Scotland Trip April 2026

The Cal-Mac ferry that runs between Arran and the Scottish mainland -- with a rainbow.

I finally got back to Scotland this year with my oldest friend, Janna.  We were supposed to take this trip back in 2020 when we turned 50, but the pandemic happened ...

Even this time, it was quite an adventure getting there.  Although we met in the Minneapolis airport, the plane to Amsterdam suffered a 6-hour mechanical delay, which made us miss the connecting flight for Glasgow.  We were rescheduled and put on a plane for London (Heathrow - Ugh!) instead, but that plane had a 2-hour delay as well and we missed another plane to Glasgow.  We had to spend the night in London because we arrived too late to do anymore.  Lots of extra expense for hotels and taxi rides.  Hopefully, Janna will get reimbursed for that.  I've never had so much trouble getting somewhere as this trip ... 

But once we got there, and I could see those ever-changing skies in Scotland, all was forgiven!

 

Waterlogued view of Goatsfel, the little mountain on Isle of Arran.  

This view is very near  the Invercloy Inn where we were staying in Brodick.

 

  

Hillary and Ricardo were lovely hosts to us at The Invercloy.  The inn was officially closed as they were remodeling, but Janna already had the reservation in, and they honored it.  Cozy, comfy and welcoming place! 

 

 

Waterlogued image from the main street of Brodick.  If you look closely, you might be able to make out the castle in the lower middle peeking up from the treeline.  

 

Waterlogued view of Brodick, Isle of Arran.  

The clouds are hiding the mountains behind ... 

 

 

We hired a driver to take us around the island.  This is a view of The Holy Isle from Ross Road as we are coming into Lamlash.  Wow!  

 

 

Waterlogued view of Janna in the elegant dining room of The Invercloy Inn, Isle of Arran.  

 

 

In between Arran and Loch Lommond, we visted The Weaver's Cottage.  It's officially part of the historic sites in Scotland.  I'm glad they preserved this! 

This is the view from my hotel room in Balloch, along the River Leven, and looking beyond to Loch Lomond.  Gorgeous!  Lots of boats, but not so many people this early in the season.

Waterlogued image of Ben Lomond (mountain) as seen from the waters of Loch Lomond.

We took a boat tour of Loch Lomond and got a closer look at the surrounding landscape. 

 

Red canoe on the shores of Loch Lomond. 

 

Castle Balloch on the shores of Lock Lomond, and a short walk from our hotel.  

 

 

 This hawk was on display at The Birds of Prey Center in Balloch, on Loch Lomond.

 

Another ruined casle at Locranza, Isle of Arrun.   

This is at the top of the island with geography more like the highlands. 

 

At Locranza Castle Ruin, at the top of Isle of Arrun.  

 

Friends for Life! 

On the Loch Lomond boat Tour.   Yes, it can be chilly there in April, but as long as you are dressed in layers, with a good cap, a rain coat,  and good company, it's fine!

 

Waterlogued view of Janna at the ruined castle on Inchmurrin Island, where Mary Queen of Scotts stayed for a time.  We had dinner on the island one night and hiked up to the ruin.  

 

Janna with a dreamy look in her eyes ...  

Dinner on the island of Inchmirrin in Loch Lomond.  We had to take a ferry to get there, too! 

County Health Officer Explains her Serious Battle with Shingles

I was recently asked for a copy of this article, only to discover that the link to the original was dead.   It was one of my mom's "greatest hits" as far as sharing her experience as a public health officer and nurse.  Many people reached out to her after she shared her experience.  Here it is the complete text.  May the words of my deceased mother continue to promote public health and the importance of immunizations long after her death.  

Keep your health: Avoid needless pain and misery.  It's a cautionary tale: Learn from Holly's harrowing experience: Get vaccinated.

Although she ends this piece by imploring parents to get their kids vaccinated against chicken pox, I would also advocate for older adults (who had chicken pox) getting vaccinated against shingles.  At the time she endured her first bout of shingles, she was not old enough / elligible for the shingles vaccine.  You had to be 60 years old then.  Now, there's a second vaccine available [Shingrix] which can be given to 50 year olds.  I got mine earlier this year.

Never Miss a Post - Resubscribe with Follow.It

Gentle Readers of Hidden Passeges,

With the upcoming demise of Feedburner, I had to find an alternative RSS > Email service before July 2021. So I picked Follow.It.   If you want to keep getting emails on new posts, you'll have to re-subscribe.

Subscribe to the Hidden Passeges news feed.

Click on “Follow” and decide if you want to get news from Hidden Passeges via RSS, as email newsletter, via mobile or on your personal news page.

Subscription to  Hidden Passeges comes without risk as you can unsubscribe instantly at any time.

You can also filter the feed to your needs via topics and keywords so that you only receive the news from Hidden Passeges which you are really interested in.

Website title: Sweet Leaf Notebook

Sorry for the inconvenience.  I don't want to lose anyone.

Have a wonderful week!

Michele at Sweet Leaf

 

Dutch Oven Boule Bread with Rosemary

 

[Sorry -- I was hoping to get a photo of it fresh out of the oven, but I went to bed too early and DH finished the bake and sliced it before I could see it whole.]

Trying a new bread recipe this week.  This one is by The Art of Manliness.  I've discovered I do all right with breads if I don't have to touch them / knead them.  Better off with the no knead artisan breads.

 

Here's what it looked like when The Art of Manliness posted his version. 

Pretty good looking, right?

The Basic Recipe [modified for our oven]:

This is an overnight rise, so start the bread the day or night before you’d like to bake it.  You can let it rise up to 24 hours. 1/2 tsp yeast give it a lot of life and energy!

Ingredients:

• 4-1/2 cups flour (bread or all-purpose) 
• 2 T. chopped Rosemary
  
• 1 T. salt
• 1/2 tsp. yeast
• 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast, so it’s all well-incorporated.
2. Add the chopped Rosemary (or other additions)
   
3. Add 2 1/4 cups water, stir until a sticky, pretty wet dough forms. If not all of the flour is incorporated, slowly add more water, a tablespoon or so at a time. This isn’t your standard dough; it’s very moist and would be impossible to form into any shape at this point.
4. Transfer to a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let it rise on the counter at room temperature overnight, or up to 24 hours.
5. After the bread has risen, use a spoon to fold the dough over itself 4-6 times, deflating some of the air from it. Let rise another 2-3 hours.
6. When you’re ready to bake, place your Dutch oven, with the lid, into the conventional oven. Preheat it to 475 degrees.
7. When the conventional oven is preheated, pull the Dutch oven out (with oven mittens, please) and place it on the stove top. Using a spoon, pour your dough into the hot dutch oven. It’ll sizzle a little bit.
8. Place the lid back on, and put it back in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes with the lid on, then another 10 minutes with the lid off.  When it temps at 190 degrees = perfectly baked bread.
   
9. Pull the Dutch oven out of the conventional oven, and let the bread sit in there another 10 minutes or so, before carefully flipping it over to get the bread out. The high heat ensured that the bread wouldn’t stick, so it should plop right out.
   
10. Let cool for a couple hours before slicing in and enjoying!

For a whole wheat variation, use 420 grams (3 cups) all-purpose flour (or bread flour) and 240 grams (1.5 cups) whole wheat flour.

You can also add: grated cheese (1 cup, gruyere is excellent), dried fruit (1 cup, blueberries are my favorite), rosemary (1-2 tablespoons). These are all added between steps 1 and 2. Use your imagination and experiment!

 

 

I added a goodly amount of fresh rosemary.   Someday I might add garlic along with it. ;-)  The last of the rosemary is still growing in the pot outside my front door.  The frost has not been so cold as to kill it off yet.  I also discovered that you can bring Rosemary in (and a few other herbs) and grown them in a glass of water, as if you were rooting them.  They always dry out in a pot with dirt on the windowsill, so maybe this will work? 

Peach Butter with Honey and Lemon

Peach Butter

"Taste a little of the summer.

My Gramma put it all in jars."

--Greg Brown

The last box of fresh peaches for the season.   Just trying to make it last a little longer ...

Peach Butter

8-10 Peaches, ripe

2/3 - 3/4 cup honey

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of that same lemon

Skin the peaches--the easy way. I know this seems like a lot of extra work, but believe me, it makes the process go so much quicker and easier that it is worth a few extra pots and bowls.

 

Drop the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds.

 

Then put them in a bowl of ice-water  for 90 seconds.

 

 

The peels should be very easy to pull off the peaches now.  You won't waste any of the good peach pulp.

Cut the peaches into approximately 1-inch chunks into the crock pot.

 

 

Add the zest of 1 lemon.

Add the juice of 1 lemon.

 

 

Add 2/3 - 3/4 cup honey.

We get honey from Mike-the-Honey-Man at our local Oshkosh Farmer's Market.

 

Do not add any extra water.  The peaches will cook down and make their own sauce.

Cook for 4-5 hours in the crock pot.

Hour 1 - High,with lid closed.

Hour 2 - Low heat, lid closed.

Stir periodically.

 

Hour 3 - Crack the lid open with a wooden spoon, or other prop so that some of the liquid can escape.

Hour 4 - Keep going.  Fruit will continue to soften, until it doesn't.

When it's done cooking, use a stick blender to make it smooth and creamy.

Careful -- It will still be hot!

 

Pour (or spoon) into prepared jelly jars.

 

You can go ahead and sterilize the jars if you want to officially can them.  We put them in the freezer, so don't worry so much about sterilization procedures.   If you do freeze the jars, leave a little space at the top of the jar, so the peach butter can expand as it freezes, without breaking the jar.  

 

Don't forget to have some for yourself.  I had an extra bowl-ful that wouldn't quite fill another jar.

Pure sunlight in a bowl!

Some notes on the construction of this recipe:  I looked at several peach butter recipes, and finally arrived at my own procedure above.  I did not like the brown sugar in one recipe, and the stove-top method required constant attention.  I didn't have to worry about it burning in the slow cooker, and the long cooking time adequately broke down the peach pulp so it was easy to blend smooth.  The honey version gave the perfect sweetness, without an aftertaste, and kept it from going bad in the fridge long term.  Yeah for honey's antimicrobial properties, even though I essential pasteurized it during the cooking process.  The lemon juice added a nice acidity for balance.  And I thought why not add the lemon zest in, too, for a little extra citrus kick?    Maybe next time, we'll add a little ginger juice, too.

Holly Matucheski December 25, 1950 - June 3, 2020

Holly Rae Matucheski, RN, BSN

December 25, 1950 - June 3, 2020

Obituary from the Bradley Funeral Home in Antigo, Wisconsin

The photo montage we created for the funeral.

The background music is "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart.

The new Blogger only allows this tiny port hole, so if you want a wider view, try this link.

Here is the link for Holly's funeral service (1 hour :2 min.)

Folder printed by the Bradley Funeral Home.

My Dad picked out eagle theme.

Program for Holly's Funeral Service

Special Song - "Time of my Life" (from Dirty Dancing)

"I've had the time of my life, and I owe it all to you."

Holly said that friends were the most important thing for a woman.

In that respect, this song was meant to be a THANK YOU from Holly

to everyone who made her life as wonderful as it was.

Ashleigh Halverson read "A Letter from My Heart" to Holly,

who inspired her to read and to become a nurse.

Kay Solitto read Holly's Obituary,

adding some of her own commentary and context.

Obituary from The Antigo Times

Betsy Ahner's touching Euology for Holly [pdf].

I asked Bradley if they could set up a Christmas Tree. 

Even though it was June, they were happy to do so.

Since Holly was born on Christmas Day, Christmas time was always filled with light and magic for us.

The Christmas Tree hepled to bring back some of her spirit.

Also on display were some of her quilts:

The Red Canoe

[Carrie Zelazoski talked about teaching the block-of-the-month quilting class

where Holly made this quilt.]

Pine Trees

Not wanting Holly's funeral to be a super-spreader event for Covid-19, those of us who work in health care wore masks.  She was the Public Health Officer for Langlade County for many years!

Michele and cousin Ashleigh.

Even my sister Amanda (top right) in Japan was able to attend via Zoom.

We had a stand set up with an iPad and a sign saying:  "Talk to Amanda in Japan."

She attended about 7 hours via zoom for the visitations and funeral service.

Due to the global pandemic, she was not able to attend the funeral in person as both the US and Japan had travel restrictions.

We picked daisies for the flower spray over the casket.

She had daisies in her wedding bouquet 51 years before.

It was so cold that January, the flowers froze on the way to the church.

From this angle, it kind of looks like her.

Doesn't quite look like her, but here she is ... after a long illness.

High school graduation photo, looking the way she did when Dad first met her.

Also on display was this scrap booking layout made by daughter Amanda Yoshida.

Along with the Wandering Geese quilt Holly made for daughter Michele and Christian.

Holly - Christmas 2018