I drove across Scotland, from west to east, and this is what most of the landscape looks like. One town I passed was called Windyraw. (guess why!) I was going to Delegate Castle, another seat of the Hay family, but this one in eastern Scotland, near Aberdeen. And these Hays were not Covenanters, zealous Protestants, … Read more
The Downie Hill is 15 minutes from where Morag, my new friend, lives in Nairn, Scotland. Can you see it through the field? No one around here seems to know about it. I talked to the farm family whose land it is on and a horsewoman neighbour named Downie, and they knew this was the … Read more
I drove up the little dirt road, following the signs and with the help of a young woman pushing a baby carriage. “Up there,” she said, “the castle is just behind a new house, a massive, massive house.” As I pulled up the driveway, an elderly man came up to the car. “Ye’ll be wanting … Read more
About to land in Scotland, I realize that a part of me is expecting the Scotland of the 17th century. A tempestuous and romantic place, with wild-haired men on horseback raging through the countryside brandishing swords and scalps… The plane touches down at Glasgow airport, and I’m back in the 21stcentury. Now I picture a … Read more
Leafing through my grandfather’s book about the Presbyterian ministers in our family,