Highland Cows- 09.28.10
Update! Hi. So here’s the deal ~ its 2:30am in scotland ~ i’m with The Macallan exploring their distillery and estate for a few days, and there’s SO much incredible stuff i took pics of and got super excited about today ~ but i’m supposed to be up in a few mere hours for another full day! SO, not being able to quite organize a proper post on any of that yet ~ you can keep up on some of the craziness via twitter and also see pics coming in from my phone over at Life.NOTCOT.com…
… and for tonight? I just wanted to leave you with one of my latest happy inspiration obsessions. Highland Cows! On the next page you can see some of my various run ins with them over the last week and a half. Brown ones, white ones, black ones, light brown ones… big ones and little ones, HUGE ones on bridges in the dark, and close ups with The Macallan herd as well… they just have the most adorably shaggy coats (which keeping them warm, means they have super lean meat)… the emo-est moppy hair that flops over their eyes… and apparently they are quite docile and are some of the smartest bovines! Anyhow, i’m off to sleep, but check out the pics on the next page!
My hunt for highland cows in the countryside ~ reached an amazing moment towards the west coast on a tiny country road, when suddenly we were RIGHT next to a pasture with a bunch of highland cows super near… and they were not just the usual brown! There was even a black one! and a white one! and light brown ones! and baby ones… so adorable!
Coming back in the dark from Crinan on the west coast of scotland ~ we were crossing a dark little one lane bridge in the car ~ only to suddenly by behind 4 very large highland cows! It was SURREAL, and as you can tell i was in shock and nervously laughing the whole time while AMAZED to have them SO close, not sure what we’d do, if they’d move, etc… of course being the smart beings they are ~ they walked ahead, and when there was room on the side for them, one moved to the side ~ and mooooo-d out to the others to join. Which they did! Quickly! But that also meant they were then RIGHT along the car SUPER close, as we slowly waited to pass… so here are some ghostly blurs of one of the most surreal experiences…..
Now! On to the highland cows at the macallan! The have 8!!! But all normal carmel brown colored…. i got a bit cow happy ~ see how cute these emo highland cows are?
I had never seen a Highland cow, except in photos, but had always wanted to see one live. A couple of years ago I discovered a small farm near us that actually has a very small herd. They are quite amazing and very friendly. You can go up to the fence, which runs by the side of a small country road and a couple of them will come over to say hello. They must be just kept as pets or breeding stock I think. Hope you had fun at the Macallan distillery. Next time you are at Heathrow I recommend the Limited edition Lagavulin Double Matured single malt. Distilled in 1991, bottled in 2008 if it’s still available at the Scotch whisky duty free shop. About £60 I think, a real bargain.
----- seb 24.10.10 14:36