It feels "pure dead brilliant" to be back in Scotland. I am currently on the Black Isle up near Inverness, and I just got back from riding a bike down to the the point of the island where the waves lap onto the shore. Some rare sunshine today made the landscape all the more beautiful....it's hard to describe the scenery, but it looks a bit as if the Blue Ridge mountains were transplanted to the coast. It's simply stunning.The journey over here was pretty smooth sailing, despite a brief lockdown in the Charlotte airport, some crazy turbulance during my flight to Glasgow, and some intense jet lag the past couple of days. I ar
rived at the Glasgow airport at 6:30 AM, very tired but incredibly excited. That excitement quickly turned to panic as the International Arrivals section slowly cleared out and finally, I was the last one left. I suddenly realized that my friend Fiona and I had not actually discussed when or where we were going to meet after I landed! There are few things quite so scary as feeling totally alone and stranded in a foreign country, with no way to contact anyone that could help you. I probably freaked out far more than I should, but at the time it was pretty alarming! Fiona did arrive at 9:30 and we had quite a laugh over our total lack of communication about how she would pick me up.
rived at the Glasgow airport at 6:30 AM, very tired but incredibly excited. That excitement quickly turned to panic as the International Arrivals section slowly cleared out and finally, I was the last one left. I suddenly realized that my friend Fiona and I had not actually discussed when or where we were going to meet after I landed! There are few things quite so scary as feeling totally alone and stranded in a foreign country, with no way to contact anyone that could help you. I probably freaked out far more than I should, but at the time it was pretty alarming! Fiona did arrive at 9:30 and we had quite a laugh over our total lack of communication about how she would pick me up. 
Walking around Glasgow with Fi was so surreal. The city and my friends all felt like something from a faraway dream or something from a story I once read. It was so wonderful to rediscover that it was all so marvelously REAL. It has been so amazing to reunite with my dear friends and to see this beautiful country again. I'm getting very well-fed at the Maclean residence on the Black Isle at the moment, and then tomorrow evening I'll be taking a bus up to Skye to spend some time with the bride's family. It's a whirlwind of wonderful people and places, and I'm just enjoying the ride!
