Author Archives: maryannsteggles

I went to the UK as a Commonwealth Scholar in 1990 and received my PhD from the University of Leicester in 1993. After three decades of university teaching, I retired to devote my time to the study of raptor behaviour. I am particularly interested in Ospreys and am working on a long term project on third hatch survival and siblicide in these raptors. My blog is a result of a fascination with my local wildlife and the desire to encourage others to love and care for birds! I live on the Canadian Prairies and prior to the pandemic travelled a lot. I am questioning the use of aviation fuel at the moment as we all strive to help our planet. My early research was in politics and art including British public statues exported to Southeast Asia and Vietnam Resistors that contributed much to Canadian ceramics. Books and articles were published on those subjects over a period of 3 decades. Now I am working on books for children so they can learn about the challenges our raptors face.

Dusk over Magazine Beach, Grenada, West Indies

It’s the end of another warm, beautiful day during the dry season in Grenada.  It began with feeding the fish in the pond in the featured photo.  The egrets and herons watch you very carefully and have learned that if tourists feed the fish they can get in the action and have a great big meal.  At dusk, the herons and egrets settle in for the evening on the island.

One tourist area that could grow in Grenada is birding.  There are 160 different species of birds.  Just staying in one location, over a couple of days, there have been that spectacular little blue heron from yesterday, a great egret, many little egrets, a Caribbean Elaenia, a blue-black grassquit, a pair of Eurasian collared doves, a Zenaida dove, a royal tern, a tricolour heron, a Caribbean Grackel,  and a vast assortment of smaller hummingbirds that have been simply too fast to photograph and identify.  There is a stand over the mangroves in Woburn and if it is high tide, it is apparently filled with lots of various species.  I also noted that there is a walking tour through the rainforest that includes bird watching.

The Royal Tern is about the size of a seagull.  It wasn’t much interested in us as it had its eyes fixed on a fish in the pond.  These are common coastal birds in the West Indies.

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This pair of Eurasian Collared Doves were just sweet.  This medium-sized grey dove with its distinctive collar around the hindneck was introduced into Cuba in the 1970s and has now spread to all of the Lesser Antilles including Grenada.  This dove is a ground feeder but today it took a keen interest in the food that we were feeding to the fish making me believe that all of the animals and birds will be happy when the rainy season begins in June.

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This Carib Grackle made himself a bit of a pest today!  And in doing so he entertained me completely by the way he broke the crackers down in order to eat them with his beak and claws.  He is also the pesky creature that likes to steal food off the plates in the dining room.  No kidding.

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I know that most of you didn’t come to this blog to read about my new passion birding.  So here are some continuing tips on getting around the island of Grenada and being a ‘wise’ tourist.

One of the best ways to get around the island is by mini-van.  The driver normally owns the van and has a license for a certain route.  The route numbers appear on the windscreen.  Each license gives the owner a limited number of trips (daily) on their route.  This is precisely why the young man who opens and closes the door keeps his eyes out for anyone who might want a ride and is nearing a bus stop.  Don’t take offence as he will not chat with you.  It is up to him to fill that bus – the more passengers that can be crammed in, the more money that is made!  You might actually think not one more person could fit in that van but the conductor (that young man sliding the door and taking the money) knows precisely how many people he can fit in the bus.  Sometimes he might even shift people around in the seating after a stop.  Don’t fret, just go with the flow and enjoy Grenada time which is much slower than anywhere else in the world.  Fares vary on the length of the route you are travelling.  Typically, a ride from the Starfish up by Maurice Bishop Airport to Grand Anse or St George’s will cost you 10 EC.  Tell the conductor where you want to get off.  You will hear him knock on the roof or the door to tell the driver to stop.  Don’t do this yourself unless you are not wearing any rings – scratching the paint will get several people mad at you.

One of the things that many tourists do is sign up for tours, sometimes very, very expensive tours.  But for those who are curious and a little more adventurous at heart and who want to save a heap of money, I suggest you pick up one of the free Grenada Road Map guides.  Almost every shop we have been in has at least one copy.  What is so interesting is that the map highlights many of the tourist attractions you might be interested in and the number of the local bus to take to get there.  So tomorrow, instead of spending more than $300 CDN to go on a tour to Belmont Estates, I am going to take the bus to Grenville, switch at their bus station and head straight to Belmont Estates. You can have an amazing lunch there, check out the making of the goat cheese, there is also a gift shop, petting zoo and a look at what life was really like on a 17th-century plantation.  Check back with me in a couple of days but by my figuring, I will save approximately $275 CDN!

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The mini-vans are also great entertainment.  There is always reggae music playing and you will be surprised at how courteous these young men are to their customers.  I have seen elderly ladies transporting propane tanks and chickens.  The driver will pull as close as he can to their house and the conductor will help them unload.  This morning he helped a  woman and her daughter with eight bags of groceries.  This is great service – and respect.  Sure isn’t that good in Canada most of the time.  So don’t get in a rush.  Take the local mini-van.  Get lost in Grenada somewhere.  Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Shopping.  I have already mentioned Art Fabrik as one of the true local shops that employ local sewers.  But today, let’s talk a little bit about breakfast options, book stores, and ready-made clothes.

There are two malls near Grand Anse Beach.  There is the Spiceland Mall opposite the Coyaba Hotel.  It has doubled in size over the last couple of years.  There is an IGA, various clothing stores, a duty-free shop, a local art gallery and shop, and quite surprising an excellent bookshop, Art and Soul.  They had a large area for children and young readers, Caribbean cookbooks and a really good selection of Vegan, along with the New York Times bestsellers and ‘beach reading’.  I was looking for a book on birds as well as one on the history of the Grenadian Revolution that wasn’t slanted towards the US view of the world.  I came away very happy.

If you are looking for beer, wine, or spirits, head to the IGA (or any other grocery store).  They have a large selection priced in EC, much cheaper than the Duty-Free (Unless you are looking for something exotic).  Personally, I think the grocery stores are the place to buy local chocolate and cocoa.  There are now five chocolate producers and all of their products are organic. The Grenada Chocolate Company was the first.  The grocery stores also sometimes carry the local vanilla or the passionfruit honey which is to die for.

You will save approximately 50% by doing your shopping for these local items at these big grocery stores as opposed to the smaller tourist shops near the cruise ship port.

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The second mall is a short walk from Spiceland and is located across from the Raddison Hotel.  It is the Grande Anse Shopping Centre.  There is a grocery store and this is where you will find Mike’s Pizza.  He opens at 11am and he used to also have ice cream.  But there is also a little dress and gift shop tucked in right by the fountain.  Too-kachi Boutique and Craft Studio carry a nice selection of locally made gifts, cotton and beach clothing.  All prices are in EC.

BTW.  I am not a fan of malls anywhere but I am also not keen to spend 50% more for anything.

Eating out in Grenada can be very expensive if you go to restaurants (as opposed to the local stands).  We stopped for toast and sausages at Moch Spoke (you can also rent bicycles but you are taking your life into your hands on the Grenadian roads!), a cup of coffee, and a shared orange juice.  For two it came to $12 CDN.  The full English breakfast with toast, eggs, bacon or sausage, and beans is $33 EC or about $16.50 CDN each.  Note:  You can also get a great breakfast – some of the most amazing French toast – at The Papillion.  It is a short walk up the hill behind the Spiceland Mall.  They are open Wednesday through Sunday.

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KFC is spotlessly clean, large, and is freezing cold.  Early in the morning, you can see the locals heading in there for fried chicken for breakfast.  Here is a look at their Value Menu.  The best way to convert currency for Canadians is simply to divide the EC by 2 and you get the equivalent Candian dollars.  Despite what the currency exchange boards say, by the time you are finished that appears to be the most accurate conversion.

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Last tip of the day:  wear a hat!  The top of your head can get sunburned very quickly!  And if you forget your flip flops, you can purchase name brands and no name all over the island.

 

 

 

Chillin’ Out in Grenada

Grenada is a small volcanic island in the southern Caribbean near Trinidad and Tobago.  I have been travelling here to visit my son, Cristofre, and his wife, Tammy, for fourteen years.  Many call it ‘paradise’.  Sick and tired of a long Canadian winter with snow showers still falling and temperatures hovering around -2 Celsius, it is no wonder that most of the people around the pool at the Starfish Resort are Canadian.

Fourteen and a half years ago, the people of Grenada were trying to come to terms with the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan in the south part of the island and Hurricane Emily in the north.  Ivan arrived on September 7, 2004, and damaged 80% of Grenada’s buildings.  It was common to see houses without roofs and many of the locals called the category 3 storm, ‘Hurricane Rufus’ or ‘Ivan Rufus’ due to the tragic situation of the homes covered with blue tarps trying to keep them dry.  Everyone had a story about where they were when the storm struck.   Packs of wild dogs roamed everywhere and at night if one of them barked, all of the others started.  The palm trees along Grand Anse Beach, one of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world, were torn from the sand, their branches scattered hither and yon.

Well, that was nearly fifteen years ago.  Today, the palm trees have grown back lining the white sandy beach again along with a growing number of luxury hotels.  What used to be $100 a night at an all-inclusive hotel right on the beach, will be more than three times that now, without meals.  One of the newest, if not the latest offering, the Silversands Grenada has the longest infinity pool in the Caribbean and has, at the top end, four bedroom beachfront villas measuring 2,071 square meters (22,292 square feet), four and a half bathrooms, private pools, and outdoor dining to name a few of the amenities.  Indeed, Grenada has set itself up for the 5-star market as opposed to the budget traveller according to many of the locals.  It is, thus, interesting that one of Canada’s leading charter airline companies, Sunwing Airlines, has recently purchased the Starfish Resort and will begin a refurbishment on May 15.  Today, this hotel is a good value for families that want an all-inclusive break.  The resort sits on Magazine Beach.  The grounds are immense with some rooms facing a central pond with bridge and islands with trees laden with the beautiful white Egret. The white ‘things’ in the second tree left of the waterfall are Egret.

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Some shots of the current Starfish resort:

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And while the rooms are a little tired and yes, there are a lot of stairs, the views are incredible and the staff are friendly and helpful.  There is, however, only one a la carte restaurant, The Oriental, while I am told that the Silversands has fifteen.  The point that I am trying to make is that Grenada has changed significantly in the past decade and continues to make progress in attracting tourists back to the island.  Recent promotions have really helped.  The economic boom can be seen in Spice Island Mall doubling its capacity, the number and variety of restaurants, tour companies, hotels, and shops.  When once you could only get the local fare, today you have a choice of almost anything you could want ranging from sushi to East Indian to pizza and fried chicken alongside road stands selling roti and jerk chicken.  That said, I would personally encourage resorts like the Starfish to provide local fare including roti for their guests.  The other big difference in this growth is the number of airlines serving this small island paradise.  Air Canada and Caribbean Airlines have direct flights from Toronto.  Delta, British Airways, and American Airlines handle the American and European markets.  And with Sunwing entering the market, there will be more options.  The average temperature is around 27 degrees.  The rainy season begins in June-July and ends normally in October.  I have been here over the Christmas holidays when it poured every day.  It never seemed to bother too many people at the beach!

You can come to Grenada and just sit at the beach.  You don’t have to do anything.  But, if you like to snorkel or scuba dive, you are covered.  You might get lucky and land a Marlin if you go deep sea fishing but, you can also hook up with one of the locals and go out for something a little smaller.  Other water sports abound near Grand Anse Beach.  There are tours of the island and I suggest that everyone who comes here for the first time compare prices and go out and see the waterfall, the old plantations, one of the cocoa processing plants (it is all organic), hike through the rainforest or check out the 160 species of birds on the island.  Here is a great shot of a blue heron at sunset the other day:

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The food offerings in Grenada have changed immensely since I first began travelling here.  You can even get schnitzel!  Yes, in downtown St George’s!  You apparently need to make an appointment but the food is, apparently, out of this world.  Check it out if you find yourself here.  And there are enough fast food chains like Subway, KFC, and Pizza Hut to keep people happy if they tire from the all you can eat buffets at the hotels or want something more familiar.  But the small mom and pop stands that sell one specialized local item remain popular.   Stop and have some of the local jerk chicken,  the roti or doubles (originally from Trinidad I am told with the jerk from Jamaica).  Find someone to take you off the main drag to find them.  You will be glad you did.

No visitor should leave Grenada without at least visiting a shop in the old part of St. Georges, Art Fabrik.  Chris Mast and Lilo Nido are creative designers.  They have been here through the economic downturn following Hurricane Ivan and survived.  They do the design work and have more than 45 women in the local community sewing the shirts, hats, dresses, and beach covers along with all manner of scarves and soft toys.   They are truly local – nothing is made in China but sold as being Grenadian.  You will be so happy that you did.  Their large batik wall hangings are magnificent and have won awards internationally.  If you are in Grenada long enough they might be able to whip something up especially for you.

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Other local items to take home are the local organic cocoa.  There are now five cocoa processing companies on the island.  You can buy their products at the Chocolate Shop across from Art Fabrik or any of the tourist shops.  Some are available in the grocery stores and are often less expensive for the same item.  Nutmeg is another local crop and if you have lots of uses for it or need unique gifts for your friends, you can go to the Nutmeg Corporation and buy ten pounds of the latest crop.  The nutmegs that I bought five years ago are still good!  And if you learn to love the local nutmeg ice cream a quick way to make it is to take a vanilla ice cream, let it soften and add 1-2 nutmegs grated to a half gallon and let the ice cream re-harden.  Of course, you can make your nutmeg ice cream from scratch using a vanilla recipe and adding 1 grated nutmeg to a batch.  And then there is the rum.  Lots of rum ranging from average to outstanding.  Westerhall is one of the local ones but you can also pick up the award-winning El Dorado Rum from Guyana.

 

Dunnottar Castle

I had written about Dunnottar Castle earlier in my blog when I planned to go and visit.  I did finally find the time today to take a run up the coast.  As I got closer and closer the skies opened and the rain began to fall.  Those clouds that look blue were actually black and the rain had made the trail to the castle – very steep in either direction – pretty much impossible unless you had really good hiking boots with grip.  The admission fee is 7 GBP and it appears the castle is open every day of the year from at least 10:00-16:00.  In the summer it is open longer.  I can only imagine the small car park filling up quite quickly.  The castle bulletin board actually suggests parking in Stonehaven and hiking up to the castle.  There is a caravan with tea and coffee and sweets before the path leading to the castle.

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The views from the hills around are absolutely breathtaking.

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I suggest that you take the A92 from Arbroath and drive through the scenic villages.  You could stop for lunch at Lunan and also take in the lovely beach area there on the same visit.  The fields between Montrose and Stonehaven are full of daffodils being grown for market and amazing sheep!

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Lunan Bay and Red Castle

I missed a trip the other week to Lunan Bay, one of Scotland’s longest and most beautiful beaches about ten minutes north of Arbroath on the road to Montrose.  Today, there was a break, and it seemed like a good time to go.  The sun was out, and it was 14 degrees C.  From Arbroath, Lunan Bay is about a 15-minute drive.  A word of warning if you go.  The iPhone directions actually tell you to turn right about half a mile early.  To get to the lovely dunes and the sea, you need to drive right into the heart of this small hamlet.  You will then see the signs for the beach and its parking.  The drive takes you through farming land and cow pastures with the beautiful red Highland Cattle with their sweeping horns. Lunan Bay is one of the few remaining areas in Scotland where salmon netting takes place.  They have apparently been catching salmon here since the 15th century.  Up until the 1960s, the salmon fisherman lived in bothies, little shacks near the beach, and would only go home to their families at the weekend.

As you near Lunan, look off to your right and before you get to the actual village,  you will see Red Castle.

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Red Castle has a tragic history, and today it is mostly in ruins, ready to fall down.  It was built in the 12th century for King William of Scotland to defend against the Viking invaders who had been coming to the shores of Lunan Bay since the 10th century.  It is called the ‘Red Castle’ because it is built of red sandstone bricks.  The castle and the surrounding lands passed down to several individuals.  Ingram de Balliol married the wife of the late Walter de Berkely.  Together they rebuilt the castle, and the castle is said to have remained in their hands until their grandson, Ingram, died childless in 1305 and it was passed down to Henry de Fishburn.  It came into the hands of Robert the Bruce who gave it to the Earl of Ross in 1328.  It is awhile til the saga happens.  In 1579, Lady Elizabeth Beaton who owned the castle at the time fell in love with and married James, the son of Lord Gray.  Well, James fell in love with Lady Elizabeth’s daughter, and she throws him out.  James Gray joins with his brother Andrew of Dunninald, and for two years they try to take the castle.  They were ultimately successful by burning them out.  Since then they say the castle went into decline.  There are some images on the website Scottish Places that show the castle in the 1950s with its roof intact.  Today, as you can see it is almost entirely in ruins.  I did not know, but there is a footpath that will take you right up to the castle to see the keep.  I might try that tomorrow!

Lunan House has rooms to let.  It is close enough that you can walk down to the beach.   You might also be able to get a meal here.  On weekends before April 1, there is a cafe near to the beach parking, and I understand it is open daily once the visitors begin to come.

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I had an exciting event happen on the drive back to Arbroath.  I wanted to take photographs of the Highland Cattle, so I was driving slowly along a lane that was about 1.5 cars wide (small cars!).  The car in front of me had a pheasant leap into its windscreen.  Well, this reminded me of our old friend, Alf Waddingham from Grantham.  He told us the rule:  If you kill the pheasant you cannot take it but the next person can.  We often thought he might have scared them out of the ditches into the lanes to get hit as he always came home with 4 or 5.  Well, today, I pulled an Alf.  I don’t think the chef was that thrilled when I brought the beauty into the kitchen, but I am hopeful someone working on the estate will like it and take it home.  The colours on this bird are just amazing, and it was quite sad, actually.  That said, I have every intention of plucking those tail feathers.

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And tonight Lucy came to fetch me so I could see the ‘Worm Moon’.  It is apparently a Super Worm Moon that is occurring with the spring equinox.  It will not happen again until 2144.  This is the first time that a super worm moon has occurred since 1905.  The farmers used to say that the first full moon in March was when the soil had warmed up and the worms would wake up and come out of the ground.  Apparently, it will be brilliant at 2am!  Here it is starting to rise.

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Hospitalfield, Day 9 The Colours in the walls, on the trees, and in our heads

Painters must just go mad once they begin to look at the colour in their kit and then, every time they turn they must see shades in the most unexpected places.  For the past couple of days besides being so influenced by the house and the sea, the natural environment that surrounds this great house is full of incredible surprises.  Like looking at a grey and black wall and suddenly noticing a tiny square of yellow.

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Or the moss (or is it lichens?) growing on the cast iron stairs at the back of the building?

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Or the range of earth colours in the bricks?  Why am I so surprised by this?  Because in Canada everything is monotone when you look at the bricks from a distance.  Here, it is very much different.  And it makes you stop and notice.

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And sometimes the face of a brick just falls off…

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And then there are the mushrooms…

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All of these have permeated my work, and it has been grand to create layers and layers of slip trying to capture what only Mother Nature does best.

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So all of the images above, really have put into motion a real change in my work!  It is like crossing over to a totally new experience.

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And speaking about colour, I promised to write to you about the impact of bitumen.  Bitumen is nothing more than asphalt, a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as a residue from petroleum distillation. It is used for road surfacing and roofing.  Some of us call it tar.  In the 19th century, artists were trying to get the blackest black they could get, so they added bitumen to their paint.  At the time it certainly gave them what they worked so hard to achieve, but today, the bitumen is darkening the pictures to the point that most of the figures have been obliterated.  This can really be seen in the work below by Robert Scott Lauder titled, The Trial of Effie Deans.  Lauder lived from 1803-1869 and was a member of the Scottish Royal Academy.  He was a personal friend of Patrick Allan-Fraser, the owner of this house.  Effie Deans is one of the characters in Walter Scott’s novel, The Heart of Midlothian. There is a story that all historical painters in Scotland took their subjects from Walter Scott’s novels where those in England use Shakespeare.  I cannot vouch for the truth of this, but this house is undoubtedly filled with themes from Scott’s books.  Sometimes the name is Jeanie.  She was the first female protagonist of Scott’s to come from the very lower classes.  The book is set about the Old Tolbooth Prison, and the events of the Porteus Riots form the underlying backdrop.

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There are apparently figures that have entirely disappeared from the middle and the far right.

We have the co-curator from the Dundee Art Gallery coming to visit us this evening.  Peter is planning to check out our studios and have a chat.

I want to congratulate Allan Whyte from Glasgow who shares my studio.  Allan just received word that his application for a residency in Berlin was successful.  He will be spending three months in one of the great creative venues, ZK/U.  Everyone is delighted.

Scotland, Day 7 The McManus. Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum

Our second stop, highly recommended by my old friend, Hazel, was the McManus Museum yesterday.  For those thinking about going, entrance is free.  This is a great place to take a family, lots of things for children to do and photography is allowed in all of the galleries unless it is a special exhibition.  For those who cannot climb stairs, there is a lift and a cafe with a gift shop.  The McManus is right in the centre of Dundee.  A lovely place to visit with lots of shops about.

The building was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, and it has been the heart of the city’s culture since it opened in 1869.  Scott was a leading architect of the Gothic Revival style.  He was born in 1811 in Buckinghamshire.  At the age of sixteen, in 1827, he moved to London where he trained as an architect under James Edmeston.  Scott became enamoured with medieval Gothic and began travelling across Europe to see the buildings firsthand in the 1840s.  Gothic Revival as it was in the 19th century drew its inspiration from the architecture of medieval Europe with its pointed arches, trefoils, and naturalistic foliage decoration.  Scott was knighted in 1872 for his contributions to British architecture.   The following year he became the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects.  Scott dies five years later; he is buried in Westminster Abbey.

The McManus Museum was initially known as the Albert Institute.  It was designed by Scott with building commencing in 1865.  The structure was finished three years later in 1868.  Initially, it had a library on the ground floor and a public hall on the second.  Additions were added by David Mackenzie II (1832-1875) in 1872-74, and William Alexander (1841-1904) in 1887.

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The first floor has several galleries including Dundee and the World, The Victorian Gallery, The Long Gallery, the 20th century Gallery, a revolving exhibition entitled ‘Here and Now’ and the Creative Learning Centre.

Dundee and the World showcase the international and maritime collections centred on world trade.  Dundee was known for its business in jute and its whale hunting.  Today along the coast of the North Sea corporations drill for ‘black gold’ or oil.  The tour guides tell you that long before people had any need for this oil, they used oil from plants.  Around 1700 someone discovered that oil from whales would soften jute and leather, could be burned as a fuel and could be made into soap.  The boats carried crews of between 40 and 70 men who chased the whales in the North Sea and harpooned them.  They would be tethered to the side of the ship where strips of blubber would be cut off and rendered to extract the oil.  That was stored in barrels and sent back to Dundee.  It is believed that the very first whaling ship to leave Dundee was in 1753.  The early whalers travelled as far as the North Atlantic and the Arctic.  Overhunting meant that by the 19th century almost all of the northern whales were dead.  But the demand for oil did not stop, and Dundee whalers would travel to the South Atlantic to hunt.  In 1872 Dundee was the most crucial whaling centre in Britain with catches of about 200 whales per year.  The community prospered.  Sails had to be made, ropes were needed, men to load and unload and to work on the ships.  In fact, ships had to be made.  Whaling stopped in 1912 as the number of whales had significantly declined and made it uneconomical.  Whale oil was also being replaced by new oils including paraffin that was extracted from shale.

In its heyday, whale bones were used for lamp oil, cutlery handles, and lubricants while the baleen was used to stiffen corsets, for parasol ribs.  The spermaceti from the head of the sperm whale provided the wax used in candles, cosmetics and medicines.  The blubber or whale oil was processed for softening the jute in Dundee.

Other traditional Dundee industries included wool.  The fibres were sent to the Netherlands to be dyed.  Leather processing including processing the hides from Scottish cattle to make belts, shoes, gloves, hats, saddles, and harness.  Shipbuilding was, of course, a big industry.

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One startling exhibition was of two ‘Branks’.  Branks were used from the 1600s onwards.  They were also known as ‘Scould’s Bridles’ and were iron contraptions put on the heads of women accused of slander or sweating to prevent them from speaking.  They were then led through the town!  They were said to have originated in Germany and the Netherlands.

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There is a lovely model of the city.  Notice the church and all of the cramped quarters.  When the jute mills were working you could not see the city from across the Tay, all of the fibres mixing about.  And then there was also the pollution from the coal fires.

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The children seemed to love the area that might be classified natural history as much as I did.  There were hawks, Golden Eagles, rabbits of all sorts.

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The Victoria Gallery was staggering.  It is precisely what you imagine the annual exhibition at the Royal Academy would look like with pictures stacked one on top of the other.  It was a bit overwhelming.

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Restaurant recommendation for the day:  The Bellrock in Arbroath.  The fish (cod and haddock) are fresh every day, and if you think you have had great fish and chips, you need to try this place.  It will cost you a tenner (twice as expensive as in Canada but twice as good). And because of the amount you get could be easily shared!  On Sunday there is a buffet but the best fish is ordered off the menu.

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Scotland, Day 6 Juteopolis

While the plan had been to go castle hopping today, the weather took a wee bit of a turn, and it was raining snow.  Cold to the bone-chilling cold.  Lucy, Kiki, and I went museum hopping in Dundee instead.  Three museums:  The Verdant Jute Museum, the MacManus Museum, and the new V & A Design Museum.

The jute industry was the heart of the city of Dundee.  In the late 19th century, over 54,000 people were employed in the industry.  The featured image shows a map of the trade in jute.  Dundee was known as Juteopolis.  In 1901 it was at the very height of its power and was a bustling international city with people from Russia, India, the United States, Germany, and Poland.  Merchants travelled back and forth between Dundee and the Indian subcontinent.

The raw material was imported from Calcutta and processed in Dundee.  It was the women and young children that were used in the mills, and it was the women in charge of the pay packets.  In the 1860s, the jute barons of Dundee had set up jute mills on the Indian subcontinent because labour was so cheap.  By 1901, the processing of jute was in decline in Dundee and in 1947 at India’s independence, no more jute was shipped to Scotland.  A few years later, in 1912, the whaling industry died.  So many whales had been killed that the industry was no longer profitable.  I was surprised to learn that it was whale oil that made the jute fibres so soft, like cashmere.  In 1914, the Scots raised their own local battalion, the 4th Black Watch and went off to fight for British imperialism.  It was the first time that many of the men in Dundee had work.

In 1863 the average life expectancy of someone living in the country around Glamis was 60 years.  It was 33 years in Dundee.  The infant mortality rates in Dundee had one in every three children dying before their first birthday.  Infant suffocation was five times greater in Dundee than in Glasgow in the 1880s.  The people in Dundee were either impoverished workers or jute barons with a middle class that was pushing for religious and drink reforms.  The Temperance Union was growing.  But the reality of life was so bleak that most turned to drink.  Babies and young children were given ‘bread meat’ which was bread soaked in a cup of water with a wee bit of milk added and a little sugar.  As a consequence, people were malnourished and did not grow.  Notice the size of the children playing with the hydrant.  The doll with its porcelain face was imported and would have been owned by the children of the wealthy jute barons of the city.

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The museum is staffed by volunteers who give the most amazing tours.  They talk about the life of the workers in the mill and the clerks in the office.  The clerks had full-time work and were paid regularly although they did not make much more than those on the floor.  The mill workers were paid by the piece of work they completed that day.  Others gave tours on the different kinds of jute, the history of the mills in Dundee, and the social impact of working at the mill and the class differences in the city.  The entrance fee is 11 GBP and includes a visit to the Discovery.  If you ask they will give you a card that is good for visits to the museum for an entire year.  The cafe was very reasonable, much more so than any of the other we visited and the sandwiches and soup were quite good.  I highly recommend a trip to this museum, children included, if you come to Dundee. Below are some pictures of the various areas of the museum.

The jute dress is what the women working in the mills would wear pre-wedding.  I can’t possibly imagine how scratchy it must have been.

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This is what the men would put on their backs so that they could carry the big bales of jute.  If you look closely at the bottom of the image, you will see a man with one of these on his back.

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The mills of Dundee provided sails for the ships, tents for the army, flour sacks, covers for the wagons heading West in the United States, sacks and bags for all manner of things, including linoleum.

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This is an image of where the clerks would work.  They were required to work standing up all day.  Notice the female secretary on the left is seated at her desk!

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One of the newer looms that allowed for weaving to take place.

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Our guide did not tell us the name of this piece of equipment for the looms. Initially, the women were in charge of two looms.  They were paid for piece work which meant if they had to go to the toilet they had to stop their looms.  The looms were also connected to clocks to check for efficiency.  This device allowed the looms to continue working when the operator had to leave for a few minutes.  When the owners discovered this, they put the women in charge of SIX looms!  Dundee eventually comes one of the most organised labour cities in England.  In fact, Winston Churchill was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party and turned Tory.  He was subsequently voted out and had to run elsewhere.IMG_2667

Tomorrow I will take you on a tour of the MacManus Museum.

Tip for those travelling to Scotland.  May and June are the best times to come.  It is too cold in March and is nice and warm by May.  After the end of June, the bugs are so bad that they can almost drive one mad.  Thanks, Lizzie for that insight.  Also, if you go out into the country, away from the tourist spots, your trip will be much more economical.

Day 6, Hospitalfield

It is 7 minutes until midnight, almost day 6 at Hospitalfield.  But tomorrow I am going to take a break.  The clay moulds take a long time to dry here.  In fact, I can pour one and go castle-hopping and come back and take it out of the mould without worrying a bit.

So there are said to be 19 amazing ‘romantic’ castles in Scotland.  Most do not open their doors until April 1, secure in that date that spring should have fully arrived and their gardens will have that ‘wow factor’ for all the visitors.  So tomorrow I am going to go and see two of those having ticked off Edinburgh Castle last week.

Dunnotar Castle is north of Arbroath, right along the coast.  It is about a 35-40 minute drive.  Today, the castle is run by Clan Keith. It is a ruined medieval fortress but its fame is the fact that it is positioned on a rocky outcrop hanging over the North Sea.

For Scotland, it was a very important site because it is where the Scottish crown jewels were hidden when Oliver Cromwell and his invading army from the south came in the 17th century.  They held Cromwell off for eight months saving Scotland’s heritage.  Visitors to the castle (when it was intact) include the Who’s Who of Scottish history:  William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose and the future King Charles II.  Sir William Wallace is known as being one of the great heroes who united all of the clans in Scotland to fight against Edward I’s army.  The most significant event was a battle at a bridge near Stirling in September 1297.  It is said that the stone bridge was only wide enough for two horses side by side and that it would take the English army hours and hours to cross.  On 11 September the Scots forced the English to have to cross that bridge.  William Wallace and his men waited until half of the army had passed over the bridge before charging it.  The others went along the banks of the river preventing the English from escaping their deadly fate.  5000 Welsh Guards died with 100 fatalities for Wallace and his men.  Known as the Battle of Stirling Bridge it is viewed as part of the first war of Scottish independence.  Mary Queen of Scotts is probably the best known of all the Scottish heroes and martyrs.  She was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth 1 when she sought help during the battle of the Reformation (Catholic vs. Protestants) for nineteen years.  In the intrigues of the day, Mary was discovered to be plotting against Elizabeth and she was executed at the guillotine at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587.  Mary’s son would become James I of England and VI of Scotland after Elizabeth I’s death in 1603.

 

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The second castle is Glamis Castle.  It has been occupied since 1372. Most people consider it to be the most romantic castle in Scotland.

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Information from Scottish Home & Garden says:  “Glamis was the family home of the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and has been in the Lyon family since the 14th century, when Sir John Lyon, Thane of Glamis, received the land as a gift from King Robert II.”

It is said to be the setting for Shakespeare’s MacBeth and it was the birthplace of the late Princess Margaret.

The entrance fees for all of the castles are about $15 CDN, children are most often free.  This gets you into the houses and the gardens.  Each and everyone has a shop where you can buy products related to that specific castle as well as having a meal.  You can even stay in cottages on the Balmoral estate of the Queen.

Photo Credit:  Scottish Heritage and Scottish Home and Garden.

Hospitalfield, Day 3

Each of us, at breakfast, seemed to have settled in.  Everyone has adjusted to keeping warm and many of us threw off covers during the night.  The wind off the North Sea subsided and we woke to glorious blue skies.  Today, was an opportunity to stop thinking about being creative and to enjoy a tour of the library and the house with Alasdair Sutherland.  I learned so much that it was impossible to keep track of everything but today, I will begin writing about the ‘true’ history of Hospitalfield and not that contained in many accounts.  Alasdair gave us insight into the reasons for the carvings, the history of the pictures in the collection as they related to the Fraser family, and showed us some amazing books including the account books of the woodcarver whose work decorates the house.  To not overwhelm you, this will be done in instalments!  The house is the history of the Parrot family from Hawkesbury Hill in Coventry and the Fraser family.

The original building was called Hospitalfield but it was because it was a place to receive pilgrims arriving to go to St John the Baptist Abbey. — ‘hospitality’  A statue on the front of the house is original to the medieval era.  It was only later a place for those ill with leprosy and the plague.

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Patrick Allan’s family did not really want him to be an artist.  Not much different today, parents afraid their children wanting to be artists will be impoverished all of their lives.  His family did apprentice him with his grandfather who was a very skilled draftsman.  He then goes to art school in Edinburgh where he specialises in portraits.  From there he went to Rome where he made a very successful career selling drawings and pictures to people on the Grand Tour.  It is in Rome that he will meet some other painters and sculptors who will become his lifelong friends and will supply work for the rooms here at Hospitalfield.  In 1841, he set up a successful portrait business in London and traveled back and forth to Paris.  Patrick Allan becomes one of the founders of a group of artists, The Clique, in the late 1830s.  The group was known for their rejection of academic art and embracing genre scenes.  They also had a great disdain for the Pre-Raphalite Brotherhood, more of that later this week!

In 1842, Patrick Allan was approached by Robert Cadell, an Edinburgh publisher, who wants him to produce illustrations for Walter Scott’s Antiquity, which I mentioned the last post.  Patrick Allan did create the work but, according to our guide, not that enthusiastically.   Our guide today also said that there is no shred of evidence that Scott’s novel was based on people and places in Arbrough or that Hospitalfield was Monkbarns.  It is a myth that has been perpetuated (even by me yesterday).  While he is in Arbroath working on this series, he meets a widow, Elizabeth, whom he married in 1843.  Elizabeth will inherit all of the Hawkesbury estates in 1883.  Below are three large oil portraits painted by Patrick Allan-Fraser on the left, Elizabeth, his wife, on the right, and her mother in the middle.  The bottom picture is an image of Elizabeth holding her favourite cat painted by Patrick.

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I would like to draw your attention to the material on the wall behind the portrait of Elizabeth.  It is the most beautiful 17th-century Dutch embossed leather and was all the rage when the couple were renovating the house.  The room that these images are in was the original entrance hall of the James Fraser House.  One other curiosity about this room is the installation of gasoliers, gas lighting.  It was trendy and a status symbol, just like the imported leather wall panels.  They, however, did a lot of damage to the ceilings and objects in various rooms within the house with the fumes.  This was compounded by the soot from the candles and the coal that was used.

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The fireplace was shown at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations of 1851 at Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851.  The models of all of the various items that could be purchased could also be bought.  That is how the fireplace wound up in Hospitalfield.

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The beautiful wood carving through the original Hall and then the dining room was done by a local carver, James Hutchinson.   His work can be seen throughout the house including the framing of the triple portraits.  Below is a detail.

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The Drawing Room features two 17th century tapestries that Patrick acquired in Bruges.  The Room was decorated in 1870 when cedar was used to cover all of the walls to protect the fabrics from moths.  The room is the earliest example of the Scottish Arts and Crafts Movement.  The intent, through the subjects of the tapestries, was to link the inside of the house with the outside environment.  The ceiling has 197 different plant carvings found on the property.  It was done by a local carver, David Maver, who was paid seven pence an hour.  Hospitalfield has the complete book of his accounts.  Some of the ceiling carvings took up to one hundred hours.  Maver later moved to New York where he made a name for himself carving for the grand houses along the Eastern seaboard.

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Other images of the tapestries in the Drawing Room.  Because of their age, the light from the windows is curtained off.  The brilliance of living a room with cedar to protect artworks at that time was quite impressive. Other cabinets within the house are made of solid cedar and lined with camphorwood to safeguard the beautiful clothes of the women.

Tomorrow I will give you a tour of three more rooms in this great house.

The winds are still down, and the sun is shining brightly in Arbroath.  Any artist seriously looking for a place to do a residency should seriously consider Hospitalfield.  They have a small dedicated staff.  The costs are reasonable and if you take public transportation – and not rent a car – you will really only have to bring your supplies.  For some of the writers this March, that has meant only pens and paper!

 

Arrived at Arbroath and Hospitalfield House

From my window in one of the most historic bedrooms at Hospitalfield, I can see the North Sea.  To get there, one only has to walk through the garden, full of blooming daffodils and crocus.

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The photographs provided by Hospitalfield show the amazing exterior of this medieval building, but it is the interior spaces that give you that ‘wow, oh my goodness’ moment.  Built in the 13th century, the warren of rooms was home to the people who had leprosy and the plaque….hence, the name Hospitalfield.  Right now, it is both home and inspiration to the nine or ten of us who are here as interdisciplinary artists from various places including Brooklyn, London, Glasgow, Holland, and Newcastle, Great creative people.

Cicely Farrer wrote to us and told us that it is both cold outside and cold inside this old stone building,.  She is right.  It is cold to the bones which, in some way, has a connection with the SHEEP that are everywhere and the wool industry.  Did I forget my wool jumper from Ireland just so I could get a new one from here?  Did I really?!  But, for those who are thinking of travelling to Scotland, the first word that comes to mind is SHEEP.  There are more sheep in Scotland than there are people.  Did you know that?  And some of those sheep are even orange!

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This is the first residency that I have been on in more than 30 years.  It feels like a first time because everything is that much more different.  There is a fantastic chef here named Simon who cooked us pilaf, a chicken curry, slaw with Nigella seeds, and his homemade flatbread.  This was followed by a chocolate brownie with real whipped cream and a raspberry coulis.  It is nice to be taken care of and not having to think about anything – a mantra that seems to be on everyone’s mind.

So this is the four posters historic bedroom at Hospitalfield that is mine for two weeks.

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Some of you might recall that I was given a -37 degree C sleeping bag.  It will definitely come in handy tonight!  It makes me appreciate all of those big two-story frame farmhouses in Manitoba and all their small rooms and doors. Apparently to keep the warm in.

Here are some other views of the inside hallways.  The wood is beautiful.  Some of the private rooms have coffered wood ceilings and carved wooden walls.  I fear that they would crack in the dry cold of Manitoba,

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Scotland is on many of your bucket lists.  It is a gorgeous country with vast open spaces.  That is one of the single reasons that Scotland is a favoured tourist destination for the Chinese.  The tops of the Highland hills have snow on them today. March is chilly.  The great houses open in April.  You should come after April 1 if you can.

And if you do come, you need to start planning in advance and check out all of your options.  From Canada, for example, I found out that you can fly from Halifax to Glasgow.  Other places even land in Dundee, but the majority of travellers I am told begin their journey in London.  It is easy to get to Scotland from London King’s Cross; it takes about five hours, and if you book at least 5 to 6 weeks in advance with NLER you can get a much-discounted ticket.  Most everyone I know automatically thinks about renting a car.  If you absolutely need to, plan, so you only need to for a short period.  It isn’t the cost of the daily car fee that is so expensive.  It is the cost of insurance.  The price per day of full coverage with Europcar is 37 GBP.  At the moment it is 1 GBP to 2 CDN.  While the daily rental might seem insignificant, insurance can add up.  Figure it out before you travel.

If you decide to go ahead and rent a car then make the most of it!  This means not travelling on the motorways – at least as much as you can,  Wandering off to find small villages with quaint shops and local food is part of the fun.  And do check out the local fare.  To give you an idea of what fast food costs in Scotland and an excellent reason to stay away from it, I can tell you that a Burger King Jr Whopper meal is 7.14 GBP or $14.28 CDN.  Thank goodness the chef at Hospitalfield House is so amazing.