Lots of Balblair Woods

Longest walk of the trip so far, 5 1/2 miles. This is AFTER Mike has played a round of golf walking, which is oh about 5 1/2 miles. And he still has to slow down for me...

Balblair Woods, the woods on the north shore of Loch Fleet, is an absolutely sstunning walk. Through pine forest, then mixed and deciduous trees, along the stony beach of Loch Fleet, and back again.   We got lost last summer ( you can see photos on last summer's blog.) And we got only a little lost this summer.  Next year's the charm!

Note the expanse of heathers under the pines, gorse, tiny orange mushrooms in the moss. Variety of stones on beach. Narrowness of path at times. Just a delight!

Ending with another pic out our kitchen window - more enthusiatic lawn bowlers!

Sans Peur

The motto of the Sutherland clan, as reported to you yesterday, is Sans Peur. 

Dornoch has adopted that, except in English, Without Fear.

I remember a conversation with neighbor Katie Eagle (owner of Jack the Pug and Petunia the Boxer) from decades ago. She said, Every person wakes up each morning and chooses either Fear or Hope. Life is really as simple as that, she said.  Sometimes we don't know we are choosing, she said. 

I have dealt with the Fear-Hope tug-of-war all my life. 

I know it is my choice. 

I know it is a daily choice. 

And here, in Dornoch, it just hit me. There on the crest, which is everywhere, a reminder. Atop downtown's buildings, outside the cathedral, on the golf course. 

A reminder to choose Without Fear!

Lots of Dornoch Golf Course

Skipped a day of posting. Did you notice?

It rained Tuesday. A good day to stay inside.

Presentation Tuesday night at Dornoch by the University of the Highlands and Islands' grad student some of us are modestly supporting, who is researching when golf was first played in Dornoch.

We want him to find proof Dornoch's date is older than St. Andrews. Currently Dornoch is 1616. I think St Andrews is 1552. Wade has a ways to go back for us. The official title of his research is "Sports in the Moray Firth from 1500-1800." The only sports here then were golf, archery, tennis and and chicle. I think.

During Q and A, there were more A's from the audience than Q's. One man told that he knew golf started in Dornoch, and it spread from here to St Andrews through the bishops and vicars. Another said golf was a sport for everyone, not just the elite, as it was orignally a game played by shepherds, using their staffs as clubs, rabbit holes as the cup and rabbit droppings as the balls.  Scots are opinionated.

Anyway, Wade has two more years to prove Dornoch was first in golf.

Watching the debates on the referendum Sept 18th. Scotland votes "YES" to separate or "No, Thanks" to not separate from the UK. The debates are 90 minutes of one man yelling at the other, and the other man loudly continually repeating his points. It is a close call, if you ask me. Both sides intensely passionate. Refreshingly, no thought of tanks coming across the border or villages being ransacked. Part of me feels like we are back in 1776, when the Colonies wanted to separate from Britain. Right now, I am on the side of "Better Together" group. I am learning tons. If Scotland is her own country: What currency to use? What happens to government pensions? How much revenue is in North Sea Oil? Who pays for National Health Services?  Why is it important to have a central bank?

Signs all over, saying "YES" or "No, Thanks".  These British are so polite.

Walked around Dornoch, snapping photos of flowers mainly. Colors pop so bright against the sandstone and grey stones. "Without Fear" is Dornoch's motto, with the horseshoe and the cat.

Horseshoe because, in the 1259, the Thane (Duke) of Sutherland (local royal guy) was fighting off the invading Danes. His sword broke, so he picked up a horse leg that was lying on the battleground, continued fighting, won the battle.

Cat because there's a cat on the Thane of Sutherland crest, and Dornoch was part of Sutherland's land.

Then wandered over to the sea, spied Mike on the 11th green. Today started out rainy and 40 degrees, so Mike decided to nix the 7 AM tee time, play in the afternoon. Gorgeous lighting. Maybe 60 degrees midday which is great when you are walking. Sunny on and off.

I was his caddy (tended pin, refused to handle clubs) and his personal photographer (but kept getting distracted by the views.) He turned the lens on me at the 16th green. Lots of golf course photos, difficult to capture the 360 degree feeling of sky, clouds, sound of the waves, vistas of gorse and heather and dunes. But I try.