November 30 is the national day of Scotland, Saint Andrew’s day. It is celebrated with festivals, events, and family gatherings from Shetland off the far north coast to Hadrian’s wall down along the borders. That festive spirit finds those of Scottish descent across the world recall their highland, lowland, and island heritage as well. Music is a big part of all these celebrations. To join in the celebration of Saint Andrew’s day this year, take a listen to these albums to help you get in the spirit.

Music and Song From Scotland is a good taster of the range of Scottish music as it’s being made these days. The folks at Greentrax Recordings in East Lothian have made a home for the music of rising artists and celebrated musicians for twenty five years now, and to mark that anniversary they’ve created this two disc set. There are, appropriately enough, twenty five tracks, and each disc concludes with a bonus track as well so there are twenty seven cuts in all.. Things begin with a song from Dick Gaughan, a longtime master of Scottish folk songwriting, and there is a cut from Barbara Dickson, returning to her folk roots in Scotland in the midst of a distinguished career in musical theater. Tradition bearer Jean Redpath adds a song, and ace fiddlers Duncan Chisholm and Alasdair Fraser contribute fiery tunes. Piping from the band Seudan, and Gaelic singing from Margaret Stewart, along with a track from internally celenrated guitairst Tony McManus are all included. Rising stars of Scottish music are well represented too, as Jeana Leslie and Siobhan Miller offer the song The King’s Shilling, the high energy group Daimh adds the Trip to Glenfinnan Set, and Jamie Steele bring the collection to a close with a classic end of evening song his father wrote called Just One More Chorus. That’s not quite the end, though, as there’s a bonus cut from accordion master Phil Cunningham and Shetland fiddler Aly Bain, a gentle waltz they composed for the founders of Greentrax on their golden wedding anniversary.

Robert Burns is Scotland’s national bard, so his words and music have a place in the celebration of Saint Andrew’s day. One of the best collections of the ploughman poet’s work is Eddi Reader Sings the Songs of Robert Burns. Reader skillfully interprets Burns’ sometimes bawdy sense of humor as well as she does his heartfelt romantic songs. His commitment to the equality of people and his love for Scottish landscape are present in the songs Reader chooses here too. The singer, who spent some years following her music in the world of pop music by living in London, includes a personal touch as well. The song Wild Mountain side, by John Douglas, was written to remind her of coming home to Scotland, and it did indeed call her back to making her home in her native country once again,a nd to a deeper rerun to her love for folk music.. The song stands well alongside Robert Burns’ music, as a carrying forward of his songs of love and landscape.

Julie Fowlis is from North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, islands which lie off the northwest coast of Scotland. Scottish Gaelic is spoken there alongside English, and songs from the long history of Gaelic tradition are sung alongside those from more recent times. On her recording Live at Perthshire Amber, Fowlis offers a selection which weaves these ideas together, with a number of songs from the tradition, a Scottish Gaelic version of the song Blackbird, and contemporary tunes composed by Duncan Chisholm and Eamon Doorley among others. The set was recorded at the Perthshire Amber Festival, which is an autumn celebration founded by songwriter Dougie MacLean. To conclude the set MacLean joins Fowlis for a song in English, one he himself wrote, called Pabay Mor.

Consider subscribing to Perceptive Travel through email or RSS feed. thanks!

If you’re a US expat, the Thanksgiving holiday can be one of those times when you’ll go to extraordinary lengths to get a taste of home.

After living in Bahrain, Japan and the Netherlands, I have vivid memories of the “turkey trot” – US expats running around trying to find an oven that could handle a standard-sized turkey.

Admittedly, as military personnel we had access to base commissaries that carried turkeys and other American exotica like sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin and those French onion crunchy things you sprinkle on green bean casseroles.  The battle wasn’t won, though, until you found an oven that was big enough to actually cook the holiday bird.

If you’ve never been an expat, you have no idea how enormous and powerful the average American refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washer and dryer are compared to their often diminutive and underpowered overseas counterparts.

Just try drying two or three pair of blue jeans at once in many Japanese or European clothes dryers, for example – you’ll feel as though you’re waiting for DAYS for them to un-soggify.

So, at Thanksgiving, if you can lay hands on a turkey, you must plot where to cook it.

Those servicemembers who live on US overseas bases often have coveted US-sized appliances in military housing. To help with the cooking challenge, many generous on-base spouses arrange sign-up sheets and schedules each Thanksgiving so that off-base families can get in there and jam their turkeys into an oven that can handle it.

Here’s how it works….

“OK, Sue, you can cook in my oven from 8-10 am. Frank, you’re in there from 8:15-10:15. Maria, be ready to go 10:30-12:30….” and so on.

It’s a little thing, to have some familiar holiday foods once a year, but it means a lot when far from home.

I never thought I’d be so thankful for something as simple as an oven.

If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup link is at the top of the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!)

A time of harvest, of gathering in, of celebrating, of looking back and looking forward, remembering the work of summer and preparing for what is to be learned in winter: whether or not you’ve ever lived on a farm or otherwise been closely connected with the turn of seasons, the changing angle of autumn light and the celebration of Thanksgiving bring all these things to mind.

Jay Ungar and Molly Mason bring these things to mind. too, with the music they offer on Harvest Home. With a gathering of music by turns celebratory and reflective, they draw on strains of American music from Cajun to Celtic to old time to bluegrass to orchestral to frame these ideas. Mason’s song Bound for Another Harvest Home brings together an old time dance tune atmosphere with a celebratory reflection on the work of harvesting. Bonaparte’s Retreat is a traditional melody which could have been played at the harvest celebration. Haymaker’s Hoedown is another lively dance set. There’s a Thanksgiving waltz and a song for Mardi Gras, as well as a piece celebrating spring across the prairies. These ideas from the history of American music wraps themselves into orchestra settings which celebrate life across the seasons as The Nashville Chamber Orchestra joins Ungar and Mason to close out the album.

Jay Ungar plays the fiddle. Molly Mason plays guitar and bass. He’s from the Bronx in New York, she grew up in Washington State, and they make their home now in the countryside of New York State. Even if you are not familiar with their names, you’ll know their music. They have composed music for several of Ken Burns’ public television series, and their piece Lovers’ Waltz has become a frequent wedding music request. The haunting lament Ashokan Farewell, which you will recognize from the PBS series about the Civil War, is on Harvest Home, while Lovers Waltz is the title cut of another Ungar and Mason recording.

Jay Ungar and Molly Mason make their home in New York’s Hudson Valley from which they teach, host a public radio show, and tour across the country.

“Do you wear hats?”

This was the opening question from Karyn Gingras, and a good one, as we stood in the center of her small millinery boutique, Liliput, in Toronto’s Little Italy.

“Well,” I said, my eyes darting around the store, landing on one that seemed made entirely from peacock feathers, another banded with a leopard-print ribbon, and the ones embellished with flowers, with crushed velvet, with tulle…

“I do in the winter, ” I answered tentatively.

As if the knit hat crumpled in my backpack at that very moment had anything to do with all this.

Imposter syndrome, to which I am especially prone, begins to set in.

“But not really, because I have this giant head.”  I added.

Karyn, who is about six inches shorter than me , flicks a quick practiced look at my head and skepticism flits across her face.

“Probably everyone says that, I don’t know, but I always think hats don’t fit me…”
“Well”, she says.  “Okay. That’s the beauty of custom made, our hats will definitely fit you.”

And then she takes me to the back of the store and shows me a shelf filled with felt capeline, rough hat shapes that look vaguely like floppy witches hats — the basic shape that is formed into winter hats. (In the summer, she explains capeline are made from straw.)

She shows me her collection of vintage hat blocks, or molds, which are used, with the help of steam and sometimes heat, to form the capeline into a certain shape. And then how that is finished, with hat band and wire and eventually embellishment, to become the hats that are sold around the store. We talk about how long it takes to make a hat (as fast as one day in a pinch), how the royal wedding this year created more interest in hats, which led to talk about fascinators, and then about hats as a form of individuality.

“Clothing has become very mass produced, hats are a way of expressing yourself,” Karyn said. “You don’t replace a winter coat every year, but you do get new accessories.”

She stepped away to help a customer, and I wandered over to a display of fascinators, and tried on a modest one with a spray of black feathers and sequins. I turned my head this way and that. This would be very handy for me when traveling, I thought, building a mental case for dropping $70 Canadian on it, since I don’t  pack dressy clothes and often need to dress up a basic outfit with a scarf or whatnot…

But on the other hand, am I really a sequin and feathers type of girl?

Plus, now I really want a serious winter hat. One that will keep me warm and will still allow me to express myself.

Karyn returns and begins to select hats for me to try on. And then, as they’re sitting a little awkwardly on my head, she stops and says, let’s just settle this and get your head measured. She wraps my head tape measure. “Okay,” she says, “the average head is 22 1/2 inches and yours is 22 3/4s. That’s not much!”

I knew it.

She had the hat band stretched on a couple of hats that seemed promising and eventually I walked out with a hat box, and my very own 1920s cloche: gray, and embellished with felt in other shades of gray. Which fit my giant head, and I daresay my personality, just right.

If you’re visiting Toronto, you can call ahead to reserve an hour with Karyn, who will go over the basics of millinery and hat style with you and help you pick out a hat. And tell you how your head size relates to average. This was also a stop on my Toronto itinerary, and therefore part of the all-expenses paid trip which you can enter to win. Details here.

Usually when people think of food destinations in Florida, there’s Miami and…well, not much else comes to mind.

Of course it’s hard to be a culinary backwater anywhere these days, with ingredients from anywhere available nearly everywhere and well-trained chefs settling down where they want to live instead of where they have to live. A whole lot of people would rather live in sunny Florida than be frostbitten a good portion of the year, so the game keeps improving even in beach resort areas like Clearwater, Florida. And then there’s the abundant supply of fresh seafood.

I spent the weekend in shorts and flip-flops at Clearwater Beach for the Uncorked Festival here, held under a big white tent on the white sand in front of the all-suite Hyatt Regency. The admission ticket got a wristband and wine glass and after that we were free to graze and sip at will.

This was a very popular event, with the food flying so fast it was hard to get a good photo, so the shots here are of the cake decorating demonstration and a sand castle really made from Rice Krispies treats and cake crumbs. It fit the surroundings.

But we ate well, with great ceviche from the Hyatt’s Shor restaurant, a killer pork on polenta dish from The Lobster Pot, and seafood pizza from Crabby’s. (The later sells beer coasters saying, “Don’t worry, be crabby.) My wife, who is more into raw fish than I am, dug the salmon tartar from Oystercatcher’s and the tuna tartar from Ceviche Tapas Bar & Restaurant. That was just the start.

Along with all the food booths there were twice as many dispensing lots of uncorked bottles of wine. It was mostly a California affair, with some tried and true names like Ravenswood, Columbia Crest, Ste. Michelle, Stag’s Leap, and Coppola. Some other lesser-knows producers had a lot of interesting wines to try and an event like this is a great way to figure out what you really like. Or what you thought you didn’t like until you tried a really good one (dry Reisling and unoaked Chardonney always catch people by surprise it seems). The one I kept coming back to for reds was the Oak Ridge Winery, the oldest from Lodi, California. I had something great from their 3 Girls, Maggio, and OZV line.

There was also a separate spirits tasting room inside the Hyatt, where my companion sampled fruity cocktails and I sipped some things neat. I skipped the long Tito’s Vodka line and went for some good tequila from Blue Head and some really terrific Plantation rum from Barbados. That’s going on my shopping list.

After some lounging by the pool and changing clothes, we got a second wind after sunset to get out on the water. We walked a block to the Clearwater Marina for a night dinner cruise on the StarLite Majesty. This large ship moves around the intercoastal waterway between the mainland and the beach strip, past crazy mansions with private docks and past the twinkling lights of high-rise office buildings and condos. Inside there’s dinner and dancing, outside a terrace at the top for sea breezes. Yes it’s mid-November, but it’s still no-jacket weather in these parts.

The food was surprisingly good on the StarLite considering there’s a full menu with plenty of choices and everything is prepared in a kitchen the size of a guest bedroom in a house. If this sounds too formal though, Starlite Cruises also offers casual “booze cruise” boats that go out around sunset, dolphin viewing trips, and a sea life nature cruise.  And of course you can always charter a fishing boat from the marina to go catch your own dinner or reel in a trophy photo big one. For all the options, see the Visit Clearwater website for links. (If it’s getting cold where you are and you want to transport yourself to a sunny beach, they have a live webcam as well.)

Related post: Dining Three Ways in Tallahassee