Joyeux Noël à tous !!! Santa Claus will very soon be at our doorstep or should I say up on the roof, ready to drop precious little presents into our chimney, ‘wee surprises’ as Iain and Margaret would say ;-). Why not read or re-read some good Scottish Christmas stories while waiting for him? 😉 Storytelling has always … Continue reading →
Here fond affection rears its sculpted stone… (from John Henry Alexander’s epitaph – Glasgow Necropolis) “CEMETERIES ARE FOR THE LIVING. Sure, the dead are the permanent residents and the living merely visitors but the Necropolis and every other burying ground in the world were imagined, designed and built for the benefit of other living people. Time, as … Continue reading →
. On this beautiful sunshined day, while reading away stories from Celtic Life – 25th Anniversary Special Edition which compiles the “Best of the Best” articles published in the last quarter century, a title grabbed my fullest attention: Child Slaves From Scotland; A Story rarely told . !!?? Written back in 2001 by Douglas MacGowan, it’s an … Continue reading →
Bonjour Janice, Marie-Agnès et Jean-Claude – Hello again from Scotland! 🙂 Marie-Agnès and Jean-Claude, do you still have a subscription to The Scots Magazine, the famous journal first published in 1739? We don’t have one ourselves, but were interested to find that the October 2011 issue contained a number of features on music in Scotland. Amongst them was a … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Can you remember the Scottish link binding together the three picturesque villas you can see below? Fortunately, these villas have survived the wave of destruction which, in the name of renovation (and profit), has deprived Arcachon of some of its most beautiful “Arcachonnaises”, as these 19th century architectural jewels are locally called. I’m going to … Continue reading →
Ken McGoogan, Harper Collins, First Edition 2010 . In reading Mairiuna’s very moving post “In Flanders Fields…Lest We Forget…“, a question came to my mind: when did John Alexander McCrae’s ancestors emigrated to Canada? Glancing through the bookshelves of my library, looking for a reference book that could answer this question, I stumbled upon Ken McGoogan’s book “How The Scots … Continue reading →
. Soon it will be Armistice Day marking the end of the terrible conflict in Europe when our soldiers bled with yours. Iain and Margaret Hi everybody, A WEE surprise from Iain and Margaret was waiting for us in the mailbox yesterday… a BIG wee surprise I must say 😉 and another one from Janice too! WOW! It’s so very … Continue reading →
Gotta tell you all today about an article that recently caught my attention. Written by John McEwen, it was featured in the Scotman’s ezine . The title “How the Scottish capital helped inspire a force of nature” triggered my curiosity as “Everything Scotland” is always of great interest. 😉 John McEwen starts his article by announcing the new publication of John … Continue reading →
Every year, it comes as a surprise. The leaves flare, for a time, to crimson and butter yellow, the air shifts, in the early morning, from te damp greens of late summer to soft graphites and an occasional miraculous quail grey. (John Burnside – A Lie About My Father) Hi everybody, Leaves fall in the garden and it’s getting … Continue reading →
Hi everybody! Without our last message from Iain and Margaret, it would certainly have escaped us that today was the anniversary of the death of Frédéric Chopin, nor would we have known that this genial composer owed so much to a Scottish lady who, in the last and painful years of his short life, looked after him … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! I’m happy to learn, inside your latest article touring us around Arcachon’s ‘less known heights’, that old villas of the area had a Scottish link! Great discovery my friend 😉 . And I just love the black & white postcards you showcased, as they romantically travel us back into time … The following excerpt from your post caught … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Summer is lingering this year, with October already here and temperatures still close to 30° Celsius. But we are not going to complain as we can take advantage of this nice weather to visit some places we try to avoid during the touristic season. We’ve spent hours following the sunny sandy paths which wind between … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Today is September 21st, the first day of the autumn season though here, in the south of France, it looks like a summer day, warm and sunny! I wonder what is the weather like in Scotland now… Is it as beautiful as it was, 179 years ago, in that quiet and beautiful corner of the Scottish Borders … Continue reading →
Hi everybody! Hope this article finds you well and enjoying life. 🙂 We received a letter in reference with the restoration of Sir Walter Scott’s House in the Borders region of Scotland and thought it would be great to share its contents as it is a cause that is close to our heart. Samantha Hobrough is part of the … Continue reading →
