Tag: Scotland

Ringtone: Scotland the Brave

“Scotland the Brave” (Scottish Gaelic: Alba an Àigh) is a Scottish patriotic song. It was one of several songs considered an unofficial national anthem of Scotland. My cellphone ringtone is Scotland the Brave. At any rehearsal, everyone knows it’s my phone, if one is ringing 🙂  I posted a bit about that here: http://maryoblog.com/2015/08/ Below, the …

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Sean Connery

This video just came up on my Facebook feed  but I hadn’t seen it before.  This was  a fantastic performance for Sean Connery in 1999. Sean Connery was honored at the Kennedy Center for lifetime achievements. The music consists of the Washington Pipe Band, Alasdair Fraser, Davidson School of Scottish Dance, Mairi Campbell and Dave …

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It’s Burns Night!

  Burns Night commemorates the life of the bard (poet) Robert Burns, who was born on January 25, 1759.     The day also celebrates Burns’ contribution to Scottish culture. Burns’ best-known work is “Auld Lang Syne”. We were at the Edinburgh Tattoo for this performance but I didn’t take this video.     Haggis, …

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Greyfriar’s Bobby Day!

When we were in Scotland a couple years ago, we walked to Edinburgh Castle and back from hotel a couple times. I had never heard of Greyfriar’s Bobby until our bus tour the second day although we had walked by the statue 3 times already! On our 4th pass-by, we saw several people taking pictures …

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Today is…National Shortbread Day

Shortbread is a classic Scottish dessert  traditionally made with: 1 part white sugar (I use powdered) 2 parts butter 3 parts flour (I usually use rice flour) And a bit of salt Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture which is caused by its high-fat content, provided by the butter.   “Shortening” is …

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First Foot on Hogmanay

  In Scottish folklore, the first-foot is the first person to enter the home of a household on New Year’s Day and a bringer of good fortune for the coming year. Although it is acceptable in many places for the first-footer to be a resident of the house, they must not be in the house at …

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Happy Saint Andrew’s Day!

  In Scotland, and many countries with Scottish connections, St Andrew’s Day is marked with a celebration of Scottish culture with traditional Scottish food, music and dance. Schools across Scotland hold special St Andrew’s Day events and activities including art shows, Scottish country dancing, lunchtime Ceilidhs, dance festivals, storytelling, reciting and writing poems, writing tall …

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Giving Thanks on Veterans Day

Giving thanks to our Veterans today I’m not sure how Veterans Day turned into a Monday holiday and a day to sell stuff, but then, most every holiday has turned into a day for stores to run “sales”.  Possibly, the original intent was to give our veterans a break but it has sure morphed away …

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Giving Thanks, Day 7

Today I’m thankful for Travel. We’ve been fortunate to be able to travel to several interesting places. Some, like Iceland, we just lucked in to. We’d wanted to go to Ireland but the travel agent couldn’t get us in at any time over that summer. She did get us a deal where, if we flew Iceland …

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Scotland ~ Living in Caves

Since we recently went there, I’m following all kinds of news items and blogs about Scotland.  I found this one particularly interesting.   Cave dwelling has stone age connotations for most people today , but in Scotland living in caves only ceased 100 years ago when it was outlawed in 1915. Alison Campsie looks back at …

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