Snowing in the morning, sunny and beautiful in early afternoon (and all of us scurry out and sit outside — in 50 degree weather), and then it hails again a few hours later. Whoever said Scotland is just rainy is a big fat liar. It does rain, but just as often you’ll have sun (and wind and hail and rainbows). They are all timorous beasties.

So what do you do? You throw on your favorite scarf, cross your fingers, and head out into the belly of the city:

Sly Pete Scarf from Etsy (check out Laura’s fantastic style blog here) • Primark coat • Vintage Coach bag • Madewell skinnies • Hunter boots (on sale!)

I still haven’t gotten over the thrill of sitting on the second level of a double-decker bus (even though it makes me slightly queasy on longer rides). You can see so much of the beautiful city from up there. I always want the bus rides to last forever — I don’t think I’ll ever live in another city where I’ll wish that to be the case:

Book shops and newstands in abundance — two of my favorite things:

We have some friends here who are members of a club (can you guess which club from the subtle clues I left in the photo below?). They invited us to said club for lunch. I felt very Wooster-at-the-Drones-club, except when I was taking covert photos. Real club members don’t do that. Thanks for the invite, S&J!

Post “clubbing” we had to refortify with a slice of cake (and tea):

Then we hopped on another bus and went to a castle! I love castling. I have a whole post dedicated to going to this castle, so I hope you guys like castling too (yes, it’s a verb! — according to me):

Then back home for another delicious bowl of kedgeree (aka British fried rice):

Which we ate while watching the sun set in our apartment around 8:30 pm (the sun now rises at about 5 am — oi, my eyes)!

So the weather here isn’t easy, but who doesn’t like a good challenge? Especially when you have very long spring days, castles, tea, kedgeree, books and leather-arm-chaired clubs to assuage any malcontent at a snowy May.

—–

Dear Cath,

Click on that Drones club link above — it’s Hugh Laurie singing “47 Ginger-Haired Sailors.” I wish he sang in “House” — it would almost cancel out the hypochondria response I have to every episode.

I can’t wait to post the photos of Craigmillar Castle too! I think the day we went (8 years ago!) it was rainy and we didn’t stay long. I remember our trip to Linlithgow’s castle better. But Craigmillar has plenty of twisty staircases and hidden hallways to remind me why we did so much castling as students.

I hope you are having a good week so far! I misssss you!!!

Love,

Lar

Sometimes Edinburgh looks like this:

It is a beautiful city no matter the weather (good thing too), but when the sun comes out I swear it is sunnier and brighter than any place I’ve ever been. It’s kind of like when Dorothy steps out of her black and white Kansas farmhouse into the technicolored land of Oz. Birds gustily burst into song, rainbows spring out of emerald green hills, and all of Edinburgh breathes a happy sigh.

Here’s the thing though. Just because it’s sunny and the birds and rainbows are doing their thing, it doesn’t mean it is warm. Warm-ish, maybe, but not warm (unless you are one of those people that says a windy 47°F is warm). But as any Scottish person worth their salt will tell you, it’s no reason not do a little sun worshiping. So I grabbed the mustached husbando and headed out doors.

First stop, Princes Street Gardens for quick outfit shooting:

The good: necklace from Kenya (thank you, Pam!) • vintage Coach purse
The could-be-better-ethically-speaking-but-none-of-it’s-new: Primark coat and tank • Uniqlo sweater • Madewell jeans • Frye boots

Ice cream is popular here. . . all year round. 47 degrees and windy, and Scots stand outside with ice cream running down their cones. Scots are made of stronger stuff than I (I opted for a chocolate brownie instead, life being full of hard choices):

Next up, wedding watching! We (being wanna-be Scots people) were sitting at an outdoor cafe (with our coats on) when this wedding parade strolled by to some very merry bag piping. Any given Saturday you will come across a wedding party waltzing after their bag piper — lovely!

P.S. I in no way enhanced any of these sunny photos in photoshop. Those vivid greens really exist here when the sun bothers to show up. Nutso, isn’t it?

And if you get nippy from trying to be a true Scots, just duck into your local café for tea and cake (tea and cake or death, tea and cake or death!).

There are some lovely views from cafe below the National Gallery, and such good cake. nom!

Now you’ve got the feeling back in your hands whilst holding your mug of tea and gobbling your cake, head back outside for some more lolling about in the grass — preferably in the shade of a large castle:

End your day outside as the sun sets (which is around 8 pm now — thank you nearly-Artic-circle latitude!), sniffing cherry blossoms and looking at church murals with wonderful morals:

Once home, inspect possible (I say, very slightly possible) evidence of a rosy glow (wouldn’t go so far to say “tan”) from the sun.

So who’s ready for a little sunbathing in Scotland?

—–

Dear Cath,

Do you remember when we were studying here how everyone would crowd the Meadows once it hit 60 degrees? We only had one spell like that so far, but I’m crossing my fingers that May will be at least a touch warmer than April — jacket weather instead of coat weather.

I would give anything to meet you here on the next sunny day. How does tomorrow sound?

Love,

Lar

All things bought pre-ethical-guilt-awakening: Primark peacoat • Madewell jeggings • Mango booties

I realized my past couple of posts have been sooo wordy and thinky and angsty (ethical shopping! eating healthy! buying local!), that you guys might appreciate a little break from all that – heck! I would!

So this is just a little bit of fun and fluff, and things that happen when I’m not tormented about where to buy vegan make-up, shoes sewn by people earning a liveable wage, and where my sweet potatoes are grown.

Spring in Edinburgh! (So what it’s still only highs of 48 degrees when there’s blue sky and tenacious flowers):

It’s a gorgeous city, Edinburgh (view looking north over the Firth of Forth — a firth is like a bay and disappointingly not named after Colin):

Tea, and I don’t mean the drink. I mean mounds of clotted cream and scones, and salmon and cucumber sandwiches:

Here’s a close up for you:

Obviously scones and butter are the opposite of my vegan, gluten-free diet, but I have a hard time saying no to clotted cream. I mean, I can’t refuse a cultural experience, which is definitely what clotted cream is. Have you guys had it before? As far as dairy products go in the game of Britain vs. the States, Britain wins by a landslide.

Hope you guys had a wonderful weekend with bits of fluff!

—-

Dear Cath,

I hope you have a great week! For some reason it makes me sad that you are going to Orlando because that’s even further away than Atlanta! Next time you should have a conference in Edinburgh, okay? I’ll even take Toronto because the flight is much shorter (they go over the pole).

How did the rest of your paper writing go?

We need to start our August count down 😉

Love you!

Lar