The Angel’s Share Fungus

We’ve finally made it to Edradour! It only took ten years after our first try. 

The “Angels’ Share” is something we’ve known about for quite some time, but today, in addition some superb touring and tasting, we learned about the fungus accociated with distilleries, specifically with spirit aging facilities. It eats the ethanol seeping out the barrels, and forms a crusty black mat on buildings, equipment, and nearby trees. According to Andrew our guide, the tax collectors would use black-stained trees to locate and destroy illicit stills. (I regret I didn’t get a good photo of the really black trees by the warehouse, but you can make out some of it here.) 

Apparently the distillery has to paint its buildings four times a year to keep them so spotlessly white, and they want them white to reflect heat from the buildings, keeping them as moist and cool inside as possible. This is to minimize the share the angels take through evaporation. I wonder now, though I didn’t think to ask Andrew in the moment, why they don’t just pressure wash instead of painting. I may never know. 

Kingdom of Lothian

I’m a Sauceror  but playing KOL was a long time ago and I haven’t cooked anything in days. Never mind that, the food here in the ancient Kingdom of Lothian has been remarkably good. Rick Steves says it’s the French influence, though I just think it’s more the ready access to lots of great farmland. And raw hares. 

We’ve visited a huge castle with a tiny chapel and some shiny jools. 

Or maybe it’s just the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. 

I think the Scottish National museum is more interesting and accessible than the British in London. They present the objects as parts of a story, rather than just stuff sorted by time. I especially admire that when it comes to the ancient Picts, basically all the displays admit variations on “Hell if I know,” even though there’s a pretty decent amount of archaeological material. Just no one ever wrote down much about them. 

We saw bog butter. Mmmmmmm bog butter! I’m glad we could not smell the bog butter. (The interiors of Edinburgh Castle smelled really good, though.)

And the Romans were really into peen. 

The crew at Hertz gave us the most painful rental car pickup ever. We won’t let that spoil a delightful road trip starting tomorrow, and transpiring entirely on the wrong side of the road. 

Wishlist

From when we started planning this trip, Rowan has been asking if we could ride a double decker bus, “like the Knight Bus in Harry Potter.” Well, today we did, right in the front. 

While congratulating ourselves on how brave and savvy we felt for jumping into unfamiliar public transit (thank you, Google Maps, for your excellent data), we enjoyed a top notch view of Edinburgh. 

After one or the other of us had exclaimed some variant of “it looks just like in Harry Potter!” I had the epiphany that, by golly, they made it that way in the movies on purpose. Duh. 

Art imitates life and we sometimes forget that, until life experiences remind us of the truth. Soon enough we were enjoying the sights on their own merits, not in comparison to some fictional ideal. It takes time to fully inhabit a new place, to cease viewing it through the filter of preconceived notions. 

Edinburgh

Soooo we're in Scotland now, or so we're told. City of Edinburgh  (ed-in-burr-uh) near the main waterway called the Water of Leith. Which I assume is what you drink  when you want to become the Kwisatz Haderach. In any case,  it leads to the botanical gardens which are lovely and partially in large glass buildings which seems sufficient to convince the cacti that they are not in fact in Scotland and otherwise totally fucked.

Most everything is made of stone here which is smart both from the perspective of fire control and tourist appeal. You could probably just shut down a couple of streets here and film a period movie from the middle ages to WWI and not have to change or add anything digitally. 

Let's look at some pictures.

Preppers

It’s a week until we leave; back to the auld sod. Rowan is beside himself. He’s just sure that when we visit Loch Ness we’ll find Nessie, and bring back an egg for him to raise in Rimrock lake. He plans to introduce himself to the locals by his FULL name, which I’m sure will make us some friends. 

He’s just got his first pair of headphones, and he’s practicing using them for the plane. 

Faces of Birth, part I

First baby-birthing class last night. Seems like an amenable group - at least most have a good sense of humor. The teacher is just the typical nice, smiley, woo-woo sort that sitcoms have led me to expect. At least she's got her chops - we jumped right into discussions of circumcision, childcare options and other kinda touchy stuff and she kept it all comfortable.

Hiking while pregnant

Over the first weekend of August, Sam, Ryan, Jodi, and I went for a four-day backpacking trip in the Goat Rocks. I have never hiked while six months pregnant, and all in all I think it went pretty well. I certainly feel accomplished to have met this major goal!

The area is where I have been hiking since I was first allowed to go with Dad on "Big Hikes," and where Sam and I spent our honeymoon. This being the year of our 10th anniversary, the trip had even more significance for us. We were prevented from going up the drainage of the North Fork of the Tieton River by a forest fire, so we went up the South Fork to the McCall Basin instead. It was interesting viewing the landmarks we know and love so much from the rear, as it were.

I am so thankful that I was able to make this trip, and grateful to the other three hikers for allowing me to take my time and carry a little less weight. I could not have done it without lots of help from my friends.

The best part of the trip? Aside from the company and the sheer thrill of accomplishment, it would have to be the wildflower display. I have never seen such a lush bloom as this! It was also great to see a herd of over 30 mountain goats cavorting on a snow field. And of course Sam's "Frog Stomp" is not to be forgotten.

The worst part of hiking six months pregnant? It's a tie between trying to find a comfortable sleeping posture on the Therm-a-Rest (always a challenge!), and wearing the pack's hip belt really really low - right over the bladder, as if the kid himself doesn't put enough pressure there. By the way, we decided that if he comes out showing any effect from Mama's pack wearing, we're gonna nickname him "Bucklehead."