Day Five: The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

Here’s the thing – the entire fabric of our honeymoon was warped by this day. For years, YEARS I tell you, we had admired photos of the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, a garden on the private estate of artist Charles Jencks. He specializes in crazy-ass landforms and is probably literally a mad scientist – we should all pause and say a prayer of thanks that he uses his powers for good. Anyway. By sheer coincidence the one day of the year that he opens his home up to the public for charity was during our honeymoon and, well, c’mon. We could sigh wistfully when we were 5,000 miles away, but when we were going to be less than five HUNDRED we just had to make changes. So, a trip to Ireland became a trip to Ireland & Scotland, and the day arrives! We’re up, we break our fast, we get just the teensiest bit lost (because it turns out that WE might think its worth setting off fireworks for, the Scots contented themselves with some very discreet signs) and then queue up (check out the lingo on John!) to enter.

While I’ve gone on at great length (save it) about many of the things we’ve seen on this trip, it’s tricky for me in this case. The narrative problem here is obvious – it was a sumptuous feast…. for the eyes. So, despite my previous attempts to provide some narrative oomph, what I can tell you is that we basically spent a few hours with our mind perpetually blown. I think I toss the word “amazing” around a lot in these posts, and truly our trip was amazing many times over, but on this day we were in an altered state, literally amazed. If you ever get the chance… you know the drill. The sheer scope of the place was mind-boggling, and as we walked the grounds it became obvious that no part of it wasn’t crafted in some fashion, even if it was an apparently untouched stand of trees with wildflowers underneath; you’d be walking through it and find some small piece of sculpture that connected all the imagery you were seeing. Unreal. I believe that both Lisa and I posted photos on facebook at the time, so hit us up there for an exhaustive view.

Now, somebody said something about being a lord of a manor, what was that all about? Oh just this:

We drive up from Dumfries to Loch Lomond, which is a giant lake formed in the rift that separates the Highlands from the rest of the universe. Well, basically.  On the Loch is Cameron House, which is my own personal Xanadu. 🙂 We are booked there for two days, in order to bask in my 40th birthday in truly spectacular fashion.

Tomorrow is a day of hawks. Sometimes I say silly things, but tomorrow I go hawking. MWA HA HA.