Snapshots of Aberdeen: The Green Bridge
Someone in our family walks across this bridge every day. Also, I try to photograph all my friends on it.
Chasing Daylight November: Aberdeen Beach Days
November arrived in Aberdeen all golden and glowing, but today at its close, it is icy and crisp. I’ve stomped through lots of wet leaves this month, but today the leaves are frozen and crunching beneath my boots. I’ve driven down to Aberdeen Beach in all sorts of weather this month to wander along the North …
Chasing Daylight in November
Y’all, the sun will set today at 4:07pm. The weather this time of year in Scotland hurts my feelings. Many days we don’t see the sun at all but just varying shades of gray. Or grey. Then the gray fades to black before you know it. Now that we have been through two winters in …
Snapshots of Scotland in Fall
Hello Beautiful Scotland in Fall! The colors of the leaves right now are my consolation for 4:30 sunsets. They are AH-MAH-ZING. Every time I go outside, I take about fifty pictures of trees and leaves. So here are my twenty highlights from the last ten days or so. A spot discovered near Aviemore while visiting Cole …
Chasing Daylight in Scotland: Suilvan
An Epic Climb in Northwest Scotland: Suilvan Epic climb days always start early and end late. We started walking in low autumn light towards the hulking shadow rising in the distance. Our goal was before us. I love walking behind my boys. And their friends. We made this climb during October holidays with another …
Chasing Daylight in Scotland: Northwest Highlands
Last week we drove further north in the country of Scotland than we ever have before. Past Ullapool and all the way up to Clashnessie Bay. The bay is a little further north than the sleepy village of Lochinver. We drove miles and miles on tiny roads without seeing any other cars. It was eerily …
Chasing Daylight in Scotland in September
Scotland in September started out in the sunshine. I had a visit from a very dear friend. Kelly and I have been friends since we were in elementary school and she has visited me everywhere I have ever lived. She is the sort of friend with whom you can pick up like you have never …
Chasing Daylight in Tarland, Scotland
I will forever remember it as one of the loveliest walks of our entire time in Scotland. It was Taido’s birthday weekend and we talked Ben and Simon into getting out for a longer day so we drove a little further than usual (over an hour) and hiked a little further than usual (over 10 …
Chasing Daylight in October
The first year we were in Scotland I was a little puzzled to discover that the schools have a two week holiday in October. It seems like a strange time of year to be out of school and the weather is often less than ideal. But now we have embraced this yearly hold over from …
Chasing Daylight in August: A “Perfect” Day Out
Chasing Daylight in August: Cruden Bay in the Rain Friday night, 11 pm The chance for rain had gone up to 90%. Taido had been checking the weather hourly all evening, watching the increase from a 10% chance to “almost certainly it’s going to rain.” Now he was feeling uncertain about our plans for a …
Chasing Daylight in September
Happy September, y’all! I wrote “Birthday Walk” on my challenge this month because in addition to the fact that it is my birthday month, September is a month I celebrate the births of many people that I love a lot, including my mama, my hubs, my sis-in-law and some sweet friends. The weather turned cold here last …
Camino Stories: Make Friends {Live The Way}
Live The Way: Make Friends Jerry, come and have a look at these girls. They already have their seashells on their packs and they haven’t walked one step of the Camino yet. They’ve already been to the Pilgrims’ Mass! Two brothers, ages 67 and 70, had completed all but the last stage of the Camino …
Snapshots of The Way: Stunning and Sublime
We took our Camino Theme of Live The Way to heart when it came to stopping for photographs. We felt the freedom to stop for anything along the trail that we felt was beautiful. After years of walking trails with the men in my life, being able to stop whenever I feel like it is a …
Snapshots of The Way: Signs and Symbols
If there is a better-marked trail in the world than the Camino de Santiago, I would love to know about it. The seashells, crosses and yellow arrows appear constantly along the path. You can see them on the ground. They are crafted with mosaics or set into paving stones. They are painted on signs for …
Snippets of the Way: Pilgrims’ Passports
Your credencial or the Pilgrim’s Passport is an essential part of walking The Way. We were told that we would need our first stamp from one of the three churches in Sarria, where we were beginning our journey. Up on a hill we found a monastery, a place for pilgrims to worship and pray, as well …
Camino Stories: Live The Way
On a bright June morning, somewhere in Spain, I set out from a hotel with three friends. We followed the vague instructions of our host and wandered the streets of Sarria in search of a well worn trail. The Camino de Santiago. After spying a couple of bikers with seashells, we picked up our pace …
Chasing Daylight in July: Part 2 (The West Coast)
Our second week of walking new trails in Scotland was on the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland. My sister and her husband, Robert, and their three kiddos were in town in July for two weeks. The first week we spent in and around Aberdeen, and then we rented a second car and headed west. We stayed …
Chasing Daylight in August
Friends! The end of the summer is upon us! I lament the end of this season every single year, and it’s gotten worse since we moved to Scotland because of the horrible dread of the shorter days around the corner. So instead of nursing my melancholy that the best of 2015 is behind me, I’m …
Chasing Daylight in July: Part 1 (The Lakes)
Chasing Daylight in July has been all about being outside with friends and family. Some of the those days have been drop dead gorgeous. But most of them have seen at least a few hours of rain. However, the weather has not stopped us from making the most of our kids’ short summer holidays. As …
Six Months of Chasing Daylight
I really can’t believe it but 2015 is half over already. What even? The way time moves so. very. fast. is part of why I love doing these monthly outdoor challenges, because even if the month is over before I blink, I can still look back on these cards and my days of walking and …