A neighbor just brought me two big pick-up loads of firewood, which we stacked neatly close to the porch for my convenience. Emma now has it in her head that "something" is living in the woodpile and she aims to have it. She is steadily "de-constructing" the nice job of stacking we did and she is having so much fun that I haven't the heart to stop her. I am, however, hoping the visitor is not a skunk. I doubt it. It's most likely mice, with which she maintains a mafia-style vendetta of great intensity.
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At the rate she's going, it's not going to be a wood "pile" much longer.
On a non-dog subject, my husband and I have been listening to Julie Fowlis lately, a Scot who performs frequently in Gaelic. This has made us wonder if there is much difference between the Irish and Scottish versions of the language. I thought you might have some info on that. Stay well on the high plains.
Hi, Carol--
The Irish took the language, the kilt, and the pipes to Scotland in about 600AD. Indeed, the Latin root which becomes "Scotland" means "where the Irish are from." Scots highlanders are essentially transplanted Irishmen.
Until fairly recently Scots Gaelic was almost incomprehensible to Irish-speakers. But that has changed somewhat. Radio na Gaeltachta, the radio outlet that serves Irish-speakers in Ireland began to broadcast items in Scots Gaelic-- poetry, articles, news items, that sort of thing-- and slowly SG has become less "foreign" to the Irish.
In all the years since the Irish settled Scotland, the Scots haven't made a single payment on the kilt, the language, or the pipes. I've a friend who is an Irish piper . He likes to say "We gave the Scots the pipes 1500 years ago and they STILL haven't got the joke!"
So the Irish started those rumors about the cheapskate Scots. We of Scottish descent prefer the word "thrifty." I must thank the Irish for the Great Highland War Pipe, though. Thanks for the information. Since I can understand neither the Irish nor the Scottish version of the language I have to be satisfied with the music, and the haunting, ethereal voice.
If I recall correctly, the bagpipes originated in the middle east, and were probably brought to the British Isles by Phoenician traders. Interesting that the original Britons never picked it up like their Irish and Scot relatives.
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