Favorite photos of places we visited our first year

And now

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                                                                             here are my favorite photographs I've taken of places we have visited during our first year in the U.K. I'm pretty proud of several of these; they're not bad for a newbie photography enthusiast using old equipment. {Ed.'s note: If he does say so himself.}

They're not a compilation of my favorite places. For sure, some of these places are among my favorites, but definitely not all of them. I just think the photos turned out well.

Last week I posted photographs which nearly made it into this top tier, but I didn't think were quite up to snuff. And then I started to doubt a few of my choices. What about that picture of the Old Man of Storr? Or of Versailles? Or several others?

In some ways, I feel like the photos I select for this blog are as revealing as anything I write about. It feels personal, even in these shots of places or locations. Or maybe it's just a reluctance to expose my flaws as a beginner photog; my eye is drawn to all the flaws or missed opportunities in the photos.

But enough navel-gazing.

You can click on the photographs to see larger versions of them, and scroll through. However, you can't read the captions in that display mode.

Here are my favorites, in no particular order. I hope you enjoy them, too.

The romantic ruins of Dryburgh Abbey rest serenely amongst the trees. (Dryburgh, Scotland)

The amazing colors made us pull off the road on the Isle of Bute, looking toward Goatfell and the other mountains on the Isle of Arran. (Isle of Bute, Scotland)

In full disclosure, I airbrushed out a picnicking couple on the grass. Who did they think they were, ruining my photo?!? (Culzean Castle, Ayshire, Scotland)

John Knox rises above the hilltop Necropolis in Glasgow. (Glasgow, Scotland)

Kate took this photo in Glen Coe. Your eyes are drawn inexorably down to the house at the base of the hill. (Glen Coe, Scotland)

A hackneyed classic shot of the Eiffel Tower. It's a crisp and pretty photo that I couldn't resist. (Paris, France)

Eilean Donan castle is one of the most photographed sites in Scotland. But perhaps not often like this. (Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland)

When you see prehistoric monuments by yourself, in the right weather, it can be haunting. (Machrie Moor stone circle, Isle of Arran, Scotland)

{Ed.'s note: Wait . . . didn't he have this same photo of Notre Dame cathedral in his "nearly" favorites, but in black and white?} Yep. But I like this version even better. (Paris, France)

Hiking along the Quiraing on Skye is a bucket-list item for hikers. 'Twas awesome. (Trotternish Peninsula, Isle of Skye, Scotland)

The skyline of the upper half of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, castle at left and the tall spire of St. Giles' Cathedral at right. (Edinburgh, Scotland)

This shot of the Vicars' Close feels like it could be a still from a period movie. (Wells, England)

Want to see more? Here are the favorites from our first year in Scotland:




(Nearly) favorite photos of places we visited our first year






Favorite family photos of our first year in Scotland






(Nearly) favorite family photos of our first year in Scotland

Football weather

I'm regularly asked what I think of the weather here in Scotland. Do I like it?

Yes.

Emphatically yes.

Quite simply, it's (American) football weather. More specifically, this summer has been like several consecutive months of mid-to-late-September Big Ten football weather. Folks in Columbus and Ann Arbor and Madison and Champaign know it and love it. The heat and humidity of summer have dissipated. Mornings and evenings might require a light jacket or a sweatshirt. There's a briskness -- not quite a chill -- in the air. Skies may be cloudy. It might have rained recently, but that merely enhances the smell of grass and earth and leaves, as well as the bratwurst and burgers and beer.

Representing my Big Ten team, the Hoosiers, on a morning in late June at Stirling Castle. Sweatshirt weather.

We moved to Glasgow in mid-June, roughly two and a half months ago. Other than a couple of days last January when we came to visit for Kate's interview, we have been in Scotland only during summer months. We haven't yet experienced months of winter, with short daylight hours and wet and cloudy conditions.

The summer has been simply fabulous. Even during the historic hot and dry span of three weeks we had in July, the temperature never rose higher than the 70s Fahrenheit. An especially hot day here is in the mid-70s. Most of the time, the temperature is in the 60s. Some days it doesn't get out of the 50s.

A steamy day in mid-July on the grounds of Culzean Castle in southwestern Scotland. My niece Macie, my bro-in-law John, and Jack commiserated with the hot deer.

At night, it doesn't get much colder. Usually, the temperature all day and night stays in a range of about 10-15 degrees. That's different from North Carolina, where the temperature could range from the 90s during the day to the 60s at night.

Moreover, the hours of sunlight are incredibly long. Probably a little too long. At the summer solstice, it was light by roughly 4:30 in the morning and not dark until 11:00ish at night. That allows a LOT of time to play outdoors, and discourages toddlers everyone from going to bed at an appropriate hour.

Light streaming in the windows at 9:00 p.m.

It doesn't rain all that much. Not like I had feared it would. In fact, I don't think it rains much more than in Raleigh. All the Glaswegians seem to agree that Scotland in general is damp, and Glasgow in particular gets a lot of rain. True enough, many days it does rain. But it usually rains only for a short time. It might threaten to rain for several hours. Weather forecasts tend to predict a 10-20% chance of rain every day, just to be safe. But the rainfall typically is light. And for hours in the day before or after the rain, it'll be sunny or at least only partly cloudy. Even on the days it rains, it's only for a little part of a day which otherwise was quite pleasant.

The sun came out after a light rain during a hike on the Isle of Arran.

This is my favorite kind of weather. Not too hot, low humidity, plenty of sunlight. I used to love the three or four weeks each year in the States during early fall when it felt like this. Here, I get the same weather for three or four months.

Weather in Glasgow: 1       Weather in North Carolina: 0

First post

We moved to Scotland six weeks ago. Most of our stuff is unpacked. We've bought furniture and appliances and a car, set up a bank account and mobile phones and satellite television. Yet I have a lingering feeling of disbelief. The reality of moving to a foreign country — and not just visiting for an extended vacation — hasn't sunk in. We didn't buy return flights to North Carolina? Our (small) allotment of vacation days isn't being exhausted? We live here now? We live in Scotland? A place with castles and whisky and golf and haggis and tartans?

Culzean "Castle," which is really a seaside country estate built on the bones of an older castle.

Our lives just took a turn onto the road less traveled. As expatriates, we're certainly not unique; a few million U.S. citizens currently live abroad. Moving to the U.K. barely qualifies as expatriating, but rather as expat-lite. Nevertheless, about 99% of American citizens will never live outside the U.S. borders.

Now we're immigrants. We have new cultural and legal rules to learn. I've had half of a year to get used to the idea. Excitement. Pride. Commitment.

Whisky with my haircut?  Well, if you insist.

More strangely: I'm also now a blogger?

Blogging unsettles me. I lean mildly toward introversion. I can barely muster the interest/effort/courage/witticism to post on Facebook a couple of times a month. I enjoy hearing about your life, seeing too many pictures of your kid, reading your amateurish forays into political opinions, wondering about why you're friends with that moron, blocking all the updates about the games you play, hitting "Like" to support big events in your life. However, I'm not especially keen on sharing those details about me.

Yet here is my first blog post.

By blogging, I want to accomplish several goals, whether concurrently or variously or just occasionally. I hope it can help keep me connected to friends and family, to let them vicariously experience our lives in Scotland. Meanwhile, although it is unlikely anyone outside my small circle will read this blog, the possibility exists and so I will try to make it accessible to others.

Blogging also will help chronicle the life of my young son, Jackson. Since I'll be spending most of my time as a stay at home dad, my blog will be filtered through the challenges fun of raising a toddler.

Jackson monkeying around in the fishing village of Anstruther, home of the best chippie in Scotland.

Viewed in another way, if I get hit by a bus, this blog may help little Jack know something about me when he's older.

I'm going to try to share some insight into visiting and living in Scotland, and by extension into visiting and living in the U.K. and abroad generally. We plan on traveling throughout Scotland, the U.K., and Europe. Despite the challenges of setting up life here and my wife starting her job three weeks ago, we've already spent time in the last six weeks as tourists in Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Stirling, and Glen Coe, as well as exploring our home city of Glasgow and environs such as Loch Lomond.

A view down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

I'm a history buff and will delve into historical trivia. I'm a musician who hopes to hear great music in the concert hall and find great bands in the pubs. I love museums and architecture and paintings and cathedrals. I'm a sports fan who just this week attended the British Open and a Celtic football match.  I'm a political junkie who will follow British politics, including next year's referendum on Scottish independence. I'm looking forward to describing the myriad flavors of crisps, what it's like to wear a kilt, and just how remote the Outer Hebrides are.

Mattie, Kate, and Jackson posed on the 700 year old Swilcan Bridge on the Old Course in St. Andrews. Most Sundays the Old Course is open to the public for picnics, dog walks, and tours.

And, admittedly, blogging gives me something to do.

With luck, I'd like to inspire you to move abroad. You might have pondered it already. Perhaps dismissed it as impossible. Maybe somewhere in this blog you'll find a nugget to help you.