BOUND FOR SCOTLAND: May 2016

I want to start out this post with something my friend, Kate, reminded me of in her comments to my last post, Goodbye (temporarily) Larkhall and Hello Arran. I can't believe I didn't even record this in my journal.

Right before we were to leave Larkhall, Bobby came to us with a message he had just received from the man who had rented us the cottage in Arran. Seems he wasn't going to be able to open up the cottage for us after all!!!!! There was an issue about him not being able to prepare the rooms for our imminent arrival!!!!! Talk about throwing cold water into the face of our expectations! Now a few hours before we were to leave for the cottage, the image we had of living in that sweet little cottage began to fade! We told our landlord that we would be happy to do the necessary preparations ourselves, whatever it took, for us to still be able to proceed as had been happily dreamed of for months. What a calamity! We knew nothing to do but to pray! But honestly, I found it a little hard to believe that this would be snatched from us at such a late hour! (So much so, that I remained calm and undisturbed. Not even writing about it in my journal!) A few hours later, Bobby informed us that our landlord had relented and assured us that the issues had been resolved and we could proceed with our plans!!!!! Whew!!! That was way too close!!!

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We said farewell to our new friends who had become like family, gratified that we would return in a week for one last visit with them before leaving Scotland.
The drive through the lush green countryside was a feast of beautiful images of stoned lined pastures filled with sheep, cows, and even horses. Of course, this being Scotland, sheep outnumbered the cows, and I had to look quick to see the horses, but there were there and I was pleased. Rural cottages dotted the landscape, a matching counterpart to the peaceful pastoral scenes we were privileged to gaze upon as we made our way to Arran.