Culloden

So, I may have been slacking on the blog lately. This is a long overdue post that finishes up the posts from our vacation. After our camera decided that life wasn't worth living, we bought a throw away camera and took some shots with it (that is, when we remembered to wind it)!

We stayed the night with our second cousins, Rhona and Jim, who are wonderful people and a joy to be around. We try to see them every couple of months (if we can) and always have a good time. They are a treasure trove of information concerning Scotland and Scottish history, so whenever they take us to sites we feel like we have our own personal tour guides!

Since they live in Inverness, we decided to go to the famous Culloden battlefield, which was the last hand to hand combat battle on British soil. It was mostly tied with religious affiliation, as most were, and so while it was mainly an English against Scottish battle, there were clans on both sides of the battle lines (if I'm not mistaken). Here is a pic of us on the roof of the visitors center overlooking the battle field.

Kelli and I decided that it was in our best interest to take up some weapons and do a little recreation. Notice how I am standing peacefully smiling for the camera and Kelli is aiming a gun at me...hhhmmmmm, something to talk about maybe.

Anyway, the visitors center for Culloden was incredible. They had digital reenactments so that you could see how the battle played out, as well as having digital maps showing where all of the ships were floating around trying to sneak supplies into the right people, etc. It was really well done. Anyway, hopefully we'll have some newer stuff up soon!

Cut and Coloured

postage

If you've followed our blog for any amount of time you know that we can't not have a picture (yes, sweet double-negative). We wanted to post this because of how funny it struck us. We started getting a lot of cards for Christmas, and it seems that people just randomly put on stamps hoping it would get here. The most on a card was 4 (as seen in the picture) but we had every other option below that. I'm a little surprised that they all got here.

Anyway, we have been asked about our camera lately, after admitting that it no longer worked on a previous blog. Sadly, the story isn't that interesting. We were on vacation in the highlands and were taking a lot of pictures, as you might have noticed in our previous blogs. On the day before we left, we went to turn our camera on and it wouldn't load. The camera would turn on, we could scroll through our pictures, but it would never allow us to take any more. The lens seemed to think something was wrong, and kept on making tiny adjustments. After a little while of doing that, it would just tell us to shut it off and try again.

So, we have no idea what happened. It was sitting on our dresser in our hotel that night, and unless a monster came in and hit it or something (my current hypothesis - KITTY!), it makes no sense at all. Fortunately, after we broke our last two cameras, we decided it best to get insurance on this one. Once we get back to the States we should be able to get a free one. Until then, we will be using throw-away cameras. Oh, how I don't miss having to advance film after taking a shot!

Sea foam is NOT green!

I just got back from a run along the beach. Its been snowing on and off all day, so when I saw these big white puffy foam things flying at me...I just thought it was snow. But no, it was foam. Lots and lots of foam...like the dolphins were taking a bubble bath in the north sea. Random, I know. The sea was absolutely mad...waves moving all sorts of directions. I've posted the picture below to point out the lighthouse. Today, unlike the picture, waves were crashing and splashing the TOP of the lighthouse. Craziness...it was mad I tell you. Words really cannot describe it. I would have taken a picture; however, our camera is broken (to be explained in another blog). So, imagine the sea looking completely the opposite of the stillness you see below.