Notes from another summer in Edinburgh

We haven’t seen darkness in months. Not real darkness, anyway – here the sun goes down and hovers just below the horizon before coming back up in a few hours. It adds to the general feeling of strangeness and anticipation that summer in Edinburgh brings. 

Our first summer in Edinburgh was a flurry of hospital and chemo, and I think that association will always stay in my head, no matter how long we live here. Now that we are celebrating two years of remission, it has become an almost happy association, reminding us how lucky we are right now.

That first summer, Scott wasn’t allowed to eat a lot of things. His biggest disappointment was having to pass on all the gorgeous berries and other fruit that came into season. He’s been trying to make up for it ever since. A few weeks ago, we finally got around to visiting Craigie’s Farm for a little pick-your-own action. We were most tempted by the cherries and strawberries, and we came home with absurd amounts of both. (It’s not a cheap way to spend a summer day, but we’d highly recommend a visit to Craigie’s – just outside of Edinburgh, you’ll need a car to get there – nonetheless.)

We don’t tend to travel much in the summer, preferring the shoulder seasons for most of our far-flung adventures. This pattern is becoming even more instilled in Edinburgh, because I can’t think of many places that have better summer weather than here. Most locals (and indeed, people in general) would look at me like I was crazy for saying that, but the long days and mild temperatures (highs mostly hovering around 20c/70f) suit me perfectly.

Another reason to love the long days is how much painting I can get done (since I prefer to work with natural light). I’ve mostly been working on scenes from Edinburgh, the Highlands, and Scottish coastal towns these days. (I’ve also been working on a new website and shop for my art, which you can visit here.)

As a relatively quite July comes to an end, we are gearing up for Edinburgh’s August festival madness. Whereas last year we ran at the Fringe with full force (I saw over 60 shows), this year we’re planning to take it a bit easier (we say that now, but I’m sure well-reviewed shows and the Half Price Hut will be calling us in). We’re also excited to explore the Book Festival (which we barely made it to in past years). We have tickets to see the Tattoo again, so our fingers are crossed for good weather.

And speaking of festivals – the Foodies Festival gave us two tickets to give away, so if you’ll be in Edinburgh next weekend (Aug 7-9) and would like to go, head over to our Facebook page to enter our little competition.