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 …
Tag: Scotland
Jan 06
National Shortbread Day – YUM!
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 …
Dec 31
First Foot
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 …
Dec 31
Hogmanay Fireballs!
Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year’s Day (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January—a Scottish bank holiday. The …
Dec 21
Lockerbie
The Lockerbie Cairn, through its 270 blocks of red Scottish sandstone, memorializes the 270 lives lost in the terrorist attack on the United States when Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed Dec. 21, 1988, over Lockerbie, Scotland. It is a gift of the people of Scotland to the people of the United States, financed entirely …
Nov 11
Day 26: 40 Days of Thankfulness
Giving thanks to our Veterans today I’m not sure how Veterans Day turned into a 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 …
Oct 31
Scotland Invented Halloween :)
IT SOUNDS like a bold claim to make, but evidence suggests that, if not for Scotland, Halloween would not exist – at least not as the world knows it.In medieval times, the 31st of October was the last day of the old Celtic calendar. Scots druids referred to it as Samhuinn, a term which …
Aug 27
Scotland’s August Bank Holiday
Last year we’re in Scotland on August 28, so we were affected by the August Bank Holiday. This year’s holiday is on Monday, August 27. The August Bank Holiday was instituted by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 to give bankers a day off so they could participate in cricket matches. Since then, however, its significance …