Let's Have a Biscuit!

Yesterday, whilst (I have a slight affinity for this word...I used it to woo my wife) shopping at a local grocery store, I noticed a sign for "Southern Fried Fillets" (the correct pronunciation is "FILL-its").  This made me think that possibly I could find that wonderful creation known as a "cat head biscuit" which would certainly complement my fillet.  Known especially in Danville as the goody of choice for the Jus' Cauz Band (because cat head biscuits are "brown, round, and hard as the ground"), cat head biscuits are deliciously big and hard as a brick.  In Britain, though, biscuits are cookies, if you will.  When I asked the young girl in the store about cat head biscuits, I was told that I would not find any biscuits made from felines in that particular establishment.  


Enough about my culinary miscues.  Yesterday, it did indeed snow, and later on in the day it hailed, although the unsettled weather was highlighted by periods of stunning sunshine.  I saw it snow during a Central Edinburgh Quaker Meeting.  Quakers - or the Religious Society of Friends - emerged during the 17th century as a reaction to the religious and political controversy ripping apart the country.  George Fox - disenchanted with the direction of religion - was a leading voice of Quakers, and the movement found its way to colonies, with William Penn emerging as a prominent Quaker. 

View of Greyfriars Kirk

This religious controversy resulted in conflict, persecution, and execution.  Stuart King Charles I (son of King James VI, who authorized the King James version of the Bible) was not necessarily a Catholic, but his queen was French (and Catholic) and he indeed expressed Popish sympathies.  Many Protestants were unhappy with the perceived Catholic slant of the monarchy, and banded together to protest.  In 1637, a new prayer book was approved by Charles which many felt was essentially forced upon the Scots by the English.  People were not happy.  In 1638, having met at Greyfriars Kirk (or Church) in Edinburgh, Presbyterian representatives signed the National Covenant which bound those who signed it to each other and God. 

Covenanters' Prison

The Covenanters, as they were known, paid a price for their beliefs.  During a series of conflicts know as the Bishops' Wars, the Covenanters won a few concessions and battles, although they might be considered pawns in the entire affair.  Charles was beheaded in 1649, and the country was thrown into further disarray after the ascension of Oliver Cromwell.  After a series of Civil Wars, the Stuarts were restored to the throne.  Charles II, however,  persecuted the perceived Scottish religious radicals, and many Covenanters lost their lives during the "Killing Time."  I know not whether the place is haunted, but each time I visit this place a coldness pervades the entrance...  

The "Killing Time" took place during the 1680s

Greyfriars Bobby

On a happier note, Greyfriars Kirk is also home to the famous Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye terrier who loyally kept watch o'er his master's grave for 14 years until his own death in 1872.

Dog biscuits or cat head biscuits served here?