Stories
What we have thus far…
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What an Adventure!
It’s an old memory. So faint that I can’t help but wonder how much of it has been filled in to make sense of a childhood fragment. The memory is just my mom and I outside a gas station. I can’t be more than a couple years old. A thunderstorm breaks over our heads in…
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Black Agnes, Countess of Dunbar
For more than 40 years, Scotland had been at war. In 1391, Edward I of England had been asked to arbitrate the selection of a new king of Scotland, but he instead saw an opportunity to take Scotland for himself. Through manipulation and coercion, kidnapping and violence, Edward I laid claim to the kingdom. Scotland…
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Hill Walking
One of the great delights of living in Scotland is exploration. I’m told that they don’t call it “hiking” here but “hill walking. That makes sense, since where we live right now, we are surrounded by great hills (mountains to a boy from Michigan), and with the Right to Roam, I can climb and wander…
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Once Upon a Michigan Christmas
When I was very young, my dad worked for a small, rural hospital in a town in the middle of Michigan. I loved going to visit where he worked. My dad looked so cool in his white coat, and I could tell from the way everyone treated us that he was well-respected and liked. I…
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Looking for Seals
Marga came back from her first real kayak trip on Loch Melfort practically shouting. “I saw jellyfish! Thousands of them!” Of course I was jealous. I hadn’t even thought to look down into the water when I was out kayaking. Across it, yes. But not down into it. I had to go. As soon as…
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King over the Water
When the Duke of Cumberland defeated the Jacobite army under “Bonnie Prince Charlie” at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, he and the government of his father, George II, initiated a harsh campaign designed to wipe out any remaining loyalty to the Stuart royal family. British troops marched through small Highland towns. Oaths of loyalty…
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Some Words with Friends
The sun had set on another day of summer camp, and the campers had been shuffled off to their cabins. I was standing in the small main office with several of my staff pals. We had some photo copies to make in preparation for the next day, but in truth the job only needed one…
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The One on Your Left
I have always been a sucker for history stories, and Scotland is full of them. The story of “Bonnie Prince Charlie” and his attempt to restore the throne to his father in 1745 is one of the most famous in Scotland. His “rising” had an immense impact on the nation’s history, and just about every…
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Paddling into the Wind
There is something extra wild about having the bow of your boat crash through a wave and feeling the spray hit you in the face. I love it! In that moment, I feel like a viking, a pirate, an explorer all at once. It makes me want to laugh and roar. Usually, though, I just…
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Spider Stories
I think it’s reasonable to not like spiders. Just last week, my daughter had an itchy belly button and decided to look instead of just scratch. It was a spider settling in. Whether you like spiders or not, everybody seems to have a spider story. Even Scotland has a spider story. Or maybe I should…