Friday night 8:45PM entry

This will probably be the final entry during the trip. We leave Islay tomorrow and between then and Monday night, when we are back in the states, we do not anticipate any ability to be "on line". However, we will post more entries following our arrival back in the USA. We have been very busy up until very late at night, and as explained earlier we must access the wifi at a local pub. So, that's why our blog postings have not been as frequent as we would have preferred.



Briefly, these are the events of the past few days:

Wednesday:
We drove to Kilnave/Loch Gruinart, the site of the Kilnave Cross and the battle of Traigh Ghruineard in 1598. Traigh Ghruineard was the last major clan battle on Islay. There is much more to it (and I will post more in the future) but here is a summary: One side killed the clan chief of the other, then sought refuge in a chapel. The now-chiefless clan burned the chapel. The site is also known for its cross which is beautiful in its own right but perhaps not as well known as the Kildalton cross. Later that day we attended a Gaelic Concert in Bowmore. The performers sang, danced and play various instruments such as accordion, pipes, and clarsach (Gaelic harp).

Thursday:



We started our day by doing laundry. Later that day we visited our friends Maggie and Robin Woodman at Samhchair, then drove down to the "Singing Sands" beach at Kilnaugton Bay. Maggie and Robin were instrumental in making our first visit to Islay a positive experience and we have kept in contact with them over the past year.

A special thrill that day was visiting Neil and Ruth McEachern of Keills, Port Askaig, Islay. We met them when we attended church at Kilmeny, and I had asked if anyone spoke The Gaelic. We were introduced to Neil and his wife. Neil grew up speaking The Gaelic, and was raised in a now abandoned village near Finlaggan, and we received an invitation to visit them in their home. So we did and what a pleasure it was to sit and hear about their lives on Islay and its history. We hope to be able to visit them again, soon, and perhaps speak more Gaelic than simply ciamar a tha sibh?

Friday:

We drove down to Bunnahabhain distillery for their open day and to hear Skerryvore. We collected a free bottle of Black Bottle whisky, took some snaps and had fun. From there we drove to Port Nahaven where we ran into Alan Jenkins, my chess opponent from last year !!! He was kind enough to take a picture of us with Port Wemyss (weems) in the background. Then we stopped at An Gleann which served as the inspiration for Jacqueline's tablet business and followed that up with a long walk to Grimsay, an abandoned village some distance from Port Charlotte.



Well, that's it for now. The 'puter, running on batteries is low and I must be away. Please stay "tuned" as we continue to blog and provide more detail and information about our trip. I have not even been able to keep up with my journal: I am trusting the hundreds of photographs will jog my memory. Some of the better pics that are not blogged will be posted to my website, Flickr or Facebook.

Wed (26th) and Thu (27th)

This is an early entry for May 26 and 27. We are planning on attending some night time events tomorrow (Wed) and Thursday; a Gaelic concert Wednesday in Bogh Mor ... Bowmore, and Clootie Dumpling Ceilidh in Port nah Abhainne ... Port Nahaven on Thursday so we might not have another blog entry until Friday night. Friday is our last full day on Islay before we return to Tarbert on the mainland, then to Glasgow and back to the USofA.

Meanwhile the weather has been very good most of the time. Breezy but sunny and cool.

I have a little bit of The Gaelic (but desire more)

Today I attended two services at St Columba, in Glasgow. The first, at 10:00AM was in Gaelic, the second, at 11:00 in English. Following the Gaelic service the woman sitting in front of me introduced herself, speaking in The Gaelic but immediately switched to English when I responded in English. I think I know what she asked me but with no Gaelic speakers where I live my progress in self-teaching is not rapid. Yet, I remain committed to learning. It turned out that she had to learn to speak English having grown up speaking Gaidhlig on Leodhas (Lewis). I was amazed at how easily she and others switched from The Gaelic (of which I understand some, but not a lot) to English. The number of Gaelic speakers is not large and there is effort to keep it alive; I offered to move to Scotland so I can learn it as well.

From there I wandered around Glasgow, down to St Andrew's on the Square, where I hoped to have lunch but the cafe was closed. So, I walked back to the Central Station area where I had lunch. This was the shortest day so far: I left at after 8 and returned at 5ish. There is so much to see, and I have enjoyed tremendously the opportunities I have had to talk to Scots while waiting for a train, visiting them in their homes, or as a result of asking for directions to a destination. Only two more days in Alba. I miss my wife (and The Ghillie) but I will be sad to leave, and hope that God will open doors for us to return, perhaps to live.