In bed with the Major General

'the plaid'

This was supposed to be a few bon mots about 25th January. I was going to talk about the Haggis in Morrisons and the wee drop of Drambuie I have been keeping to go with my Burns night thoughts. Its the 27th now and the moment has passed but I am not going to waste my 'tartan ' pictures.

Aunty Eva, Aunty Alice(died 1986) ,Aunty Bessie

My dearest of aunts , Alice Susan Bruce  was the curator of all our Scottish relics, heirlooms and in some ways ephemera. I always remember her on 26th January , her birthday. So forgetting Burns night has enabled me to write about something much more personal.

My great great grandmother Mary Mckinnon Elder married a Bruce , and passed many family things to her her grandaughters 'the Edinburgh aunts' (Eva and Bessie Borthwick) who passed them to my Aunty Alice. My aunt passed the Major Generals plaid  on to me several years before she died. 

The huge piece of black watch tartan (5 yds by 2 yds)was supposed to have belonged to Major General Sir George Elder who died in Madras in 1836. We have the Inventory of all his possessions on his accidental death,(fall from his horse) it is not there. His effects were sold in India and the monies returned to Scotland. Of course I have no way of knowing it was his. The oral tradition about it might have been blurred. It might have been given by him to my Great Great Grandmother who was his niece.  We will never know. When I was given it in 1982, it was all wrapped in brown paper, and had not been opened for decades. 

For the last 30 years Colin and I have used it. It is thin and extremely warm. When it is very cold we say 

Shall we go to bed with the major General tonight?

The holiday I never had

Looking on uTube to find the video of King Creosote , Jon Hopkins,  'Bubble'  should have been the work of a moment. I thought it would be a great post for Bank Holiday Monday . My forays into uTube invariably take hours as I browse and enjoy the  offerings. 

Today I found not only Bubble, but a random Holiday Movie  which I post here. I have a house full of younger people staying. I am enjoying being chief cook and  using  Dishwasher. Yesterday the Spinach and Rice Pie with homemade tomato sauce  went down really well. Today I am about to put the Beef in the oven for a Sunday Roast. For a treat this morning I listened to The Archers Omnibus and then Private Passions. We do not do the full on Sunday entertaining every week now. Usually I am at 10am Service with C, and we come home and read the papers, or garden, watch a DVD   and the Antiques Road Show and speak on the phone to the Elderlies. 

I have been remembering how it was. Oh dear! I am reminiscing. I have never done housework or shopping on Sundays, except when necessary. For years  and years I served Sunday lunch to The world , their wives, our old aunts and my children and husband. It takes me so long now. I wake up in the middle of the night and think irrationally I'll do the vegetables, make the Yorkshire Pudding Mix. Iv'e wised up since retiring. Sunday lunch may be Mince and Yorkshire Pudding  or a Casserole in the Slow Cooker. I dont have to make a pudding now, I can buy one. 

So Today I have been thinking . Not more so when I found this video of a couple on Holiday in the Highlands.  My family comes as my Elder and McKinnon Cousins who follow this blog , Nancy, Miguel and Mary, will know, from the Isle of Skye. I have never been there. I have never even been further than Iona.
I was a walker once, in my YHA days before marriage to  C who  loves City Breaks , no Cows In fields, and thinks the Yorkshire Wolds are the Middle of nowhere. (This is not a grumble on my part).

So this is video is my fantasy Holiday. Thank you -you unknown rough campers. 

For My cousin In Argentina

Mary McKinnon Elder

Jane MacDonald Elder

Jane Elder

Major General Sir George Elder(from miniature)

Mary McKinnon Elder (top) is my great great grandmother. She died in Inveraray in 1880 and was the daughter of John Elder and Margaret McBean Elder of Isle Ornsey.Skye.
Immediately below her here is Jane McDonald(nee Elder) , her sister who married the minister of Glen Urquart we think?
Below her is Jane Elder (we think) the 2nd wife of the Colin Elder (farmer) of Skye whose first wife was Agnes McKay.
Major General Sir George Elder is the photo taken from a miniature . We have the Inventory of his possessions on his death in Madras In 1836. We also have a plaid (Tartan) of his which we still use on very cold nights on our bed !