So there we are, Christmas 2024 has arrived, Christmas Eve today. Time for some Christmas greetings and more. A selected few have received the physical form of these greetings, unfortunately I couldn’t send them to everyone. This year’s Christmas cards come courtesy of Islay Prints and have a maritime theme:
Christmas Wreath Cards courtesy of Islay Prints
A slightly different take on a Christmas wreath, inspired by the sea all around Islay. And I wrote on these cards to relatives and close friends under the light of the Islay lamps I’ve mentioned previously.
Have a great Christmas, hopefully with a few Islay treats. I’ve got some chocolate from Islay Cocoa and of course some Islay whiskies to open. I haven’t decided which ones yet, but I will aim to share my choices over the coming days. Feel free to share your treats in the comments.
It’s a rather wet October Sunday morning where I’m writing this (and rather breezy on Islay), a good time to stay in for some Islay reading. So here are a variety of links to articles and more I’ve found. I hope you’ll find something interesting:
Islay is a popular destination for Japanese tourists, in particular the famous whisky distilleries (some of course are Japanese owned). On the YouTube channel 空から世界を見てみたい (which according to Google Translate means “I want to see the world from the sky”) I’ve found a few short drone videos of said distilleries and more taken back in 2019:
LAPHROAIG distillery, Islay Island, Scotland
Quite misty and moody, similar conditions just down the road at Lagavulin and Dunyvaig:
LAGAVULIN distillery, Islay Island, Scotland
A bit brighter slightly further down the road:
ARDBEG distillery, Islay Island, Scotland
Much sunnier at the other end of the island, the new Bunnahabhain visitor centre still under construction then:
BUNNAHABHAIN distillery, Islay Island, Scotland
Back to the other end of the island again, no sign yet of the rebuilt Port Ellen distillery:
PORT ELLEN distillery, Islay Island, Scotland
To close a bit of Islay history:
Kildalton Cross, Islay Island, Scotland
I hope you enjoyed the videos and waved back at them.
Happy Easter! Enjoying a nice Easter weekend in West Berkshire despite some changeable weather. Got some baking done, had a nice long chat with my sister while out on a long walk along the canal, kicked off a photography experiment/learning experience I’m hoping to apply to some Islay pictures at some point, those kind of things. And of course I’m enjoying an Islay Easter dram.
My Islay Easter dram 2024
This is the Bunnahabhain 2013 Banyuls Cask Finish I picked up during my last visit in November 2023. I had originally planned to open this at Christmas, but for various reasons that didn’t happen. So I pushed it out to this Easter and am very much enjoying it now, with some dark chocolate Easter eggs (of both the hollow and solid variety).
I hope you’re having a nice Easter as well, maybe with a good Islay whisky.
As was to be expected the reopening of one of Islay’s (not) lost (any more) distilleries received quite a lot of media attention. After a lot of work Port Ellen distillery is back in business, looking quite fancy in parts. They are quite similar to an extent (at least partially based on a press release I’d assume), but here are a few press mentions:
The biggest (by far) event on Islay’s annual event calendar, Fèis Ìle, has a bit of a problem: Not enough ferries to get the many visitors expected for it to the island. So far working with Calmac hasn’t brought any additional sailings for the crucial period, so they’ve gone on a publicity blitz to hopefully get things moving.
There have been reports in several of the Scottish papers (most unfortunately behind paywalls, so can’t really link to them). Now even the BBC has picked it up and made it a fairly big report:
While spring is hopefully on its way today is rather grey and dull where I am at the moment, a good time to catch up on some Islay reading. So here are a few Islay related links I came across recently:
A different Islay with a different fire engine than we’re used to, but this article mentions an Islay Fire Hall (I assume that’s what we call Fire Station) and has a picture of an Islay Fire Truck (aka fire engine)
From planes to drones with a nice video mostly showing one of Islay’s nicest beaches from the air (you also get a few impressions of Lagavulin distillery). I’ve walked this beach many times, during the Islay walking week, on my own, with my sister Imke and with my late parents. The last one means it has some special memories for me, as it was my mother’s last and my father’s only Islay visit. The beach is around Killinallan Point, stretching out to Gortantaoid. While filmed on a mostly overcast day the views are still beautiful:
Islay, Scotland | Stunning Remote Beach, by Drone
If you decide to walk here look out for the tides, it’s much easier to walk at low tide as during high tide the water can come quite close to the dunes. For a circular walk you can walk on the track to Gortantaoid and return via the beach or vice versa.
Following on from yesterday’s AI Happy Islay New Year I played a bit more with Microsoft’s Copilot / DALL·E 3 from OpenAI. The prompt was fairly vague and not much really reminded me of Islay. So I thought, let’s try to be a bit more specific and ask it to “Create a picture of Laphroaig distillery on Islay with fireworks above during a clear night with the Milky Way above”. Assuming the AI has been trained on some pictures of the real thing it should be able to create something that at least remotely resembles the real thing. Well…..
Looks more like a factory with the six chimneys instead of the real single one. No pagodas either. At least some whitewashed buildings. Not sure if that’s the Sun or the Moon or fireworks on the horizon?Odd looking building and there’s no lighthouse at Laphroaig. The Milky Way looks a bit odd I think. At least the loch looks very vaguely like Loch LaphroaigChimney looks about right, but the lighthouse next to it? At least some whitewashed buildings, although it somehow reminds me more of Lagavulin than Laphroaig, The Milky Way looks seriously weird.Probably the best of the lot. One chimney only and the tower in the centre with some good will has a pagoda. Location on the shore kind of resembles Loch Laphroaig. Milky Way looks a bit funny but better than some of the other attempts.
I don’t know what the AI has been trained on, but I assume it doesn’t know an awful lot how Laphroaig really looks. Some of the representations of the Milky Way look a bit odd as well. Some of the distillery buildings it created look more like a factory with up to six chimneys (but lacking any pagodas). At least all the results place it at the shore, although the lighthouses some versions get are rather odd.
Somehow I had expected a bit more, but then again I heard you have to be very specific with the wording you use. I might read up on it and try again some other time.
Happy New Year 2024! Time for resolutions (including blogging here more again) and those kind of things. For various reasons I’m deviating from my usual New Year’s Day schedule today. Went for my morning walk (which I extended to a total of just over 7.5 miles) fairly late and so listened to the New Year’s Concert from Vienna using headphones while I was walking. So now over a late brunch I’m playing with some AI image generator (one of the resolutions, learn more about AI…) trying to generate some Islay themed New Year’s pictures. The text is written by me still, not an AI. Click on the pictures to view them in a full size gallery:
Plenty of Eagles (although not the right ones and a bay that reminds me a little of Port Ellen.Some generic whisky bottles, can we let them pass as Islay whisky? The geese look more like Canada, not the Barnacle I asked for. And some more non-Golden Eagles.Lots of fireworks, some Eagles (the one on the ground could even be a Golden Eagle), something that could just pass as a whisky distillery and even a generic bottle of Islay whiskyThe distillery looks a bit weird, but acceptable, just. The Barnacle Geese look like Canada Geese again. But the weird Swan and Geese (?) hybrid on the left is baffling me.The whiskies look a bit weird and I’m not sure of the glass second from the left. The Barnacle Geese look a bit weird and I’m not sure about the Eagle either. Cottages could actually be on Islay somewhere, even the pier.More Canada Geese pretending to be Barnacle Geese and I have no idea what the bird in flight is supposed to be (certainly not the Golden Eagle I asked for). The village looks a little bit Islay-ish, although the lighthouse is in the wrong placeNice looking village with the lighthouse in a plausible place for Islay. The bird in the air seems to be some weird cross between an Eagle and some gull? Not sure what the birds on the beach are. Or what the bird on the right is supposed to be. Some weird whiskies and a strange carafe (?)Some more Canada Geese pretending to be Barnacle Geese. Some shady generic Islay whisky. The village could fit in on Islay.Not sure why the fireworks are with bright sunshine. Lighthouse looks slightly wrong, doesn’t make me think of a Stevenson lighthouse. Not sure what the flags are supposed to be? Plenty of wrong Eagles and wrong Geese (Canada instead of Barnacle)The village again reminds me a bit of Port Ellen, the building at the end on the left could just pass as a distillery (or a church?). Not sure what the birds around the Islay whisky bottle are supposed to be, not the Golden Eagles and Barnacle Geese I asked for. Nice fireworks in a good place though.
Some interesting results in the AI generated pictures (using Microsoft’s Copilot / DALL·E 3 from OpenAI). I asked for an Islay New Year’s day with Islay whisky, beaches, white cottages, lighthouse, Golden Eagles, whisky distillery, lighthouse and Barnacle Geese (in a few combinations). None of it really looks like Islay. The Golden Eagles look mostly like Bald Eagles. The Barnacle Geese look mostly like Canada Geese. The distillery looks weird. The whisky is generic, but that’s OK. In other words, not that much improvement to my earlier attempt.
On that note I hope you had and are having a good New Year and will be having a great 2024. Time for a New Year’s Day dram soon, I think.
