Notes from a morning in Portland, Oregon, during which I continue to be perplexed about the fact that people make sporrans — Scottish manbags/kilt accessories — out of animal heads, after a visit to the Kilt and Thistle Shoppe in Salem. The next day at the Fresh Pot coffeehouse in Portland, I scroll down the… [Read more…]
January 9, 2012
Additional Badgers… part 2 Being a relatively new resident of North America, amusing beasties such as raccoons and skunks still have me pointing and exclaiming with delight. I am still not 100% sure of appropriate creature encounter behaviour. I think I’ve got the basics of bear etiquette down – it’s all in the claws, apparently… [Read more…]
January 7, 2012
Driving toward Salem, we seem to be heading straight into a rain cloud. It looms forbiddingly on the horizon. This Salem, an un-witchy one, is the capital of Oregon, home to a population of 140,000, a stately university campus and dozens of imposing government buildings. It also boasts an impressive tally of no less than… [Read more…]
January 6, 2012
In honour of the fact that The Scottish Ambassador blog had an equal number stumbling upon it when searching for “possum” as “Scottish Ambassador” this week, I’m treating you all to a photo of the world’s cutest baby orphan ‘possum/opossum. I have no recollection of ever writing about possums in these posts, but I am… [Read more…]
January 5, 2012
1. Realised too late that I had forgotten the most vital element of my Halloween costume — tequila — and had to walk into a crowded Savannah Scottish bar dressed as a Scottish terrier, sober. First Dogs, Savannah, Georgia 2. Tried to play upwind while golfing on a desert sand course where they harden the… [Read more…]
January 4, 2012
It’s early evening, and Manuel, a local lawyer friend, has met me at the Duke of Perth, one of Chicago’s two Scottish bars. It’s famed for its weekly All You Can Eat Fish and Chips. On our way to the beer garden, we pass a once mighty stag’s head on the wall. The addition of… [Read more…]
January 3, 2012
Sometimes people say this kind of stuff to me when I’m on the road. Sometimes I eavesdrop. 1. “You speak really good English for someone from Scotland.” Gas station attendant, Hoquiam, Washington, Chapter 6: Hellhole of the Pacific 2. “Well, when you find a woman who ain’t your cousin round these parts, you want to grab them… [Read more…]
December 30, 2011
As I’m recovering from the shocking news that the blow-into-your-iPhone-like-it’s-a-chanter iPiper app is no longer available, I am consoling myself with these five techy wee bites of Scotland still on offer online. 1. Midge Forecast A bug fix for you. Daily and 7-day Midge Forecasts so you can avoid the wee beasties, rated from level… [Read more…]
December 26, 2011
Today I’m sitting in a bar in a Turkish area of Berlin with The Canadian, as my nephew Wee Joe calls her, having just flown back from Spanish islands off the coast of the Western Sahara, where I was writing about Scottish-Texas. Confusing. In between attempting to drown out the screeches of a hyperactive German… [Read more…]
December 13, 2011
“Let me tell you all the things that might put you off first,” says the email. Texas summer heat is not for the faint-hearted. Or for the easily burned. It is mostly triple digit temperatures and usually no rain to break the heat. This year is an inferno and we are having a drought.” This… [Read more…]
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January 11, 2012
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