London - 11 Mar 06

Picture taken at Dunkeld

There is more to say on Scotland, but luckily I have a map with our route marked on it. I have also saved an itinerary. This list is just parts of the trip that I don’t think I have written about: the castle on the cliff on Skye, sheep with colors on their backs and what that means, the nuclear sub, the nukes in Scotland, Fort Augustus and Loch Ness, how people really do believe in Nessie, Dunkeld (the cemetery, benches, trees, bridge, and the church, but most memorable, the peace on the bank of that river with the snow drumming away on my hood), and the train ride home.

I walked along Oxford Street today from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus stations. I like the crowd of Oxford Circus every once in a while. I came for a copy of In Cold Blood and I found it for ₤3 at an HMV. I’ve started it and am quite struck by Capote’s rich descriptions. He really did master the non-fiction novel. Even though I am only thirty pages in, I can tell this, that I was inspired by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Capote in the film of the same name because it seemed to accurately fit the man, and it does. Prior to watching the film I was only vaguely familiar with the kind of person that Truman Capote was reported as being like. I always love when a movie puts in me the desire to learn more about its subject. I am looking forward to reading more of it as I travel to Heathrow tomorrow and wait for Kate’s arrival at 10 a.m. It is peculiar, but I am sort of nervous to see Kate because it has been so long since we have been around each other. I am also comforted by this feeling because it is a level of excitement and anticipation that is not often reached. One more night in this house without Kate.

The ewes get weird colors on their backs during the mating season because of the colors painted on the undersides of the rams. Each ram has a different color on his belly. The ranch hands are able to tell what ram did what ewe. They joke that the ewes with multicolored backs are the “hot ones.”

Scotland, because it is so desolate and sparsely populated, is home to the UK's nuclear stockpile. We saw an enormous nuclear sub that was cruising about in one of the bays. The Scots don't like that there are all these nukes sitting around in their ground. I didn't like it, and I was there for three days.

Dunkeld was our last stop before returning to Edinburgh. I spent most of my time standing on the lip of a river bank. I was taking it all in. I was being sentimental and dramatic about it all, but rightfully so. I was not just thinking about the amazing weekend I had just had, but the four months I was spending away from familiarities, away from everything. I feel very blessed to have had this opportunity. On that river bank it hit me, I was not taking this trip for granted. I was learning and seeing as much as I could in four months. I was working to make the UK a temporary home. And, maybe that is when I first thought I don’t want this place to be a temporary home, I love this land.