September 25-29, 2019
Before leaving my new friend Gill’s home, I made a quick trip around the block with my camera to photograph her church (Church of Scotland) and the grounds of the Liberton Kirkyard.
The ancient ivy that threatened to engulf every wall and window of this magnificent building, was beginning to turn red with the changing season. It was truly incredible to behold.
I then met up with my friend and family member, Wendy, who was leading a quilting tour through Edinburgh and Scotland. My son and her daughter married each other and Wendy and I share two of our precious grandchildren.
She had offered to share her hotel room for a few days while we were both in Edinburgh. I was able to join the tour and meet the amazing women from my home town who shared the same love of fabric and quilting. Each day we had tours of fabric stores in the nearby town. We had the opportunity to appreciate the many beautiful plaids and textiles of Scotland. These shops were tiny and surprisingly, not owned by Scottish nationals.
Wendy and I tried fresh figs from the outdoor market, watched artists as they sketched the beautiful cathedrals and street scenes with charcoal from high above the city, and we visited the National Museum of Scotland to learn more of the local history. There we saw the Millennium clock with the 12 evils of humanity.
Entry Hall National Museum of Scotland 
Millennium Clock
Scottish Renaissance Style 
Unicorn – Symbol of Scotland
Lion – Symbol of England
We toured the Holyrood Castle and Abby. The castle is used today by the Royal Family when they are in Scotland. We were able to tour the rooms, but couldn’t take photographs. We did see Meghan Markle’s wedding dress and it was exquisite in person. The veil was hand embroidered and took over 4 months with 40 + white-gloved seamstresses working on it every day. Flowers from both the US, UK/ Scotland were represented.
The Abby was in ruins but had a wonderful, powerful feeling. It was easy to imagine what it might have been like in the 1500’s when it was one of the most impressive monasteries in Scotland.
It was quite a luxury to move into an elegant hotel after staying in hostels for many weeks. There were over 100 men and women from Spain in the lobby one night, dressed for an award ceremony. They were wearing kilts from the clans they represented. In Scotland, the men wear kilts (as common as US men wear suits) and the women wear matching plaid sashes.
The food has been fabulous. There are a lot of fresh vegetables available in the local markets as well as fresh baked bread of every kind imaginable each morning. I had my first pizza which was fabulous! Very light crust, mild sauce and fresh mozzarella, “rocket” which are greens and pine nuts.
However, stay away from the Ginger Beer (inspiration for Butter Beer in Harry Potter series). It tastes like drinking the dressing at Fuji’s! And don’t attempt the Rose Lemon-aide either… Wendy said it reminded her of drinking rose soap!
However, the fish and chips are fabulous – especially when they come with impromptu fiddle playing! It exceeded every expectation I had of sitting in a Scottish pub!
Traveling with quilters had it’s benefits for sure. We learned a new quilting technique at a cute fabric shop in Perth and each of us got to take our samples with us. Now I am a traveling backpacker who has her quilting project to work on during my train rides! It doesn’t get any better than that.
The highlight of this week was our tour of the Sheepdog Farm. There we saw a demonstration from a shepherd who works a Laird’s (owner) estate. There were 3000 sheep and he uses border collies to manage the sheep.
The shepherd controls the dogs, and the dogs control the sheep. There were two working dogs, each 14 weeks old. The dogs watch the older dogs and learn to respond to both a whistle and then voice commands. Each dog has a unique whistle and set of commands and they only respond to their individual calls.
I wish I could post the video because it was absolutely amazing to watch the dogs and how they responded. There were also 27 day old puppies that we got to hold, who will be working in just a few short weeks.
We were offered the chance to sheer the sheep. We used metal hand sheers. The underbellies were so soft and clean, while the outer wood was rough and dirty. The sheep were very submissive to the shepherd and interestingly, made no sound at all when being herded by the dogs. Even though they were afraid of the dogs – and climbed on top of each other to avoid them – they never made a sound. I was so surprised. I thought they would have been bleating from fear, but all you could hear was the sound of the shepherd’s whistles and the pounding of hooves. Even the dogs didn’t need to bark. It was so interesting!
The shepherd only makes 1 pound ($1.25) per sheep for their wool. It is no longer profitable. The puppies will sell for 400 pounds if they are female and 300 if they are male. The females are more responsive and easier to train. Although the shepherd lives on the land rent free, he must supplement his income by doing tours.
We also enjoyed a tour of Johnston’s Mill in Elgin where they process fiber into the finest cashmere in Scotland. It was a noisy plant, but very interesting as we watched the wool being combed, sorted, spun and refined.
Sheep and highland cows are everywhere. Along the roads, in the tiny towns and along the mountains and hillsides. Heather grows all along the hillside. The blooms fade in September and are nearly gone. They are normally a beautiful pink/purple and cover every hillside during the summer. Historically, the heather was used for bedding, thatch roofs and feed for grouse.
We stayed in Inverness. There we explored the oldest church in Scotland. St. Stephen’s Old High Church of Scotland. A place of worship has been on the property since 565! The antique clock dates to 1770 and the bells still ring each Sunday morning calling all of the worshipers to the top of the hill.
We found lots of sweets here. Authentic gelato – white chocolate. Yum. We stumbled upon a candy store and thought how much our grandchildren would love it, although it would be very hard to make up their minds with so many choices!
Another highlight of the week was our trip to Loch Ness to find Nessie the Loch Ness Monster. Wendy found him and got a great shot!
Nessie on Loch Ness 
Jacobite Warrior
Loch means Lake. Loch Ness is 720 feet deep. It is fresh water and the deepest loch in Scotland. It is 22 miles long and the water is very cold year around at 6 degrees Celsius.
Urquhart Castle Ruins
I am taking photos of some of my favorite signs that we don’t see in the US. This week this one wins the prize! What do you think it means?
No loading at any time! Lol Don’t know where the hearts come it.
At this point, I said goodbye to my new friends as they moved on in their tour towards Ireland. I still had so much of Scotland that I wanted to see yet and chose to stay behind. I immediately felt the loss of my friend Wendy and so wished that we could have traveled on together. Perhaps later on in this journey.
Living All In 