Category Archives: Scotland

The Emigrant Statue

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So many of us in Appalachia are descendants of people who came from Scotland (and Ireland). The chain of events that led to this is the usual amalgamation of hard times, mean politicians, and wealth hoarding at the expense of others. Start with the Reformation, work your way through Glencoe, and let the Highland Clearances put your ancestor on a coffin ship (or get run out of Ireland by an angry mob of people from the other religion).

It’s kind of romantic, the idea that we came from people seeking freedom, land, all the things. Every time we stop in Helmsdale to show the Americans on our tour the Emigrant Statue it makes me feel gloomy.

The statue was created by Gerald Laing after being commissioned by Dennis Macleod, a native of Helmsdale who made his fortune as an emigrant in South Africa. (Diamond mines, since you ask).

There is something meta about that.

The statue shows the father looking forward into the future, the son looking at his father with a worried yet trusting face. The mother cradles an infant in her arms. And the mother is the one looking back.

Is she resigned? Is she furious? Is she making an internal vow that her children will be safe no matter what? That she will keep the family together? That she personally will come back one day?

Who knows? And who knows how often this story will repeat: someone with a lot wants what little you have, so they kick you off your land and take it from you, supported by legal principles created by them in the first place.

Sigh.

She’s going to sacrifice everything so her children will make it. She’s going to be resilient. She has no other choice, and down through history her story repeats. Celebrating resiliency to me in current times almost feels like complicity. Why did she have to be resilient? Why couldn’t she stay on her land instead of clearing off so the local laird could raise sheep there? How much money does a rich man need, and how often do the rest of us have be resilient to give it to them?

Just asking.

The Differences Come Home

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OK, sorry about that blog post lapse. In two words: jet lag. It takes me longer to get over it. Yesterday was my first 9-6 sleep since returning. Slowly back to US time.

But maybe not back to some other US norms. One of the things you can’t help but notice, staying with friends in Ireland and Scotland, is the lack of plastic. Even my friend who lives life in the fast lane doesn’t have an overrun of plastic bags and containers in her kitchen. She merely saves her ice cream tubs for occasional leftovers.

There are fewer leftovers, because Brits invented portion control. Everything is sized to eat once. Brits don’t make nine-day stews, vats of crock pot suppers, or spaghetti for 60 and freeze it. It’s a day-by-day cooking plan. Part of the mindfulness that permeates the culture, perhaps? Why would you need so much all at once?

The kitchen is the first place you’re going to see how differently Brits and Americans live: you don’t need plastic leftover containers because you’re controlling your servings. You don’t need a huge fridge because, same. You don’t need a vast array of kitchen gadgets, because you’re doing a one-time prep of servings for four, so it’s not hard to chop, grind, dice, or juice. And you tend to have pleasant conversations with friends and family while you’re doing it. Meal prep isn’t “get this done so we can get to the next thing.” It IS the thing.

This is pleasant. Even on stressed days, when the chores are divided, it’s a nice thing to sit with someone in the kitchen, pulverizing what you plan to eat while sipping a glass of wine and talking stress factors. It works.

Not that they don’t have shortcut foods, simple shortcuts, etc. Bisto in every meat and veggie flavor is a staple of the well-stocked Scottish kitchen, certainly. It’s a little like bullion. I brought some home with me.

So I’m back in the States, sipping tea in my kitchen, marinating beef in Bisto, and eyeing things I’m getting rid of in order to simplify. This may have crept past the kitchen, because there’s a bunch of Scottish paraphernalia from other spaces that we won’t bother carrying back to the home country. If you want to see what’s on offer, check Jack’s Facebook offerings online. We put them on a bunch of local yardsale websites, although not marketplace. I don’t think any of it is plastic. I put that in the recycling.