.. Mairiuna, I just stumbled upon an article in the Scotsman online magazine that compiles a list of top Scottish authors’ favourite books for the year 2012. In all, 44 authors contributed to this project. Wow… Ain’t it exciting to find out what our best authors reads are? So happy to find on the list Christopher Brookmyre, Alistair Moffat, Alexander McCall Smith … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Bonne et heureuse année à tous les fans d’Ecosse! Puissent vos pas vous mener en 2013 jusqu’à la belle Alba ! This year, more than ever, we’re going to share with you our love for Scotland. While 2012 had been designated ‘Year of Creative Scotland’, 2013 is going to be the ‘Year of Natural Scotland’. What an … Continue reading →
It’s now 2013 and Scotiana’s team is happy to celebrate, with you all, this great moment 🙂 ! Happy New Year ! Health, Peace and Joy to everyone and may all your wishes come true ! ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ A New Year toast said by Scottish people ? “A guid New Year to ane an’ a’ and mony may ye see.” … Continue reading →
Source : Le coffre aux images de Kate As Father Christmas is already driving his heavily loaded reindeer-drawn sleigh across the icy territories of his faraway country I’m very busy preparing the festivities of the end of the Year, dreaming of a vivifying walk in the countryside or a good book to read by the fireside… Source : Le … Continue reading →
Bonjour Mairiuna, Janice et Jean-Claude! Ca va? – How are you today? It was lovely to see you again at the end of September, and to welcome you all for the first time to our home in Scotland – a short visit, but one filled with so many unforgettable moments! 🙂 In the course of your extended journey around … Continue reading →
. Hi Mairiuna! As you mentioned in one of your recent post ‘St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney: The ‘Light in the North’ , we would have missed seeing the depictions of the Green Man as seen in the guide book, had it not been for the assistance of a very kind gentleman that helped us locate them on the pillars … Continue reading →
A light that has once shone is never quenched. Can a diamond wither? (George Mackay Brown – Magnus) Hi everybody ! How the martyrdom of earl Magnus and the miracles who followed his death led to the building of St Magnus cathedral in Kirkwall, that is what we’re going to learn today in the last seven paintings of … Continue reading →
. . Mairiuna, we’ve just enjoyed reading your post on the children’s painted panels in St Magnus Cathedral – a miniature Bayeux Tapestry! What was it, we wondered, that attracted the Arran children to this subject? (Iain & Margaret – 17/11/2012) . Many thanks to Iain and Margaret for this kind comment and quite interesting remarks about the Arran children … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Did you read my last post about St Magnus Cathedral? This beautiful pink and white sandstone church is situated in the heart of Kirkwall, the capital city of Orkney. Look! The door is open… let’s go inside, for the cathedral has a very interesting story to tell. Many old churches have their little secrets but if … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Hi Janice 😉 Many thanks for writing so interesting and funny pages… I’m always looking forward to reading them. What unforgettable moments you’re evoking… I would like so much to be in Scotland again! We were in Orkney last September for a 4-day trip. The MV Hamnavoe landed in Stromness on Thursday 13 just before noon. The … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! This morning on the STV online news was a story about a family waking up to discover a Highland cow in their front garden! Wow…you know how much I’m scared to death when too near of a cow, but I particularly love the Scottish Highland ones. That is, when they are on the other side of the fence. … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! Remember when in Kirkwall, we visited the Orkney Museum, just opposite St-Magnus Cathedral? I’ve learned since that the museum is housed in one of Scotland’s finest vernacular town house: the Tankerness House, built in 1574. Be it said that the entrance from the main street leaves no clue to the large building that lays behind! The story … Continue reading →
Almost before you are aware of it the summer is over, we are in September, the autumn equinox is hard upon us, and we go wheeling down into the storms, the snow, the darkness of winter. It was all over too soon, the season of peaches (I never ate so many – this summer they were delicious), herrings, new potatoes, … Continue reading →
To discover literary Edinburgh, you have to walk it, defying Robert Louis Stevenson’s “bleak winds” and exploring Dorothy Wordsworth’s “passes of dark stone”, simply because there is no other way of penetrating the ancient wynds, closes and creeper-ridden burial grounds of this city, whose literary past is written on its dark and hoary face. (Allan Foster – The … Continue reading →
