Happy Hogmanay (New Year) to All !

I've often said "My life has been one big long day....with naps." I've never been one to mark time as it passes, but with the changing of each year, it's a bit hard to ignore.
Calendars must be changed out, special care has to be given to check writing (when filling in the date), and many experience the biggest hang-over of their year...on the first day of each New Year that comes.
The past year has been a great one for me. I've been able to reconnect with many souls
that I had lost track of/or who had lost track of me. This blog site has enabled that quite well, as a place to "meet-up" again. And that's been brilliant.

The next big Scottish celebration will be on the 25th of this month, "Burns Night Supper". This year is a special one...because it marks the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns birth and the kick-off of the year long celebration in Scotland called:
Scotland's Homecoming 2009. Robert Burns is the poet that wrote the song you just sang last night at the stroke of midnight "Auld Lang Syne' and holds the title of being Scotland's (timeless) Bard. There will be celebrations all over the world (where ever Scots gather)to honour the man...by reciting poetry (that he penned),
consuming grand portions of whisky, and eating of the haggis, tatties and neeps.
Look for a celebration in your area, most Scot Association and/or Clans organize a Burn's Night Supper and it's not only a great night out, but one more way to further your understanding of your Scottish roots.

The young lad that played 'the young Hamish' in Braveheart, ...Andrew Weir, got his start in acting by playing Robert Burns. Having grown up in Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland, he was within close reach of the home inwhich Burns was born and spent many years as a child. Recently I found I site on the Internet where Andrew (playing Burns) answers some of the 'most asked questions' about the man. (Hey that's Andrew!
was my reaction). He is still a forerunner in teaching about Burns today.

John Cairney, from Glasgow played Burns in theatre and events during the best portion of his life and is a widely recognized expert on him. Now living in New Zealand, he's known to return to Scotland in the month of January for Burns Night each year.
If you are interested in starting a Burns Night Supper event in your own area, I have a book by John Cairney called "Immortal Memories" that is a guide to the proceedings that normally take place during the evening event, available in the shop.

I personally like haggis, and seek it out when in Scotland. One of my favorite places to eat it is at The World's End Pub, on the Royal Mile, in Edinburgh. The pub is located where the old gates to Edinburgh were once located, and they believed anything outside of those gates (outside of the world or) another world.

The dish is a corn fed chicken breast stuffed with Haggis, with a whisky cream sauce...yum...yum. Served with mash tatties (potatoes) and beans.

All the Best to you and those that care for you in this New Year!

See ya soon in the shop....speaking of which I have gone down to being opened only on Saturday and Sunday, because of the slowness of the season. But will monitor the town and when things pick up, ....well you know the routine...

Linda