Crabapple and others
May. 10th, 2025 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootThe crabapple tree continues to flourish, cheering me up every Spring.
It's covered in greenfly so I invested in some ladybirds; freaks me out to see how few insects are around. It's been a long wet winter, maybe everything is delayed, but still it feels like there should be more than this.
We visited Outlander country, that is to say Culross, a well preserved 17th/18th century burgh made famous as the village of Cranesmuir. I've never watched Outlander, perhaps I should. Culross has some strangeness of its own. Up at the old kirk remains the legend that deep in the tunnel/(s) beneath awaits a man. Sometimes he is sitting on a golden chair, sometimes he stands, but always, if you find him, he'll give you a gift. Culross Abbey was first founded in the 1200s, kept by Cistercian monks, but it is said that this was once the site of a pictish holy place. The village is very photogenic, and there's a warm welcome at the Red Lion Inn. But I am too tired to wrestle with lots of photos so I'll just put up the one I like most, an interior of Sir George Bruce's house, with its decorated wood panels and curved ceilings.
Blackness castle serves as Fort William in the series. It was an interesting contrast to everything else we had seen, the textbook beauty of Blair Atholl, the olde worlde charm of Culross. This was Scottish castle as fortress and prison, for all its noble beginnings. It is empty and grim but still fascinating, as well as having paintworthy views towards the bridges over the Forth.
Back to the zombie apocalypse, you could do a lot worse than lure them into Blackness castle through the front, into your central courtyard then pop 'em off via the walls/that clever caponier/ murder holes etc. Of course, you'd need to keep the sea clear, not necessarily easy with the little pier and the potential of gas filled undead floating to the surface.
Why consider the zombie apocalypse at all? Sometimes I think it's damn close by. We know the slaps as well as the bennies of social media, but when I consider the current numbers of people who seem to be disappointed that the new head of the Catholic Church is, in fact, a Catholic, I honestly wonder. Were they expecting Penn Jillette?
It's covered in greenfly so I invested in some ladybirds; freaks me out to see how few insects are around. It's been a long wet winter, maybe everything is delayed, but still it feels like there should be more than this.
We visited Outlander country, that is to say Culross, a well preserved 17th/18th century burgh made famous as the village of Cranesmuir. I've never watched Outlander, perhaps I should. Culross has some strangeness of its own. Up at the old kirk remains the legend that deep in the tunnel/(s) beneath awaits a man. Sometimes he is sitting on a golden chair, sometimes he stands, but always, if you find him, he'll give you a gift. Culross Abbey was first founded in the 1200s, kept by Cistercian monks, but it is said that this was once the site of a pictish holy place. The village is very photogenic, and there's a warm welcome at the Red Lion Inn. But I am too tired to wrestle with lots of photos so I'll just put up the one I like most, an interior of Sir George Bruce's house, with its decorated wood panels and curved ceilings.
Blackness castle serves as Fort William in the series. It was an interesting contrast to everything else we had seen, the textbook beauty of Blair Atholl, the olde worlde charm of Culross. This was Scottish castle as fortress and prison, for all its noble beginnings. It is empty and grim but still fascinating, as well as having paintworthy views towards the bridges over the Forth.
Back to the zombie apocalypse, you could do a lot worse than lure them into Blackness castle through the front, into your central courtyard then pop 'em off via the walls/that clever caponier/ murder holes etc. Of course, you'd need to keep the sea clear, not necessarily easy with the little pier and the potential of gas filled undead floating to the surface.
Why consider the zombie apocalypse at all? Sometimes I think it's damn close by. We know the slaps as well as the bennies of social media, but when I consider the current numbers of people who seem to be disappointed that the new head of the Catholic Church is, in fact, a Catholic, I honestly wonder. Were they expecting Penn Jillette?
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no subject
Date: 2025-05-10 02:53 pm (UTC)I'm quite capable of liking the new Pope without liking Catholicism. Hey! He does Wordle! 😀
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Date: 2025-05-10 03:32 pm (UTC)Agreed, one can like the new pope without liking Catholicism and vice versa, but I am surprised that some are heartbroken to learn there's any connection between the two, and that the cardinals were never going to vote for some apostate whose knuckles are tattooed with the number of the beast. Sometimes it's about managing expectations 😉
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Date: 2025-05-11 06:49 am (UTC)So Outlander... I very rarely use the term "guilty pleasure" to describe anything I indulge in because most of the time (to quote Tim Minchin) "That shows an incredibly low threshold for both guilt... and pleasure", but I'd definitely put Outlander in that category because I can't watch it without feeling like I'm doing myself a disservice. It really smacks of frustrated housewife porn. When I started watching it last year I was in a dark brain place and it was zero-effort watching and that's what I needed. The soundtrack is great, and the scenery is unsurprisingly breathtaking, some of the storylines are so twisted that they appeal to my equally twisted brain, and I admit there are a good deal of pretty people to look at. And by the time it spiralled into being consistently lame, I'd invested enough time that I now can't pull out XD
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Date: 2025-05-12 09:51 am (UTC)