The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

Another one of the wonderful things that came with the recent move to Abedeen, Scotland has been the acquiring of a new car.  My 21st car.

And not just any new car . . . I ordered a special edition AWD Juke NISMO.

Yep, a Nissan Motorsport-tuned AWD Juke with 200hp, a brilliant interior, and outstanding high performance driving characteristics.  I LOVE this car!

A tradition at the International School Aberdeen is to take all new faculty, and anybody else who wants to go, on a bus trip up into the highlands of Scotland for a cultural treat.

The "Highland Games" are held all around Scotland during the summer months, but the grand-daddy of them allis the Braemar Gathering. There have been Gatherings of one sort or another at Braemar since the days of King Malcolm Canmore, nine hundred years ago.  Because of its proximity to the Queen's summer residence nearby, she always attends this particular sporting event.  The setting was beautiful, high in the Scottish highlands.

The highland games are just that; a series of competitions run like a three-ring circus.  Traditional games, like tug-o-war, and ancient Scottish games, like caper tossing, vie with more common athletic events like sprint and long distance running, and high and long jumping.

The tug-o-war teams were not just a bunch of buddies, but were from The Royal Air Force, The Royal Navy, Oxford University, and such, there to defend the pride and honor of their organization under the gaze of the Queen and Prince Charles.

This is high stakes tug-o-war . . . . the winning teams receive medals from the Queen herself! The losing teams are sent home.

The sporting events are conducted with a background of bagpipe bands playing from around Scotland performing each in their turn.

The high jump event was announced as the national championship.

The tug-o-war took many rounds to culminate . . .

. . . in the final pulling. 

I enjoyed the tug-o-war . . . it is a very intense event . . . .

. . . with individual and group drama.

Security was provided by guys in skirts with sticks.

The Big Event was the caper toss.

The object is to throw the 19 foot, 6 inch "telephone pole" - the caper . . .

. . . so that the caper lands on it's head and then falls over, away from you.  This was the winning toss.

We took a break from the fever pitch action in the arena to walk into the charming village of Braemar.

Braemar was buzzing with activity . . . mostly with bagpipe bands practicing and warming up for their big moment in the arena and in front of Her Royal Highness.  The sign says "Aberdeen 59" miles.

Many cute and quaint stone houses and cottages lined the main thoroughfare . . . .

Wonderful summer scenes everywhere, but Braemar is just as well known as a winter ski resort.

The town filled up with Highlanders from far and wide, and . . . .

. . . one intrepid and eccentric Scottish busker playing his heart out for many hours.

But mostly the town was full of the mournful sound of dueling bagpipes warming up.

Pipers would find a private space and commence to let wail.

Braemar is the kind of country village where people name their houses . . .

. . . have a sense of humor . . .

. . . and the River Dee, now but a mountain stream, runs through the middle of town.

In site of the "noise" of bagpipers warming up all around him, this poor Highlander was too pooped to pipe.

After a delicious lunch of venison burgers and wedge potatoes, we headed back to the exhibition grounds . . . the mountain weather was beginning to threaten . . . but never rained.

We showed our tickets to these Scottish Lovelies and went back in.

We arrived back none too soon!  The security of the arena took a decidedly serious turn.

All the spectators looked to the Royal Pavilion when the Queen and Prince of England arrived.

The Royals arrived and departed to the fanfare of a marching one hundred-strong bagpipe band.  Fantastic.

Although I had an obstructed view, I also had a long 200mm lens.  There she sat, Stuart tartan on her lap, The Queen, reviewing the marching bagpipers.  Sublime, regal, historic.

The Royalty hung around an hour watching the finals in each event and eventually passing out the medals to the winners . . . . before departing amid an incredible throng of bagpipers and drummers.

You just do not see this many bagpipes in one place every day.  No, you don't.

Herself.

We, along with many thousands of others, soaked in the Scottish Highlands views on our way back to the bus.

Tired and weary, we said good-bye to Braemar.

After ten days of searching all over Aberdeen for a place to live (that's another story!), we found this wonderful 1880s grey granite ground floor flat in a great part of town that had just been restored and modernized.

One grey day in early September our personal shipment from Bangkok arrived at our new home in Aberdeen.

Our good and hard-working union porters quickly unloaded their truck . . . .

. . . making many trips back and forth.

When they finished carrying in all our boxes, the house was full!

The packers spent the next hour unpacking all the little things the Thai packers had so carefully wrapped in bubblewrap and paper.  The good news was these guys took away all the waste and empty boxes for recycling.

They were a happy crew who enjoyed commenting on our Thai art.

We have been enjoying decorating pur new home with the wonderful things we shipped to remind us of Thailand.  The spirits in these statues also had some adjusting to do.

I think they like their new home.

Although our new home was rented furnished, we needed to make a few strategic purchases to make everything perfect.

Our new home was just completely restored and refinished to it's original 1880s condition, but with a new kitchen and bathroom.

The original corniced ceilings are like new.

The house gets great light.  Being this far North, it is important.

New carpeting too.  There is a sweet, old-fashioned, old European feel to our new home.

Before our shipment arrived, we drove our rental car around the beautiful Aberdeenshire summer countryside.

Yoo, of course, travelled all summer with her golf clubs, so we wasted little time discovering the many great golf courses in this part of Scotland.  This, and the following photos, are at Deeside Golf Club, just outside of Aberdeen.

Deeside Golf Club.

When in Scotland . . . see the castles!  On a rainy afternoon we went castle hunting with the advice of some local Scottish ladies.  This is Crathes Castle . . . . a National Trust listed site.  The interior was incredibly restored to the original 15th century accuracy.  Nice . . . unfortunately I was not allowed to take photos inside.

Crathes Castle has magnificent grounds . . . and the view from the tower was stunning on this rainy day.

A reflective moment high in the castle.

Our new neighborhood in Aberdeen, Scotland.

We spent the last five day in Bangkok high up in the Grand Centara Hotel . . . thanks Marc for the upgrade!  The view from our 51st floor room was beautiful in the daylight . . .

. . . beautiful in the evening . . .

. . . and beautiful at night.  Good-bye Bangkok, it has been a fantastic 17 years!  I'll be back in Thailand for retirement one day . . . but first . . . a summer vacation in:

The Pacific Northwest, USA

Olympia Washington: My sister-in-law Mary is a great gardener.  She grows everything.  It is always a treat to go from the steaming tropics of Thailand directly to to cool climes of the American Pacific Northwest.

I still had Internet access, so I had fun with my big camera in the Mary's garden.

Very sweet.

We all took several long nature walks along the shores of Puget Sound.  The blackberries were not ripe yet . . .

. . . but the salmon berries looked inviting.

The essence of the Pacific Northwest.

New life everywhere under the forest canopy.

A nice morning to row about on one of the arms of Puget Sound. An old log loading pier still stands.

It Doesn't Get More American Than This: The Monmouth, Oregon 4th of July Parade.The Monmouth, Oregon Parade is open to anybody from the community who wants to 'parade' themselves.

It's a great opportunity to crank up that old tractor you lovingly restored, and drive it down Main Street. I love this little town: I attended two years of univesity here.

An old Mac Truck.  Nice.  Brought back memories of El Paso, Texas at 3:00am in 1958 for me.

As is my personal tradition, I ingest The National Dish on the 4th of July every year.  Yep, it was great.

What would a parade be without a car show?  I met my Hot Rod photo quota for the year.

I LOVE these flames!

I prefer the 4-door fat fender hot rods . . . you can take your friends. 

Silver Creek Falls, Oregon My good friends Jeff & Sharon under Silver Creek Falls.  It was a good day for a trail walk in the foothills of the Oregon Cascades.

Oregon.

Delicate new growth.

More ripe salmon berries.

A beautiful trail through the forest along Silver Creek.

A serene mountain stream.

Upper Silver Creek Falls is somewhat unique because the trail takes you under and behind the falls, making for unusual photo opportunities.

Loud and beautiful.

You can judge the scale in this photo by noticing the size of the hikers on the trail.

A perfect day.

Looking out from behind Upper Silver Creek Falls.

Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaI visited my daughter near Valley Forge.

We all went to the Longwood Botanical Gardens for a morning stroll with my new grandson, Torin.

Scrumptious cacti!

Lovely flowers everywhere.

Touching.

Longwood had formal Italian gardens too.

The tropical greenhouses were interesting.

I remember seeing these same lotus pads in Jogjakarta, Indonesia a few years ago.

I had to laugh when I saw these wax flowers . . . I came half way around the planet to see a flower that was growing in my back yard in Bangkok!

Lovely early summer day in Pennsylvania.

Ocean City, New JerseyA strangly cold summer in Ocean City New Jersey.  We took a walk with our freinds, Bud, Gaile,  in the gathering gloom . . .

Night falling over Ocean City.

Last Light.

New England VillageI won't reveal the exact location of this village in New England, except to say that it was the perfect New England village.  Our good friends from Bangkok, Joe and Nancy, recently retired there.

A dream . . . more like a living calendar!  Just too perfect.

Rural Colonial New England.

Mmmmm.

House Proud New Englanders sure know how to spruce a place up.

Around Nancy's garden.

A friend's home.

More old barns than I had time to photograph . . .

I could have stopped a hundred times . . . but Bud and I had more important things to do . . . .

NASCAR at New Hampshire SpeedwayYep, Bud and I joined 40,000 of our best friend and at the New Hampshire 300.  Bud commented that the people watching here was like looking through a 1920s physiology text book, so varied were the physiognomies of the gathered throng.

We rooted for Juan Pablo Montoya . . . . and I think we were the only ones who were.  We rooted for him when we saw him at the Chinese F1 race in Shanghai years ago too.

It was an unseasonably hot day with the threat of rain that never materialized. It was a good, tight race with surprising results.  Loud and fast . . . just the way I like it.

Loudoun, New Hampshire.  Pre-race ceremonies were colorful, to say the least.