We continued our New England Road Trip by taking a train from New York City to Old Saybrook, Connecticut. This is where Russ spent many of his formative years. We rented a car and toured his old neighborhood and saw his family home, which is still standing. We even spent a little time greeting the Atlantic at the town beach.
The docent told us that Kate liked this photo of herself, so it’s featured prominently in the front of the museum.
Before we left Old Saybrook the next day, we had a few hours to kill so we visited the Katherine Hepburn Museum. Hepburn lived near Old Saybrook after her family bought a summer home there when she was five. The day before, we’d driven through the exclusive oceanside neighborhood (Fenwick) where her home was located. It sports a golf course and a lighthouse. We wanted to visit the lighthouse, but couldn’t due to public access issues. We also weren’t able to see her home, where she retired in 1996.
If you’re not familiar, Katherine Hepburn (aka Kate) was a feisty actress of great renown who had a six-decade career in Hollywood. She’s best known for movies like The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, and On Golden Pond. With her athleticism and outspokenness, she broke the mold for women in Hollywood.
Kate and her husband Ludlow Smith. They were married for six years.
At the museum, we were given a comprehensive introduction by a helpful docent, who was excited to learn that Russ was a hometown boy. The museum features eight exhibits that focus on Kate’s family, her athleticism, her Fenwick home, her career and other special topics. Wedding gowns were the focus of the special exhibit when we were there, including Kate’s own wedding gown from when she was married early in her life.
I always enjoyed Kate’s movies, and she’s been an inspiration to me to keep active. I recall watching her on a television talk show once when I was younger. I believe she was in her 70s and she proudly showed the host how she could still bend over and touch her toes. I remember thinking, I want to be able to do that when I’m 70! I’m happy to report that I can still accomplish this feat in my early 60s. 😊
Kate’s wedding dress. It’s a tea gown made of silk velvet with gold embroidery in a pattern inspired by North African apparel. It was purchased by a wedding gown company and remained in storage for 20 years before being purchased by the museum.
The museum is also a cultural arts center, hosting lectures, workshops, and film screenings. Admission is free but there’s a suggested $10 donation per person.
According to one placard, “Although her legendary career catapulted her to dizzying heights of international fame, Connecticut’s local girl never really left home. The road always led her back to her family and to her refuge in Fenwick.” Katherine died in her Fenwick home in 2003. Her grave is in a cemetery in Hartford. She didn’t want a service, nonetheless accolades for this special actress were given throughout the country in many other ways. It’s good to know that her memory and passions are preserved in this little piece of Old Saybrook.
I’m so far behind on my blog posts but thought I could write this one before I head off meandering again. (Plus I’m still finalizing my poetry manuscript.)
ActorFilip Berg from Trouble. Image courtesy of Netflix.
My first recommendation is the movie Trouble. This Swedish action comedy is a remake of a 1988 movie by the same name. An electronics salesman and handyman innocently gets caught up in a home invasion and murder. What follows is a farcical romp involving corrupt police and relationship drama. The movie is streaming on Netflix with English voiceovers. I thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed a lot!
Red slipper replicas that were in the Judy Garland museum when we visited in 2021.
The second is Ruby Red Handed. It’s a tongue-in-cheek documentary about the case of the missing ruby red slippers that Dorothy (Judy Garland) wore in The Wizard of Oz. This theft happened a few hours’ drive from where I live. Russ and I visited the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, after the theft happened, so that’s why the movie intrigued us. (See my post about our museum visit.)
Solving the crime took years and the help of the FBI. It involved clueless criminals (who thought the shoes contained real rubies) and buried treasure. Spoiler alert: the show has a happy ending, but if you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know that already. It’s available for free on Hulu and was produced by a Minnesota-based company. You’ll get the inside scoop on all the juicy details of the crime.
The weather for Independence Day in northern Minnesota was perfect: hot and sunny. I thought I’d share some images from it.
I can’t believe that my phone camera caught this firework on its way into the sky, looking like a space rocket. An empty brandy bottle served as a fine launch pad.
No 4th of July is complete without my mother’s potato salad recipe. It features extras like black olives, hard-boiled eggs, mustard, onion, dill, and paprika. I made enough to last our crew for several days!
Back in Colonial days, cakes used to be a “thing” for Independence Day. As for us, we devoured a fruit pizza, which is basically a huge sugar cookie covered in cream cheese, whipped cream and fruit that matches the day’s color scheme (red, white and blue).
We ended the day at a community parade. I’d never been to it before and was surprised by the number of people who attended, especially since there aren’t that many people who live in the area. The parade was filled with ATVs, floats from local businesses, and people tossing candy to children. One guy was even handing out fireball whisky shots! There were also a few disturbing “Don’t Tread on Me” flags on the ATVs (a symbol for the alt-right) and much Trump paraphernalia in sight, but that’s the politics of this rural area, as it is in many small towns across the country.
This was the cutest float in the parade. While many of the ATVs were trailing beer cans, he chose pop cans. Note the patriotic dudes in the background.
We had a great time with family and friends. I hope your 4th was memorable, as well. What are your traditions?
The World of Accordions Museum. Image courtesy of the museum.
I’m aware that I’m jumping the gun. World Accordion Day is May 6, and National Accordion Awareness Month isn’t until June. But I just couldn’t wait to write about our visit to the World of Accordions Museum in Superior, Wisconsin.
I’ve driven past the unassuming building on a busy street corner hundreds of times on my way to work and finally had time to take a peek last weekend. Inside are over 3,000 accordions and probably every ceramic figurine ever made that’s holding an accordion. The museum contains instruments from all over the world: Ireland, Spain, Germany, Scandinavia, etc. —from primitive concertinas to highly embellished accordions from the Vaudeville era that feature abalone. We even noticed a wooden accordion.
One of the fancier accordions in the museum.
The World of Accordions Museum was founded by Helmi Strahl Harrington in 1993. Our tour guide told us that Helmi’s mother was an accordionist who was conscripted in Hitler’s Germany to teach SAS wives to play the accordion. The family escaped to America and Helmi continued the family accordion tradition. She learned how to maintain accordions through a technical college in Red Wing, Minnesota. Although she currently has cancer, she hasn’t let that stop her from teaching accordion students and repairing accordions.
Christmas accordion figurines.
The nonprofit museum also houses a music and files room and a concert hall in what used to be the sanctuary of a former Episcopal Church. Our helpful tour guide said she got hooked on the museum when she came in for a tour. Now, she’s taking lessons and giving the tours herself. She even let us try our hand(s) at playing an accordion.
The performance space in the museum.
Mae West. Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Times Archives
Due to my dust allergies, I couldn’t spend as much time in the museum as I wanted. My sinuses began to ache! But before we left, one interesting thing we learned was that blond bombshell and actress Mae West was married to an accordionist. His name was Frank Szatkus, whose stage name was Frank Wallace. He agreed to keep their marriage secret to help West’s career. According to Wikipedia, the couple never lived together as husband and wife. When asked, West insisted that they had separate bedrooms, and that soon after their marriage, she sent him away in a show of his own to get rid of him. They married in 1911 and divorced in 1942. Was it because of the accordion?? We may never know.
One of my favorite store chains, Drink Wisconsibly, has made a YouTube video about the museum, which is fun to watch.
The museum has an annual festival in early May, centered around World Accordion Day. They offer workshops, talks, and concerts. Keep your eyes out for info about that. It would be a good excuse to visit if you just can’t get enough of accordions.
I don’t know who this guy is, but he seems pretty happy with his accordion.
Growing up in the 1970s, I had plenty of opportunities to attend slumber parties. One of my favorite party places was the house of my best friend up the street, Jody. (She’s the one who had a horse.) She had all sorts of mysterious things at her house like a fortune-telling 8 ball. You could ask it a question, shake it, and the answer would appear through a dark, watery window in the bottom. I always thought the answers were a little lame, but it was fun to feel like I was receiving some magical advice. My friend’s family also had a Ouija Board that could supposedly be used to talk to the dead like in a séance.
One of my least favorite slumber party games was Bloody Mary. In this game, you go into the bathroom alone with a candle. You light the candle, turn out the lights, and look in the mirror. Say “Bloody Mary” three times slowly. It’s supposed to make Bloody Mary (whoever that is) appear. I didn’t like this game because I needed to be alone for it. I didn’t want to be alone if and when a creepy person appeared! I don’t recall ever doing the game myself, but I may have watched other people do it. (We bent the rules on being alone.) I don’t recall any specter appearing in the mirror, but we were scared out of our wits, which I guess was the whole point.
One of my favorite games was Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board. We played the version where one person lays down (there’s another version where a person sits in a chair). Everyone would gather around under dim lights and placed two fingers from each hand (index fingers) underneath them. The goal was to lift the person off the ground. If we would try to lift the person at this point, it wouldn’t work because we’d be giggling and uncoordinated. But if we tried to lift as we recited the chant associated with the game, the person would rise as if levitating.
The first record of this game came from a British Naval administrator in 1665 who saw a group of French girls doing it. The leader of the game (usually the person at the head) says, “She’s looking ill.” And everyone repeats that in a call and response a few times. Then the leader says, “She’s looking worse,” in the same call and response. Then, “She’s dying,” and “She’s dead.”
This initial ritual is completed when everyone stacks their hands atop the liftee person’s forehead, alternating so that their hands are separated by the hands of another person. The leader then tells the group that they are opening the liftee’s body to supernatural influences and that outside spirits are entering the body to make it lighter.
After that, everyone puts their fingers back under the person. The leader chants, “Light as a feather, stiff as a board,” repeating the phrase many times. Then the group begins lifting the person slowly. Unlike the first lifting attempt, this one should happen easily and for only a few inches. Then the group lowers the person back to the ground.
The game was spooky, exciting, and mysterious. How could we all lift such a weight with only a few fingers? I did a little research and discovered the game is actually based on physics. The weight of the person is divided equally among each lifter. The stiffness of the lifted player also helps the trick work. As the lifters chant, the liftee will become stiff and focused. Their rigid, tense body makes the lifting easier. The supernatural references just make the game more fun.
As with many things in life, the ultimate secret to the “magic” of this game is the synchronization of the group. Many hands (in this case, fingers) working together makes for light work.
Did you ever play these games, or something like them?
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may recall that I’ve written two other posts about Bob Dylan. Thus, the name of this post. Here’s another one!
I watched two Bob Dylan movies recently. The first, “A Complete Unknown,” inspired me to watch the second, “No Direction Home,” so I could get a better picture of the famous singer who spent his early years in my part of the world. I’m glad I watched both.
Of course, the first movie is the one that’s out in theaters now. It features Timothée Chalamet, the dishy French-American actor who portrays Dylan in his early years. Based on the book, “Dylan Goes Electric,” by Elijah Wald, the story begins with Dylan “escaping” his college experience at the University of Minnesota and traveling to New York City to meet his folk music hero, Woodie Guthrie, who was hospitalized with a neurological illness. Another folkie, Pete Seeger, takes Dylan under his wing, and his rise to stardom begins.
I liked that the story was told mainly through music; this was much more effective than a lot of talking. Chalamet’s portrayal of Dylan is superb as are the performances by the two actresses who portray his love interests from that time: Elle Fanning who plays his girlfriend Suze Rotolo/Sylvie Russo, and Monica Barbaro who plays singer Joan Baez. It helped me understand the pressures Dylan was under as a person and an artist. Even Dylan, who was an executive producer for the movie, liked it, so that’s saying something!
The movie concludes with Dylan’s performance in 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival, where he was backed by an electric band. The audience of folk purists and political activists reacted badly, with booing and shouts. Some people just couldn’t handle that something they loved had changed. As Google says, his performance, “was a shot heard round the world—Dylan’s declaration of musical independence, the end of the folk revival, and the birth of rock as the voice of a generation—and one of the defining moments in twentieth-century music.” There are still people who are upset by what they perceive as Dylan’s turning his back on acoustic folk music and political activism.
As I mentioned, “A Complete Unknown” left me wanting to know more, so I watched “No Direction Home,” a 2005 documentary by Martin Scorsese that’s available through PBS. It follows Dylan’s life for a year longer than the current movie, and features in-person interviews with Dylan, poet Allen Ginsberg, Suze Rotolo, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger.
Seeing/hearing Dylan describe events from his life in his own words was so interesting! According to Wikipedia, the movie was well-received. It “creates a portrait that is deep, sympathetic, perceptive and yet finally leaves Dylan shrouded in mystery, which is where he properly lives.”
So, if like me, you found yourself wanting more after watching “A Complete Unknown,” I highly recommend “No Direction Home.” It helped me understand why there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that Dylan will ever come back to Duluth no matter how we try to honor him. (The city has named a street after him, but he didn’t show up, much to the city’s dismay. He didn’t even show up for his Nobel Prize; he sure isn’t going to come back to Duluth!) We need to just leave the man alone.
Also, Suze Rotolo wrote a memoir about her time with Dylan, titled, “A Freewheelin’ Time,” which I plan to read someday.
I still remain happy that I’m not famous like Dylan. See my blog post from 2017 that explains why. Have you seen “A Complete Unknown?” If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the movie.
Russ and I are fans of National Public Radio’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” news quiz humor show. In a recent edition, host Peter Sagal mentioned that holiday movies are being produced with a decidedly sexy bent. He named one in particular: “Hot Frosty.” This Netflix production is about a muscular snowman who comes to life after a young widow drapes him with a scarf that has magical properties. Needless to say, he keeps his “hot” physique once he’s human, and romance ensues. But he also keeps some of his cold properties, too, such as a penchant for eating ice and a below-freezing body temperature.
We decided that “Hot Frosty” was a good candidate for a drinking game, even though it wasn’t an official Hallmark movie. We set a date with my friend Sharon, with whom we had a riotous time four years ago enacting and enhancing this drinking game list.
This living snowman causes quite a stir while fixing a roof.Image courtesy of Netflix.
Although “Hot Frosty” didn’t contain as many troupes as a Hallmark movie, we still had fun watching it. In fact, it inspired us to enlarge our game list with a few new rules. I’ll post the revised version below Sharon’s review of the movie. Please note: Sharon provided this review after drinking to drown her sorrows after the Packers lost to the Vikings, and after playing our movie drinking game.
“It’s part PG-rated but it doesn’t go too far in the sexy category. It’s not like “Magic Mike.” Netflix, could you ramp it up a notch? The snowman had an interesting body but no substance.
“Women are usually colder than men. I dunno if it’s from our estrogen or what. We don’t want to snuggle up to men who are colder than we are. We want hot men! If someone was as cold as this guy is, it would put a damper on things.”
So, there you have it. Maybe not all that sexy, and probably too cold, but it was a fun way to spend an evening.
Here’s our freshly revised list.
RULES
Take one drink whenever:
A reference is made to a dead relative The “Mayor” appears on screen The main character’s name is related to Christmas (Holly, Nick, etc.) Anytime someone disses fake Christmas trees A newcomer partakes in an old family or town tradition Hot chocolate, apple cider, or eggnog is on screen A big city person is transplanted to a small town Christmas caroling, a tree farm, baking cookies, or a snowman appears Mistletoe or a scarf is on screen A character makes a magic deal Any time you hear “Jingle Bells” The town is named something Christmas-y An interracial couple appears An angry, misdirected law enforcement officer appears
Take two drinks whenever:
Characters experience a ‘near-miss’ kiss An obvious product advertisement appears A snowball fight, ice skating, or dancing happens An ugly sweater or tie appears The characters are snowed in Someone gets a makeover A “Pride and Prejudice” reference is introduced (a character is named Darcy, a place named Pemberly) Someone refers to a metaphor or uses intelligent phrasing Someone refers to fishing or hunting Someone with slicked-back hair expresses their hate for Christmas
Finish your drink whenever:
The cynic is filled with the Christmas spirit It snows on Christmas Someone selects a Christmas tree The main characters bake/cook something together, or Christmas-themed food is mentioned Bad art appears or a literary reference is made Dissonant architecture appears (for instance, a lighthouse in Wyoming) Accordion music happens, especially if it’s playing Jingle Bells
Take a shot whenever:
The movie stars Candace Cameron-Bure, Lacey Chabert, or Andrew Walker appear The main characters fall in love The main characters kiss
I ordered my son a Lego “toy” for Christmas last year. At 25, he’s not a kid anymore, but he has fond memories of putting Legos together in Christmases past. The Lego was a design of the universe with a “you are here” pointer.
That must be how I got back on the Lego mailing list. I received their catalog in the mail last month and noticed it featured some Christmas decorations that could be made from Legos. Russ and I like to put together puzzles in winter. This would be like a three-dimensional puzzle.
How fun! I thought. What a cool holiday activity that we could do. Plus, the grandkids will love seeing it.
I ordered a table decoration that looks like a red candle with a pine wreath around it. It arrived just fine. Russ and I waited until the weekend after Thanksgiving to begin working on it. (I’m one of those people who rails against the encroachment of Christmas on Thanksgiving, so there’s no way we would have done it sooner.)
We started it late one evening when we were already tired, so only made it a few pages into the instructions before we stopped. It was fun. As we built it, I marveled at this engineering feat that would soon turn into a Christmas decoration. We decided to save the rest for the next day when we had more time and energy.
This was where the going got tough.
The next day, building the Lego was fun up until we realized it was built for people with smaller fingers and better eyes than we have. There came one point when every time we added a new element, another one (or two, or three) would fall off. Before long, much festive swearing ensued as our frustration mounted. Oh, and did I tell you the Lego was rated for ages twelve and up? We had to stop working on it to avoid violence. (To the Lego, not to each other.)
The next day, we carefully and slowly approached the Lego decoration again. It was looking nice, but we dared not touch it for fear something would fall off. We did have more mishaps of that sort, but not as many as the day before. Still, at one point I had to excuse myself because I was getting too frustrated. Russ worked on it by himself (he’s much more patient than I) and made good progress. By the time I dared return, we were working mostly on the candle, which was much easier than the foliage and the berries. We ended up needing to make some modifications to the parts so that the candle would fit properly but finally, after three days, we finished!
Much rejoicing ensued, but we were careful not to touch the decoration for fear it would collapse in a heap. I’m thinking we might need to cover it with a glass case so that the grandkids don’t touch it when they visit. 😊
Russ brought up the idea of taking it all apart once the holidays are over so that we could try to build it “properly” next year. I told him there’s no way I’m building that thing again. Besides, I’m pretty sure we followed the directions correctly. Maybe we should just coat it in superglue so that it will last for a few years . . ?
Russ and I just finished watching the Hulu television series “Reservation Dogs.” It’s about four teens who live on the Muscogee reservation in Oklahoma. The gang’s dead friend’s wish was to travel to California and see the ocean, so the teens try to raise money for a commemorative trip any way they can, including via crime (i.e., stealing a flaming-hot potato chip truck). During their adventures, they are guided by spirits and tribal elders.
The three-season series is classified as a comedy, but it’s so much more than that. I think it’s the best thing currently on television. Even better than “Outlander.” (Gasp!! I can’t believe I just said that, but it’s true.) Although there are supernatural happenings, the series is the most real thing around. The acting is totally believable and the situations the young ones find themselves in could happen anywhere, but especially on a Native American reservation. I’ve spent a few weeks living on reservations, enough time to soak up the atmosphere, and recognize an accurate representation when I see one.
The funniest character is probably William “Spirit” Knifeman, a self-proclaimed warrior who died at the Battle of Little Big Horn, even though he didn’t actually fight. He had Custer in his sights but before he could do anything, his horse stepped in a gopher hole, fell, rolled over, and squashed him. He’s a spirit guide for one of the teens (Bear), and always shows up at the most embarrassing times and places, including bathrooms. In one such scene, Bear complains to Knifeman about his new construction job. He doesn’t know what he’s doing and nobody’s showing him anything. Knifeman says, “That’s the Native way of learning. We have this traditional pedagogy of ‘just get out there and learn, fu*cker.’”
I also noticed that, like the Ojibwe in Minnesota, the Muscogee point with their lips, not their fingers. That’s not something you’d ever see if the series was produced by non-Natives.
My favorite episode is called “This is Where the Plot Thickens” (Season 2, Episode 8). A smallish tribal cop named Big investigates several stolen shipments of catfish that never made it to a local restaurant. His ensuing adventure involves LSD, running around in the woods, bigfoot, and a “take back the land” cult of white supremists. The episode is a combination of movies like “The Wicker Man” and “Midsommar.” Besides its humor, what I appreciated is that it combined Natives and sci-fi/horror themes. That seldom happens and is something I know that Native authors are working to rectify. It also has bigfoot in it, which I love because I recently finished a story about him. Hint – you need to watch this episode all the way to the end to fully appreciate it.
Anyway, I love the humor in this series. It’s the humor of the oppressed. My Native acquaintances call it survival humor. Their experiences of cultural oppression have made them sympathetic to other oppressed cultures, as well, such as the Irish. When we were recently in Ireland, one of our tour guides told us that the Choctaw Nation donated money to help the Irish during the Great Famine. There’s even a statue in County Cork to honor the Choctaws.
“Shogun” is another Hulu series we recently watched. It’s about an Englishman who is one of the first to make it to Japan in 1600 during the start of a civil war there. I watched the original series years ago. Although the current actor who plays John Blackthorne is no Richard Chamberlain, he won me over by the end.
A cultural connection that struck me about this series was the similarity of the Japanese clan system and politics to that of the Scots. Alliances were formed and battles fought along the lines of the clans in a manner like the Scots. The clan that Blackthorne was taken in by was oppressed like the Scots were by the English.
I’m not sure why I’m paying attention to oppression across cultures. Maybe it’s due to the power shift occurring in the U.S. right now. Perhaps I’m looking for clues on how to survive it myself.
Blackness Castle. In the “Outlander” series, it’s Fort William.
Russ and I have long been fans of the “Outlander” television series and books. Actually, I was a fan first, then I sucked Russ into it. He’s been a willing and devoted victim. We were tickled to discover during our Broomhall House tour the previous day that even distant cousin Charles Bruce is a fan!
If you’re not familiar, “Outlander” follows the story of Claire Randall, an Englishwoman who’s enjoying a second honeymoon in Scotland with her husband once World War 2 ends, when she’s sucked back in time 200 years after touching a mysterious standing stone. While in the past, she meets Jamie Fraser, a burly and charming Scot, who ends up marrying her to save her from the clutches of an evil pre-ancestor of her English husband.
The series hops back and forth in time and geography, but some fans’ most-beloved sites can be found in Scotland, many not far from Edinburgh. It only made sense for us to go on an Outlander tour while we were there, especially after I found a company that offered group tours that departed only a few blocks from our hotel.
That’s where we met Henry, who is a co-owner of Tartan Viking Tours. He informed us that we were in luck; nobody else had signed up for the tour, so we were getting a private tour for the cost of a group one. That allowed us more leeway in what we could see, which worked out great!
Dean Village and the Water of Leith
On our way out of town, we stopped at two non-Outlander locations that were just too picturesque to pass by. The first was Dean Village which is split by a river named Water of Leith. It used to sport many water mills for grinding grains into flour. Next were some Pictish standing stones that happened to be along the highway on the way to the village of Culross, which stands in for Crainsmuir in Outlander. I was excited to see them because I hadn’t had the chance to see anything Pictish or standing on either of my other trips to Scotland.
Standing stones in a field.
Crainsmuir/Culross is where the witch Gellis Duncan lived and is where she and Claire were tried for witchcraft. The village is one of Scotland’s most complete examples of a 17th and 18th-century town. Steep cobblestone streets are lined with white stone houses that sport red-tiled roofs. The town center is occupied by a small golden-yellow palace with a beautifully reconstructed period garden. Henry took us along the streets and up to an overlook flanked by a garden full of pink roses. We could also see an herb garden behind the palace that was Gellis’s garden in the series.
A rose garden in Culross.
A picturesque doorway in Culross
Culross Palace with Gellis’s herb garden behind it.
Then we were off to Doune Castle. In Outlander, it’s Castle Leoch, home to Clan MacKenzie. In “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” it’s the castle where there’s a discussion about African Swallows and where a prince croons about how he doesn’t want to be king. It’s also featured in “Game of Thrones.” Seeing the familiar courtyard, Mrs. Fitzgibbon’s kitchen, and other movie locations was so fun! We took an audio tour, which was narrated by Sam Heughan, the actor who plays Outlander’s Jamie Fraser.
Doune Castle
A window in Doune Castle.
Our next stop was Linlithgow Palace, which is known as the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. In Outlander, it’s also the stand in for Wentworth Prison where Jamie was sentenced to hang and was tortured and assaulted by Captain “Black Jack” Randall. Linlithgow means “the loch in the damp hollow,” named because the palace lies on the shore of a small lake. We weren’t really feeling a need to tour the castle, so spent most of our time walking the grounds and visiting the Mary Queen of Scots statue, which sports the mysterious quote: “My heart is my own.” A biography about her has the same title, but I suspect that the statue came first. Apparently, this quote was from one of her letters to her cousin Queen Elizabeth where Mary discusses potential husbands for herself. I guess she didn’t like any of her suitors! Mary’s such a fascinating historical figure. I had the chance to visit a museum about her in Jedburgh during a previous visit.
Mary Queen of Scots was born in this turret room at Linlithgow Palace.
Mary Queen of Scots statue at Linlithgow Palace
We ate a scrumptious lunch at The Four Marys pub, named for Queen Mary’s ladies in waiting, who all obviously must have been named Mary. One thing to note in Scotland and Ireland is that at smaller restaurants and pubs like this one, which are outside of large towns, you have to pay at the bar till. They don’t bring a bill to your table like in the U.S. And if you wait for them to do so, you’ll be waiting for a long time!
Blackness Castle and the courtyard where Jamie was flogged.
Next to last was Blackness Castle, a.k.a. Fort William. This imposing stone structure is built on the Firth of Forth and was meant to resemble a ship. Like in Outlander, the castle served as a prison in real life, housing high-ranking prisoners and their household staff. This was where Jamie was flogged and held prisoner in Season One. The place is depressing, dank, and rocky. It was so interesting how the original landscape was incorporated into it. We spent a lot of time climbing around and walking out on the pier over the Firth.
Blackness Castle as viewed from the pier. Note its ship-like shape.
Our last stop was Midhope Castle, a.k.a. Lallybroch, home to Jamie Fraser and his kin. Just the outside of the castle was used for filming because the inside is not habitable. Walking up the road and under the familiar archway made me feel like I was in an episode of Outlander! We snooped around the castle and meandered into the back yard where several ruined sheds and stables molder. In Outlander there are scenes of the back of Lallybroch, but they are so far away, they conceal the ruins.
Our tour guide, Henry at Midhope Castle. Or is that Jamie Fraser with glasses?!
The stairway into Midhope Castle.
I’d recommend an Outlander tour for anyone who is a fan. There are cheaper versions with other companies out there, but you might not get a kilted guide or a “wee dram” along the way. We enjoyed meeting Henry and seeing sights from the books/movies. Once we returned home, I began watching the series all over again to see if I could spot the places we visited. Also, the next season is set to begin this November, so it’s been a good refresher.
One of the sheds behind Midhope Castle.
I didn’t mention this, but between Culross and Doune Castle, Henry obliged us with a non-Outlander side trip to Clackmannan Tower, which is connected to my ancestors. That deserves its own entry, so that’s up next!
Marie's Meanderings 