To Reside in a Painting

This is where we sat.

Pictures will not do this justice.

Our cottage was on the western coast of Scotland, south of Oban.  After arriving in the dark, muddy night after the stress of our diving and directional adventure, we woke up the next morning to one of the most amazing views I have ever seen.  We were on the side of a heather and grass-covered moor dotted with sheep.  At our feet was Loch Awe, a long skinny lake that sometimes looks bluish and sometimes is almost black.  Just beyond a clump of trees in the center of the view were the ruins of Finchairn Castle.

This is what we looked like.

Inside we had a nice wood-burning fireplace, but the best place to be was on the sun porch.  It rained most of the time--generally drizzling but occasionally a downpour--although on Christmas day the blue sky did make a glorious appearance.

Being here made me think of Georgia O'Keefe and her mountain/desert paintings.  The landscape was smears of color, and as the light changed from dark to milder to mild and back to dark, the colors of everything around us changed.  It was truly magic.

Here are five panoramas, taken at different times of day and different states of cloudy.  Notice how different the colors look.  Every time I walked out onto the porch, I got a fresh feeling of amazement at how gorgeous this place is.  This is a selection of what we saw...

Information on the cottage is here.