I hop on a ferry to Navy Pier and head to the Chicago River. It’s time to experience another watery wonder of Chicago. As I stand in line with the hordes waiting by Michigan Avenue Bridge, Docent Rebecca Dixon smiles her way along the line, asking people where they’re from. She stops when she hears […]
About ecossaise
Aquariums I Have Known
Along the brim of Lake Michigan, a seemingly infinite number of security guards patrol the area on Segway motorized scooters. Perhaps it just looks like they’re omnipresent because of all the reflective surfaces around Millennium Park. It seems that whatever angle I look into the gleaming mirrored “Cloud Gate” sculpture, or “the Bean,” as it’s […]
The Only Kelpie on the Block
Dominic, a Filipino-American in Chicago for business, tells me at the buffet about how his people congregate in communities in the U.S. and asks me why don’t Scots do this. Why don’t we? Is it the Scottish Way to skulk off alone? To get absorbed into a new country? It seems we did congregate back […]
The Ninth-Biggest Island in the World
By a coffee machine in a hotel in Chicago, I talk to a Hair Designer from Vegas. His hair rises in a four-inch-high, determinedly chestnut pompadour and he is wearing an inadvisably tight, sequin-studded sweatshirt that is remarkably similar to one I once unsuccessfully attempted to dress an unimpressed tabby in. The Hair Designer is […]
The Queen, Prince Philip and Tuna
Since yesterday’s post about Hebridean Leek Pie was so popular, here is another wee ramble about the perplexing menus to be found in the Scottish bars of the United States of America. I am in Molly McPherson’s Scottish pub in Savannah with my Scottish friend Arran. He is puzzling over the menu. “Do you think […]
The Hebrides Do Not Make Me Think of Leeks
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 […]
Snakehole Golf and Country Club
Today I’m writing about the first time I ever played golf – at the Snakehole Golf and Country Club, a sand, scrub, cactus and broken glass shard course in Apache Junction, Arizona. How do they keep the sand from blowing and covering up the scorpion-filled holes? Why, they pour grease from the RV park diner […]
Lonesome West Highland Terrier Picture of the Week
A wee Westie, hinging oot a Berlin window last month.
Shortbread Scotties
Shortbread! Shaped like Scottie dogs! Yes, I was reading Scottish Terrier News. It’s an excellent source of Scottie news, should you ever be on the hunt for some. Writing this book has changed me. Today I’m finishing up the chapter on the Scottie dog festival I went to in Georgia. Just a couple of hours […]
Defend yourself – cute Scottie puppies overload!
Defend yourselves – cuteness overload! Scottie puppies dressed as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell at the Scottish Terrier Club of Atlanta’s annual Fala Day in Warm Springs, Georgia.
