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Goodbye Scotland, Hello Iowa

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 May 10-12, 2025    Heading home! On Saturday May 10, we visited Cultybraggen Camp located in the village of Comrie, not far from Crieff.  The camp was constructed during the second Word War and could house up to 4000 prisoners of war, first Italian, then German.  It was named POW Camp 21.  It had a notoriously hard reputation, housing dozens of SS officers, members of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Marine Corps.  Placard inside one of prison cells After the war in 1948 it became a Ministry of Defense training camp.  Thousands of personnel in the regular, territorial and cadet forces were trained here until its closure in 2004.  In 2008, it was purchased by a local organization and is now a multi-use site benefiting the community and local businesses.  It also contains a Community Orchard, Community Woodland and a large area for allotments for locals to use as gardens. VE (Victory in Europe) Day is observed on May 8th each year, and as ...
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Getting to know Scotland!

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  Tuesday, May 5 Crieff, Scotland Aberfeldy (Dewar's) Distillary  Both Kate and Alastair or “Ally” as he is referred to, are very knowledgeable of the horticulture here.   They frequently pointed out the names of trees and plant life, many of which were flowering, and remarking if they were edible or not.   Ally even makes his own butter.   He has his own diet as well and rarely joined us for meals.   He is very artistic with many talents.   He is a wood carver and makes canes, topping them with his carved figures.   The one he uses personally, he carved to look like their dog, Bonnie, an amazing likeness.  (I should have taken a picture of Bonnie alongside her cane likeness!) Some of Alastair's canes He has a large collection of mounted bird carvings that he has done.   He gifted me one that had a Blue Tit, a bird that is common here, perched on the spout of a water keg getting a drink!   What a wonderful gift that I will treasur...
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