Abbotsford! The Home of Sir Walter Scott! With hills, fields and woods in the background, like a fairytale castle, the old house emerges from beautiful gardens with its many chimneys, its crenellated turrets and crow stepped gables… No wonder Sir Walter was so deeply attached to Abbotsford. He designed the house in the same way he wrote his books, with … Continue reading →
Rob Roy MacGregor – Engraving – Source: Wikipedia In February of 1671, was born in Glengyle, a couple of hundred yards above river Gyle’s northern bank, near Loch Katrine, the third son of Donald MacGregor (aka Donald Glas, or pale, from the natural pallor of his skin), a chief of Clan Gregor and his wife Margaret Campbell. Rob Roy‘s descent … Continue reading →
Margaret MacDonald is my spirit key. My other half. She is more than half – she is three quarters – of all I’ve done. We chose each other and each gave to the other what the other lacked. Her hand was always in mine. If I had the heart, she had the head. Oh, I had the talent but she … Continue reading →
. While touring Scotland’s beautiful Aberdeenshire region, we heard that the Aboyne Highland Games Annual event was taking place, so Mairiuna, Jean-Claude and myself, traveled to nearby Aboyne city to experience our first Scottish Highland Games! The abolition of the powers of the chiefs which followed the defeat of Culloden and the accompanying banning of all things Highland put an end … Continue reading →
The House for an Art Lover : Building the Dream of Charles Rennie Mackintosh –Part 1 For Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s admirers it’s something to find oneself in front of this elegant white building with its emblematic façade, so representative of the artist’s style and to think it has been built, more than seventy years after his death! If they came … Continue reading →
We’ve just received from our Scottish friends, Iain and Margaret, a very moving tribute to one of the most lovely voices of Scotland, Kenneth McKellar, who passed away a couple of days ago and we are eager to share it with you… Hello again, Janice, Marie-Agnes and Jean-Claude! I’d like to write a word or two today about the world-famous … Continue reading →
Hey Mairiuna, hope you don’t mind if I talk again today about our favorite crime writer, Ian Rankin. I’m just kidding, as i know you will be thrilled to read about the subsequent books that were published after the “Rebus finale“. Upon the publishing of his final book featuring Detective Inspector John Rebus, Exit Music, Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin … Continue reading →
Ian Rankin’s Exit Music, published in December 2007, was to be the final instalment of a series of eighteen ( if we include Death Is Not The End, a novella that was further expanded in the novel Dead Souls) crime novels featuring the well known and charismatic Edinburgh’s Inspector John Rebus. Book reviews quoted Exit Music to be one the … Continue reading →
The House for an Art Lover : Building the Dream of Charles Rennie Mackintosh – Part 2 After our virtual visit of Queen’s Cross Church, let’s open the gates of the House for an Art Lover. Who could believe that this Mackintosh-style house has been built seventy years after the death of the great Scottish architect? In Bellahouston Park, the … Continue reading →
Queen’s Cross Church story begins when John Honeyman of Glasgow’s Honeyman & Keppie architectural practice was given, from the Free Church of St Matthew, the contract to build a new church, near Maryhill, a poor neighbourhood with tenements and warehouses. We are in 1897. A young artist, studying at the Glasgow School of Art is gaining popularity inside the city’s … Continue reading →
Hi everybody! No green leaves on the trees yet, but my window is wide open this morning and a very pleasant spring atmosphere is coming up from the garden! Here’s the spring, at last! This winter seemed to be a never ending one this year! Now, if you could have a look at the sunny room where I’m writing, you … Continue reading →
Germany – Art Nouveau – Sheet 3 Stamps As a “suite” to the great post that Mairiuna wrote about Mrs Kate Cranston’s tearooms, revealing Charles Rennie Mackintosh as the artist behind the magnificient decorative style of its interiors, I would like to emphasize today on the symbolism that lies underneath Mackintosh’s creative designs. But first, to put ourselves into context, let’s step back a century … Continue reading →
Hi everybody ! Try to imagine we’re all sitting on a Mackintosh chair round a Mackintosh table, in the very special atmosphere of the Willow Tearooms in Glasgow, chatting about everything Scotland, our favourite subject ! To begin with, have you read our friends’ second Letter from Scotland? This time, Iain and Margaret have told us a very moving story. … Continue reading →
We are delighted to publish this second Letter from Scotland received from our dear friends Iain and Margaret. A very moving story… Hello again from Scotland, Marie-Agnes, Jean-Claude and Janice! I wonder whether you remember driving that time from Wanlockhead (home to the Lead-Mining Museum) all the way to Wigtown, to explore the many bookshops? The journey would have taken you through … Continue reading →
. Each year, hundreds of bagpipes musicians gathered in various bands offer concerts to enthusiastic crowds all over the world and they are the key element to any Highland Games. Wearing the MacDonald kilt, Ottawa bagpiper John-Hugh MacDonald is pictured here on the Canadian stamp issued in 1997 to commemorate the 50th Glengarry Highland Games held in Maxville, Ontario. Commissioned … Continue reading →
