Today, Scots at home and abroad celebrate the birth of Robert Burns, whose poetry and songs are known and loved far and wide. One of the things we do to celebrate is to eat haggis, neeps and tatties. This may sound like a very exotic meal, but you will recognise two of the ingredients!
It is much more appetising when you see the meal on the plate! Haggis with mashed potato (tatties) and mashed turnip (neeps).
Lots of people go to Burns' Suppers, where the haggis is brought to the table, with a piper playing the bagpipes. The Master of Ceremonies will then address the haggis before cutting it open and pouring a dram of whisky over it. As I don't like whisky, we don't do that bit, but Malcolm may have a nightcap later
When I was at Primary School, there was a competition run by the Burns Federation ....... we had to stand up on the stage in front of the whole school and recite a poem - and I won (of course I had an advantage because of those elocution lessons)
I have tried to find the poem that I recited, but Google has let me down! But the first verse went something like this
There's a corbie sitting in yonder tree
And he's lookin' doon wi' his black, black ee
He's cryin' oot wi' a caw, caw, caw
If you shin up, you're sure tae fa'
Roughly translated, the crow in the tree is telling you that if you climb the tree, you will fall.
When the post arrived this morning, I was intrigued to receive an envelope with a hand-written address - most of my post seems to be official looking letters! I was delighted to find it was from Sue, who was one of the winners of my giveaway. She has sent me this wonderful card, inspired by the owl sticky tape that I used to wrap her parcel
The owl card was tucked inside this lovely card ......
....... which is especially delightful to me (and Malcolm) as it is so like our spaniel Honey, whom we still miss
But I can't show you a photo of Honey without showing you a photo of our other dog Bonnie, a tiny poodle. This photo was taken in 1978, when she was just a few months old ...... and to paraphrase Princess Diana's famous statement - there are three of us in the photo! Yes, Bonnie is hiding my (very small) baby bump!
ps - now that Sue has her parcel, I can show you what I sent her