The Anti-Beacon
Isle of Mull, Scotland
2015

A castle on a windswept rock setting the mood for Halloween. Watch out for zombies and vampires tonight, and especially all those Donald Trump lookalikes.

The Beacon
Oban Bay, Scotland
2015

The Eilean Musdile lighthouse seen from the ferry between Oban and the Isle of Mull.

Letting Go
Bolton Bridge, England
2015

Sometimes its hard.

The Church at Lochbuie
Lochbuie, Scotland
2015

Upward
Elgin, Scotland
2015

Part of the roof of the octagonal chapter house at the Elgin Cathedral. It’s an interesting and complicated design made even more so when you realize it’s all made of stone.

Forest Faces
Calgary, Scotland
2015

These woodland masks were about as tall as I am.

Wall Flowers
Iona Island, Scotland
2015

Shells from some sort of mollusk lined up along a tide-pool rock.

Urban Jungle
Oban, Scotland
2015

Some amazingly large plants in a city park in Oban. It’s hard to appreciate the scale of the plants in this shot so the Fashion Queen braved the barbs and waded in to pose with them for a second shot:

Over the Pond
Tobermory, Scotland
2015

Fall leaves on a tree overhanging a water lily-clad loch in Aros Park. We don’t have lilies on the pond at our house but when the willow trees around it start dropping their leaves onto the water surface, it has a look very much like this.

Doocot
Tobermory, Scotland
2015

No, it’s not a nuclear reactor cooling tower or some mega-behive. A doocot, as it’s often spelled in Scotland, or dovecote (alternatively dovecot) as is more common elsewhere is a structure meant to house pigeons. This one, about 20′ high was lined on the inside with row upon row of nesting boxes. There’s been one at this location since the middle ages when it was associated with a nearby castle. As we were approaching it, a pigeon or two flew out the top but when we peeked in the low access door, it appeared pretty much abandoned–a pigeon ghost-town of sorts.