ISLE OF RAASAY, THE FIRST LEGAL SCOTTISH DISTILLERY

Today, The Fosters & The Grandma have visited Raasay, the inner Hebridean isle in the north west of Scotland, well-known by its Scotch whisky distillery.

Before, the family has studied some English grammar with the Past Simple (To Be).

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+Info: There was/were

Raasay, in Scottish Gaelic Ratharsair, sometimes the Isle of Raasay, is an island between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland. It is separated from Skye by the Sound of Raasay and from Applecross by the Inner Sound. It is famous for being the birthplace of Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish Renaissance.

Traditionally the home of Clan MacSween, the island was ruled by the MacLeods from the 15th to the 19th century. Subsequently, a series of private landlords held title to the island, which is now largely in public ownership. Raasay House, which was visited by James Boswell and Samuel Johnson in 1773, is now a hotel, restaurant, bar and outdoor activity centre.

Raasay means Isle of the Roe Deer and is home to an endemic subspecies of bank vole.

About 23 kilometres north to south and 5 kilometres east to west at its widest, Raasay's terrain is varied. The highest point, at 443 metres, is Dùn Caan -an unusual, flat-topped peak. The island of Rona lies just off the north coast and the tidal islets of Eilean Fladday and Eilean Tigh are to the northwest. Other smaller surrounding islands are Eilean Aird nan Gobhar, Eilean an Inbhire, Holoman Island, Manish Island, Fraoch Eilean, Glas Eilean, Griana-sgeir and Eilean an Fhraoich. The main village of Inverarish is near the southwest coast and contiguous with both Clachan at the west end where the main pier is situated and Suishnish to the east. Oskaig is a small settlement further up the west coast.

The primary employment is in tourism, working for the ferry company, crofting and fishing, or commuting to work on Skye. A twenty-five-minute ride by the car and passenger ferry connects the island with Sconser on Skye. There is a primary school, but older students go to Portree High School by the ferry and bus.

Sites of interest include the remains of a broch, the ruins of Brochel Castle, inscribed stones, abandoned crofting communities, and many walking paths.

The spread of Scots culture from Dalriada north of Ardnamurchan is poorly understood and little is recorded of Raasay's early Christian period. The placename Kilmaluag suggests the presence of St Moluag in the late sixth century.

Following Viking expeditions to the islands they called the Suðreyjar in the eighth century, Raasay became part of the Norse Kingdom of the Isles and for much of the period religious observance came under the jurisdiction of the Bishopric of the Isles.

The Hebrides were yielded to the Kingdom of Scotland as a result of the 1266 Treaty of Perth, after which time control of the islands north of Ardnamurchan was in the hands of the Earls of Ross.

In addition to the name Raasay itself, placenames such as Arnish (eagle headland), Suidhisnis (seething headland) and Eyre (beach or sand spit) are a legacy of the Norse presence.

More information: Isle of Raasay

In September 2017 the Isle of Raasay distillery opened after the conversion of Borodale House.

Isle of Raasay distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery on the Inner Hebridean Isle of Raasay in Northwest Scotland. The distillery is owned by R&B Distillers and was the first legal distillery on the Isle of Raasay when it opened in 2017.

R&B Distillers was founded in 2014 by Alasdair Day and Bill Dobbie. The company started its operations at the Isle of Raasay in September 2017 after receiving its distiller's license. The water used during the distilling process in the production of whisky comes from a Celtic Iron Age well. The water has a high mineral content derived from the island's volcanic and sandstone rock.

The whisky is distilled in copper pot stills and is matured at the distillery on Raasay in a variety of oak casks. The distillery will produce approximately 200,000 litres of pure alcohol per year. The distillery's flagship brand is Isle of Raasay Single Malt Scotch Whisky released since 2020. Since then, the distillery has also released a number of limited special and single cask whiskies.

The distillery is based on the site of a former disused hotel called Borodale House on the southwest of the island. The Isle of Raasay Distillery also has a visitors’ centre that opened in January 2018. It was awarded 5 stars by VisitScotland as a tourist attraction in June 2018. The distillery also features a six-bedroom hotel with views over the Isle of Skye.

In 2023, the distillery ranked third in a Cask Connoisseur ranking of the most popular whisky distilleries.

More information: Isle of Raasay Distillery

The king o’ drinks, as I conceive it,
Talisker, Isla, or Glenlivet!

Robert Louis Stevenson

THE WATSONS SEARCH THEIR END 'OVER THE RAINBOW'

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

Today, The Watsons and The Grandma have continued studying their English for Sales course. They have arrived to their last day of theorical classes and they have chosen There was-There were to finish their formation.

Judit Watson has given a beautiful present to every member of the family, an interesting editon of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the American children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.

More information: There was-There were

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an American children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow, originally published by the George M. Hill Company in May 1900.

It has since seen several reprints, most often under the title The Wizard of Oz, which is the title of the popular 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the iconic 1939 live-action film.

The story chronicles the adventures of a young farm girl named Dorothy in the magical Land of Oz, after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their Kansas home by a cyclone.

The book is one of the best-known stories in American literature and has been widely translated. The Library of Congress has declared it America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale. Its groundbreaking success and the success of the Broadway musical adapted from the novel led Baum to write thirteen additional Oz books that serve as official sequels to the first story.

In January 1901, George M. Hill Company completed printing the first edition, a total of 10,000 copies, which quickly sold out. It sold three million copies by the time it entered the public domain in 1956.

More information: Mental Floss

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, it is the most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Directed primarily by Victor Fleming, who left the production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind, the film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale alongside Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr.

Characterized by its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters, the film has become an American pop culture icon. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to Gone with the Wind, also directed by Fleming. It did win in two other categories: Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart.

While the film was considered a critical success upon release in August 1939, it failed to make a profit for MGM until the 1949 re-release, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,777,000 budget, not including promotional costs, which made it MGM's most expensive production at that time.

The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced the film to the public; according to the Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in movie history.

In 1989, it was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. It is also one of the few films on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

The Watsons under the rainbow

The film was among the top ten in the 2005 BFI (British Film Institute) list of 50 films to be seen by the age of 14 and is on the BFI's updated list of 50 films to be seen by the age of 15, issued in May 2020.

The Wizard of Oz is the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but others made uncredited contributions. The songs were written by Edgar Yip Harburg and composed by Harold Arlen. The musical score and the incidental music were composed by Stothart.

Over the Rainbow is a ballad composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg.

It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and was sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale.

It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland's signature song.

About five minutes into the film, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands to listen to her story of an unpleasant incident involving her dog, Toto, and the town spinster, Miss Gulch. Aunt Em tells her to find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble. This prompts her to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, Some place where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain..., at which point she begins singing.

More information: History

On October 7, 1938, Judy Garland recorded the song on the MGM soundstage with an arrangement by Murray Cutter. In September 1939, a studio recording of the song, not from the film soundtrack, was recorded and released as a single for Decca.

In March 1940, that same recording was included on a Decca 78 four-record studio cast album entitled The Wizard of Oz. Although this isn't the version that appeared in the film, Decca continued to release the cast album into the 1960s after it was reissued on disc, a 33​1⁄3-rpm album.

The film version of Over the Rainbow was unavailable to the public until the soundtrack was released by MGM in 1956 to coincide with the television premiere of The Wizard of Oz. The soundtrack version has been re-released several times over the years, including a deluxe edition by Rhino in 1995.

After The Wizard of Oz appeared in 1939, Over the Rainbow became Garland's signature song. She performed it for thirty years, singing it as she had for the film. She said she wanted to remain true to the character of Dorothy and to the message of being somewhere over the rainbow.

The rainbow flag, also known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) pride and LGBTQ social movements. While this use of the rainbow flag originated in San Francisco, it is now used worldwide.

Originally devised by artist Gilbert Baker, the design has undergone several revisions since its debut in 1978, first to remove colors then restore them based on availability of fabrics.

The first flag had eight colors, however the traditional and still most common variant consists of six stripes: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The flag is typically flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow.

It has been suggested that Baker may have been inspired by Judy Garland's singing Over the Rainbow and the Stonewall riots that happened a few days after Garland's death, she was one of the first gay icons.

More information: Gutenberg

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby, I
Oh, somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
Clouds high over the rainbow, makes all your dreams come true, ooh.

Judy Garland

SOME FAR WEST STORIES: DIAMONDS AND RUST

Far West Outlaws

Today, The Bonds have worked There is/There are, There was/There were, There will be and countable and uncountable with Some and Any.

They have also practised some important acronyms for Telephoning English and have created a Quiz.

More information: Some & Any

The Grandma has remembered some past moments and has talked about some Far West legends like Jesse James and some singers who evocate them like Joan Baez or Bob Dylan.

More info: There is/There are  & There was/There were

After that, the family has received the visit of M, who has arrived with an incredible present for everybody, a new book to prepare B1 Exam and they've practised a long listening to train themselves.

The family left San Francisco and they're travelling now across U.S.Highway 163 to Utah-Arizona border where tomorrow they're going to visit the Navajo Nation.

During the 'ballad' years for me, the politics was latent; 

I was just falling in love with the ballads and my boyfriend. 

And there was the beauty of the songs. 

Joan Baez