aer Lingus. Each airline wants you to use their app for boarding passes and status updates. Plus read a little more about tipping customs in each country.

Title photo is a picture I took in 2006 atop Castle Stuart, where it all began. I always liked the light in that photo, and the Scottish flag. The castle itself (more of a fortified large house, actually) is pictured below. In 2001 we rented the entire place and 23 of our friends joined us, staying there for the wedding. It’s not open for such shenanigans today, and even if it were we probably couldn’t afford it. Destination weddings in UK castles got pricey after we set the trend.

Long drive today, down I-75 to rural TN east of Chattanooga, to see my brother. He has triple organ failure (heart, liver, kidney), yielding a very tough prognosis. Time is short, and I’m gonna be away from this part of the country for a while, so off I go. At least the weather should be good for the drive. 650 miles over two days.

Starship v3 should launch this week, and I’m real excited for it. Musk has turned out to be a fascist/racist asshole, but his creation of SpaceX is still worth admiring. SpaceX single-handedly brought back America’s push into space exploration, and I’m grateful for that.

Had a little surprise yesterday. I’ve had the KY stereos wired up to compare the Pioneer SX-828 with the similar-sized and similar-powered Yamaha CR-840. I decided to have the smaller, older, less powerful Sansui 210 replace the Yamaha for a while. The 210 is rated at 10 watts per channel, and the Pioneer at 55+ wpm. Shockingly, with the volumes set at the same spot (about 1030am on the dial), the Sansui sounded almost exactly the same as the much more powerful Pioneer. Just a little less bass and low mid, but in general you had to listen hard to tell the difference. It was always obvious when I switched between the Pioneer and the Yamaha – the Yamaha was much less warm, very precise and a little sterile sounding. But the Sansui sounded glorious. I guess it’s true – the late 60s/1970s Sansui’s were the best engineered receivers of them all. The 210 uses a Class A amplifier topology, so that has a lot to do with the oomph factor it delivers. I may have to find another in the 210 receiver line….

Title photo was taken at Churchill Downs last Friday, where my friend Gary and I had a fun day at the races with almost no crowd.

Today I’m torn between depression and fascination. Depression, because life has gotten a bit tough and complicated lately. No good solutions for some big problems. Some mine, some my family’s. My brother’s health problems have not improved, in fact they’ve gotten worse. So that whole mortality thing jumps up again and demands attention. Truly existential problems get one’s attention.

Footnote – by depression, I don’t mean clinical depression. I have tons of sympathy for people who suffer that, who can’t get out from under the doom/gloom in their head. But that’s not me. I simply mean going through periods of dwelling on problems a bit too much. Ultimately my innate optimism (naivety?) kicks in and I move on to more constructive thoughts and activities.

The opposing force I feel today is fascination. There’s so much that’s interesting going on in the world. Let’s list a few.

Turns out that Amazon’s e-book publishing rate has tripled since AI/LLMs became a thing. That is fascinating. Used to be 100K per year, now it’s suddenly 300K per year. I know I wouldn’t feel any particular pride in getting a book published that a bot wrote mostly or completely, but someone does. Or maybe it’s a few unscrupulous savvy individuals publishing 100s or 1000s of AI slop books, hoping to get a few pennies from each. Either way it’s time to double down on the authors you know and buying physical books.

In a morbid kind of way, we’re living in an interesting time in the US. Will we pull out of our cultural/political death spiral? Will the US survive as a democracy, or will we become Gilead? Will Donny Convict and his family completely destroy a nation after a good 250 year run? Like I said, morbid but interesting. Whatever happens, his huge impact on the world and country is/was completely unpredictable and weird. You couldn’t make this shit up (well, Margaret Atwood could, but she’s another anomaly).

My new hobby of buying (and eventually fixing) vintage stereo equipment is really great. Keeps me interested and lots to learn, lots of music to enjoy. Lots of nostalgia, thinking of the first stereo equipment I had back in college days and understanding that that was the golden age of stereo. My current push is to integrate the vintage gear (mostly from the 70s) with 2026-era Chi-Fi tech. There’s a ton of crazy, interesting gear being designed and released from Chinese manufacturers at ridiculous prices. It’s all confusing, because the Chinese tend to shotgun their products, releasing dozens of variants fast – you’ve gotta do a lot of research to make an informed buying decision. But once in a while, a Chi-Fi product like the Fiio K13 R2R DAC gets released, and it’s sooo perfect for vintage integration. The sound it produces was only available for thousands of dollars in the past, but they’re delivering it for $300. I like it so much I’ve bought one for the CA stereo systems and one for the KY systems.

Though Elon Musk is certainly a racist, weird POS, his company SpaceX is still a fascinating story. It has brought space travel back into the mainstream and has opened up possibilities of Moon and Mars colonization, something I’ve read and thought about for 60+ years. Starship is absolutely worth paying attention to. I’m glad I’m getting to see it happen.

Then there’s travel. I do enjoy seeing the world, both the near destinations (lakes, Red River Gorge, the Appalachian countryside, the desert and mountains around Socal) and the far (Hawaii, Africa, the UK, Asia). I enjoy travel more now that I don’t have a job dragging me back on a very tight timeline. The world is a huge place, and while there’s no way to see it all, it makes sense to keep trying as long as you’re able.

And of course there are the grandsons. Getting to watch them grow up (and to participate materially in that) is the ultimate reason to stay engaged in life. Combine them with all the other stuff, and life is pretty interesting.

So…depression and fascination. As with most days (thankfully), fascination wins this cage match.

Title photo – Afternoon View From a Restaurant Patio Along the Ohio, 4/26/26.

As if the world isn’t insane enough, we have an arsonist who is targeting our area in Socal. For the third time in a year, yesterday we had 10-20 small fires around us, all along the I-15 and SR-76 highways. Someone is driving through the area and tossing out incendiary devices. My Watch Duty app alarmed constantly for several hours, and we had large CalFire helos zooming 100 feet over our house as they made the trip from reservoir to fire drop locations and back. We could see the fires and the water drops from our back deck. It was intense.

Our area is *very* susceptible to wildfires, so an arsonist is a particularly dangerous thing. Whoever this person is, I hope they are caught soon. Hard to believe that there’s no camera evidence of the activity. Local media isn’t calling it arson yet, but it’s obvious. I’m generally not a fan of lynching, but in this case I’ll make an exception – this person needs to be stopped, by any means available.

Citizen reports on the usual social media sites are focusing on a white pickup truck seen with someone tossing shit out the window in the areas with fires.

Title photo is of a napalm drop I witnessed at the Miramar Air Show in 2008. Also intense.