You Say You Want a Reformation

This was a little-known Beatles song from the 1960s...


The sun is out, and I believe it will come out tomorrow.  Bet your bottom dollar.  And while the sun is out in all of its glory:

I am in the library, studiously working and contemplating the meaning of life...

Mark Knox, I presume?

while Melinda is making new friends.

6925 piercings, and counting...

Meet Elaine Davidson, the World's Most Pierced Woman.  Very nice lady - certainly a colorful disposition and magnetic personality...

I mentioned that we were in St Andrews this past weekend.  Surely, this historic town merits more than just one (or two, possibly even three) posts.  St Andrews Castle - though largely ruined - is impressive in its minimal state.  Overlooking the North Sea, it is quite obvious that its geographic situation enabled the fortification to be easily defended.  A viable fortress by 1100, this castle became the home to ecclesiastical leaders by the beginning of the thirteenth century.  Over the next several hundred years, St Andrews Castle was besieged, destroyed, and rebuilt; during these tumultuous times, it was also the site of numerous grisly scenes.  Most notable were the burning of Protestant preacher George Wishart and the mutilation of Cardinal Beaton and the rather unceremonious exhibition of his body from the castle walls. 

Interior view of the castle

It is rather interesting to consider the scope and magnitude of Scottish history, especially the religious aspects.  The picture of me studying was taken in the John Knox House, and Knox was certainly the leading figure of the Scottish Reformation.  Religious controversy ripped apart nations, peoples, and regimes, and altered the trajectory of national ideologies.  History does not repeat itself, but occasionally it does rhyme...    

Room with a view