This is a house near Stirling Castle. It was such a foggy day that my camera could barely even see the castle until we were at the gates. On the way back we passed this house that is inescapably quaint. I wouldn't be surprised if JK Rowling lives here. If you know, let me know, but don't tell her I posted this here.
Scotland
Kelpies /
The Kelpies are apart of Scottish folklore that I had barely heard about growing up in the UK. That is up until visiting friends in Scotland in December. As you can see, these kelpies are hard to miss. They are basically trickster horses that lure people underwater to their deaths. I saw a great post on reddit a while back that linked to a comic strip about these creatures. Wikipedia has a lot of information about the sculptures themselves, and they even have their own website.
We went there on a beautifully crisp winter's day. In Scotland, the days are so short in winter and the sun sets diagonally. This means that the golden hour can extend for what seems like way more than an hour. I can't verify that though.
Anyway, here is a blurry photo of the Kelpies. I am normally very particular about focus (who isn't?) but something about the lack of a hard focus in this photo really brings out a softness that I just can't part with. So instead of getting instantly deleted, I have put it up here. There are more up on my images page as well.
Stirling Castle /
The last few posts have been from New York, but this is from our time in the UK. It was taken in a Scottish Castle near Stirling (Stirling Castle) and shows my friend Ian and his incredibly cute daughter. Ian and his wife Jess let us stay with them for almost a week over Christmas and were overwhelmingly hospitable and welcoming to us, inviting us to every meal and family outing (which was incredibly fun). Also, their daughter is outrageously cute and could easily sustain her own instagram if she was allowed. The castle was great and wandering around in the mist provided some great shots but I just love this moment between father and daughter. I'm really glad I was lucky enough to get a good shot in the moment. So a shout out to Jess and Ian and their daughter for being great.