Merry Christmas!

Nollaig Chridheal

agus

Bliadhna Mhath Ur!

Mo Naire! 38 weeks

Mo naire (accent on the a) is the Gaelic for shame on you (though literally it means my shame). So shame on me! I missed a week. I think I was pining away for my friends to write comments, and I just didn't have the heart to write a post last week.

No, I'm just kidding! Not having the internet at home, and having a busy week just combined against me.

Christmas is coming! I know that Hogmanay is celebrated more in Scotland than Christmas, but I do love Christmas. I need to brush up on the lovely Gaelic Christmas song I learned a couple years ago:

Mo ghaol, mo ghradh is meudail thu...

Grants and 40 weeks

Yesterday was my dad's birthday, and yesterday I wore a sweater that his mother Jean Grant McCloud made. I'm wearing it again today, in fact, because it's such an amazing sweater - like a coat of many colors, it is striped brown, gold, pink, blue, green, red, purple and so on. I have been reflecting on this woman who died before I could meet her, much less get to know her. And yet, in some of my characteristics, in a few traces on my face, I know that in small ways I am able to know her.

And as for our hard to trace McCloud ancestor of the 18th century, he may not have come from Londonderry after all. He lived in Londonderry, New Hampshire. It still doesn't rule out an Irish connection, but we are back to square one with him.