#scotched in scotland

[georgeromeros]

The Three Stooges - Scotched in Scotland (1954)  

[wahroh]

No get kilt, aye?

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 17 September 2024

In this vegetable garden these Calendula officinalis (common marigold, goldins, Mary's gold, pot marigold, Scotch marigold) plants provide a slash of colour and a food source for pollinators. This fast growing annual or biennial has aromatic leaves and long succession of flowers from summer into the autumn until the first frosts.

Jill Raggett

[adventuresofalgy]

For a fluffy bird there was much that was unpleasant about the Scotch mist. It was exceedingly wet, it was dismally dark, it obscured his view of mountains and sea, and, if he spent much time in the open, it had a decidedly dampening effect on Algy's fluffiness, reducing his feathers to a soggy, cold, bedraggled mass.

However, if the mist came down on a calm day, it did have one truly beautiful effect: it decorated the world with glistening droplets that sparkled in the subdued light as though every leaf, twig and flower had been suddenly adorned with a garland of tiny jewels.

Ignoring the increasing saturation of his tail feathers, Algy reclined on the grass and gazed in wonder at the temporary miracle wrought by the mist. For a moment he forgot just how dreadfully wet it was, and marvelled at the beauty of what a famous author had so aptly called "dream-drapery":

Low-anchored cloud, Newfoundland air, Fountain-head and source of rivers, Dew-cloth, dream-drapery, And napkin spread by fays; Drifting meadow of the air, Where bloom the daisied banks and violets, And in whose fenny labyrinth The bittern booms and heron wades; Spirit of lakes and seas and rivers,— Bear only perfumes and the scent Of healing herbs to just men’s fields.

[Algy is quoting the poem Mist by the 19th century American author Henry David Thoreau.]

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The proper drinking of Scotch whisky is more than indulgence: it is a toast to civilisation, a tribute to the continuity of culture, a manifesto of man’s determination to use the resources of nature to refresh mind and body and enjoy to the full the senses with which he has been endowed.

- David Daiches

[mapsontheweb]

Map of the scotch, whiskies and distilleries of Scotland

[vieformidable]

The Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Adjacent to the rural is the rugged, forbidden hinterland.

[zou-san]

Glenkinchie Distillery, East Lothian, Scotland

[scotianostra]

Glenmorangie Distillery Workers. May 31st, 1910, Glenmorangie distilleries received what is believed to be the first order of Single Malt for the US.

[fallimentiquotidiani]

Inverness, Scotland

[vintagepromotions]

Chivas Regal Scotch whisky advertisement featuring an illustration of Robert the Bruce (1960).

[darkerangels]

[lionandwreath]

Spent some time in Scotland this year looking for rare drams.

[vox-anglosphere]

A sincere Happy Burns Day to my friends and followers, near and far..

[adventuresofalgy]

Despite the beauty of the glistening droplets on the wet grasses and wildflowers, there is a limit to how much saturation of the tail feathers a fluffy bird can tolerate while drinking in the wonders of Nature… or should he say, bathing in them…

So, after exchanging greetings with a passing frog who evidently enjoyed the sodden conditions a great deal more than he did, Algy flew back up into the pine tree and made himself comfortable on a cushion of soft, aromatic pine needles, tucking his tail well into the heart of the tree and away from the rain.

There were now two robins singing somewhere nearby, indulging in a delightfully harmonious competition in the dense Scotch mist, and Algy could think of no better way of passing the time in such dreich conditions than by defying the weather with a song. The elegant counterpoint of his wee feathered friends reminded him of another more famous duet, which, as it happened to mention a pine tree, seemed particularly apposite, so without further ado Algy opened his beak as widely as he could and began to sing…

[In case the video link doesn't work, Algy thought you might like to know that he is singing The Trail of The Lonesone Pine, as made famous by one of the most celebrated comedy teams of all time, Laurel and Hardy.]

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The proper drinking of Scotch whisky is more than indulgence: it is a toast to civilisation, a tribute to the continuity of culture, a manifesto of man’s determination to use the resources of nature to refresh mind and body and enjoy to the full the senses with which he has been endowed.

- David Daiches