We are still away enjoying our holidays in the far north, staying in the house of friends of ours and keeping an eye on their sheep and pigs while they are away. Calum (10), who wants to be a crofter, is taking his responsibilities very seriously and has been up bright and early each morning, ready to feed the animals. I love the pigs, I think they are so funny, although I haven't yet made it up in time to see how frenzied they are at feeding time!
We are in the part of the country where my husband's, father and ancestors are from. Each year we try and make the trip, especially to see my husband's old bachelor uncle. Despite him still being very fit and able to get around, he never travels south of Inverness, although this isn't a new thing, he never has! He is a very kind, gentle man, always putting others first, visiting the sick and elderly. He is content to live in the house that he and his brothers were born in. The house has hardly been modernised at all since then and he wouldn't want it to be either.
Wouldn't it be great to live as content as he does? Happy to sit at home by his stove surrounded by good books, of which he has very many, and not to want anything more!
When we visit him my husband likes to find out as much as he can about his family history. His uncle is a great source of knowledge about his own family and many of those in the district.
This time he took us to Dornoch Cathedral and showed the boys where their great-great-grandparents were buried - the two stones at the front of the photo below.
This is about the fourth year we have done this trip to the lochans, and the first time we haven't caught anything! I think the excuse was that it was far too bright and the fish were too far down in the water. Never mind. It meant that I didn't have to gut any fish!
And the boys enjoyed the trip despite their lack of success.
Hello, It is really amazing and very special to have a relative with so much of your family history. Be sure to journal most of it for your boys. Hope your well, and we can all be encouraged Spring will come.
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Blessings, Roxy
Oh, I wish I had an uncle like that! I think I could join him by his stove with a stack of books & be completely happy. :) Plus, how wonderful to have such a source of knowledge of one's ancestors...and to see the places they saw when they lived. Sounds like a good trip.
ReplyDeleteAnd your crocheting looks lovely ~ what are you making?
Hi Kirsteen,
ReplyDeleteYour Holiday looks wonderful. It did look very sunshiney and blue skies, but I wondered if it were cold. I can see myself there in the car with you crocheting and staying warm with little Alasdair. I think your Uncle/in law sounds like some one in a book by my favorite fiction/author D.E. Stevenson. I can just picture what he is like, and yes, I would love to be like that... content with my woodstove and good books. It would be wonderful to have your family history so full. The church and cemetery are beautiful.