Rattray

It is true; the town we are staying outside of is called Rattray. I was enjoying morning runs through beautiful Scottish hills until two days ago when I was looking too much at the Scottish hills and not enough at the ground. I managed to step in a ditch hidden in the grass. I’m limping less. By God’s grace my ankle is healing quickly.

Also pre-ankle-meet-ditch, Baruch and I went on a fun hike along the bottom of a river gorge. At this stop we have enjoyed a relaxed pace of life. Our self catering accommodation has a nice large living room with a big window opposite a warm fireplace. We have done a lot of hanging out in the living room reading books out loud, singing a little, and playing a few games.

The fire starter they supplied us with is nice! It is a grill type pipe on the end of a hose connected to a propane tank. Nothing like a torch for starting fires.

Yesterday we went and saw a camera obscura. It was a room with a large camera lens in the center of the roof. A nice old guy with a fun Scottish accent told us about the countryside we were seeing as he rotated the mirror above the lens.

We also took a tour of the Dun House. We got to see a boot bath. Basically a bath shaped like a shoe. I don’t know if the purpose was to keep you covered up while you bathed or to keep in the heat, or what, but it was fun to see. We also saw some fun plaster work around the walls and ceiling of some of the rooms. Again, guides with Scottish accents are fun to listen to.

Another thing that is fun about being as far north as we are in the summer is the lack of dark nights. Even at their darkest, the nights posses the dim gray of deep twilight. It is a bit disconcerting. The ol’ circadian rhythms get a little out of wack. It is hard to think of bed when it is still light outside. Our rooms have both internal wooden shutters and heavy curtains, so our rooms can still be made dark.