Photos.....

..... I have labored, you know?....... figuratively & literally....... six thousand photographs, trips to foreign climes, backyard mosquito swatting, and what to post?....... very, very little that is not (on one level or another) more than just a little bit belittling.....

..... good lord, here's an example...... I awoke the Missus yesterday morning and she immediately retired to the deck with a book in hand to await the arrival of her bacon and eggs..... and halfway through the cooking, there came a frantic series of pecks upon the full-length glass of the back door...... so, as you do, I laid my spatula aside and set off to investigate...... and indeed, it seemed that she had something to show me......

..... and after a few minutes of pointing, eeew'ing, squinting, and squatting on the deck like Johnny Bench, I finally saw it....

..... a large, hideous, hunter spider had a daddy longlegs by the forehead and was slowly sucking his brains out.... hell, I was traumatized........ the stout little one holding fast over the large spindly one whose legs were doing that wavy "come hither" thing that Vincent Price used to do in movies sometimes when he was luring some hot, scantily clad B-movie starlet towards a place she'd ought not to go ...... it was mesmerizing....... the little one - with its fangs buried deep - adjusted them every so often..... pumping the left, then the right.... then the left again...... all while the frail, dainty legs of its victim clawed and scraped at the empty air....... running away in slow motion - but getting nowhere fast..... soooooo, yeah.... life and death while the bacon sizzled and the eggs bubbled........

.... I mean, just imagine my level of startilization at having been faced with such a sight as that?......

.... and good god, people..... startilization isn't even a word!....... but it sure as hell FELT right to write it.........

.... anyway, here are three still shots (and one action shot!) of Scotland's National Sport...... what?.... y'all didn't think that I would actually be taking photos of tourist attractions, pretty scenery, or famous buildings, did you?....

.... a fine pint of 80 shilling beer in the bar of The Kildrummy Castle Hotel...

.... a fine pint of John Smith's Bitters at the bar of The World's Smallest Hilton in Ballater..

.... a gentle Speyside single malt in its native environment...... de-corked, of course...

.... an anxious group of fine, fine gentleman.... upstanding, all.....

...... hey, a boy has got to stay hydrated, no?..... especially when on vacation!.....