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On November 14th 1910 the Poet Norman MacCaig was born in Edinburgh.

MacCaig made his living as a primary-school teacher. He was a lifelong pacifist and during World War II served a term in prison for his beliefs. There is a suggestion that this became a shadow over his subsequent career and that advancement was blocked because of it.

I sometimes wish I had been born a few decades earlier, I started drinking in Milnes Bar in the late 80’s/early 90’s I missed the likes of MacCaig, Tom Scott, George Mackay Brown, Robert Garioch and Hugh MacDiarmid who used frequent the place, especially MacCaig and MacDiarmid, who apparently used to engage in flyting, which had it’s origins in medieval times. Flyting is a ritual, poetic exchange of insults, if you think of modern day rap battles, then take it back several hundred years and in old language, you get the idea, I can imagine being at the bar listening to these wordsmiths joust with each other.

Anyway when MacCaig eventually left teaching he was appointed Edinburgh University’s first Writer in Residence in 1967. In 1970 he joined the English Department of Stirling University, becoming Reader in Poetry. He retired in 1978 and enjoyed a long period as a freelance poet. He died on 23 January 1996.

I love a wee poem to myself in posts, and this one I can really relate to the last stanza sums up how I feel when I travel our beautiful country, Scotland to me is a gift that keeps on giving and has given me a lot more than I could ever give back, these wee posts are me giving a bit back.

Assynt and Edinburgh

From the corner of Scotland I know so well I see Edinburgh sprawling like seven cats on its seven hills beside the Firth of Forth.

And when I’m in Edinburgh I walk amongst the mountains and lochs of that corner that looks across the Minch to the Hebrides.

Two places I belong to as though I was born in both of them.

They make every day a birthday, giving me gifts wrapped in the ribbons of memory. I store them away, greedy as a miser.

periwinklesong

One of my favourite poets - simple yet evocative language.

scotianostra

On November 8th 2001 Dorothy Dunnett, the cult Scottish novelist, died.

The writer of intricate and meticulously researched historical novels, she attracted a devoted following with her multi-volume sagas. Her novels included the million-word Lymond Chronicles, in six volumes, which covered 15 years in the life of a 16th-century Scottish aristocrat, Francis Crawford of Lymond, she followed that with the eight-part prequel The House of Niccolò.

Aficionados of the Dunnett epics formed their own societies, meet regularly at international conferences, and swap theories about the puzzles and the sub-plots that the author sewed so carefully throughout the developing storylines. They are also a protective bunch which I found out in my last post about the author, being pulled up for a part of the post that was slightly wrong!

Dunnet also wrote a novel about the real Macbeth called King Hereafter, and a series of mystery novels centred around Johnson Johnson, a portrait painter/spy.

An only child, Dorothy went to James Gillespie’s High School for girls, where she overlapped with Muriel Spark, and was taught by Miss Kay, the model for Jean Brodie. She discovered a talent for painting, and contemplated a career as an artist, but war broke out, and at the age of 18 she went to work as a, typist.

Only after the death of her father, which caused her great misery, did her husband suggest that she take up writing. She began researching the childhood of Mary Queen of Scots, and invented a character, Francis Crawford of Lymond, a dashing Scots mercenary, who travelled widely, visiting the French and English courts, caught up in intrigues across 16th- century Europe.

The Game of Kings, her first novel, was rejected by English publishers because it was considered too long, but was spotted in New York by Lois Cole, who had published Gone With the Wind. It came out in 1961 and was an instant best-seller, marking the beginning of a remarkable fictional journey, which took Dunnett round the world in pursuit of historical detail.

Although she led a busy life, her favourite relaxation was sitting in their Morningside home, with a glass of malt whisky, discussing the day’s events, sounds good to me!

As with many of our writers, and indeed in my last post, Dorothy Dunnett is remembered in Makars Court, the stone bears her name, her coat of arms, and a brief quote from one of her books “Where are the links of the chain … joining us to the past”.

periwinklesong

Thank you - my favourite author.

manders1984

JAMMF: Stayin’ Alive

Requested by @chrismosstree :)

outlanderfandomfollies

I just have to reblog this every so often because it makes me smile. 😊

manders1984

Outlander Sex Scene Master Post (Books 1–7)

Some of you may have heard that DG’s Island of Misfit Toys, Compuserve, is closing in a couple months because they’re shutting down the forum. Maybe DG will get a LiveJournal like her buddy GRRM! One of the first things I found over there was a spreadsheet of every sex scene in Outlander up to Echo In the Bone (yes the filename is sex_scene.xls. I thought this must be rescued and recorded for posterity. FOR SCIENCE. Maybe most of you already have these bookmarked in your ereader. In any case, here you go! Kudos to that Compuserve user for her work. I’ve made edits/additions. I also have this in spreadsheet form (with paperback/hardcover page numbers), message me if you want it. :)

**Personal favorites :)

OUTLANDER

Claire and Frank have sex in Chapter 2 if you were really interested.

Chapter 15: Revelations of the Bridal Chamber—Wedding Night I

Chapter 15: Revelations of the Bridal Chamber—Wedding Night II—Teeth

Chapter 16: One Fine Day

Chapter 17: We Meet a Beggar—“Does it ever stop?”

Chapter 18: Raiders in the Rocks—“Slippery as waterweed…”

Chapter 20: Deserted Glades2—Coitus Interruptus

Chapter 23: Return to Leoch—**“I canna be gentle…”**

Chapter 24: By the Pricking of My Thumbs—Butterflies

Chapter 24: By the Pricking of My Thumbs—Areola

Chapter 39: To Ransom a Man’s Soul—Stone and Bone

Chapter 40: Absolution

Chapter 41: From the Womb of the Earth—Hot springs at the Abbey

DRAGONFLY IN AMBER

Claire and the King have sex in Chapter 28 if you were really interested.

Chapter 6: Making Waves

Chapter 13: Deceptions

Chapter 17: Possession

Chapter 23: The Best-laid Plans of Mice and Men

Chapter 29: To Grasp the Nettle

Chapter 36: Prestonpans

Chapter 45: Damn All Randalls

Chapter 46: Timor Mortis Conturbat Me

Chapter 46: Timor Mortis Conturbat Me—Once more

VOYAGER

Claire and Frank have sex in Chapter 3 and Jamie sleeps with Mary McNabb in Chapter 6 and Geneva in Chapter 14, if you were really interested.

Chapter 11: The Torremolinos Gambit—Jamie’s dream

Chapter 25: House of Joy—“It’s like riding a bicycle, I suppose.”

Chapter 33: Buried Treasure

Chapter 33: Buried Treasure—“What, again?”

Chapter 33: Buried Treasure—Naked women and food.

Chapter 34: Daddy

Chapter 44: Forces of Nature—“Ifrinn!”

Chapter 52: A Wedding Takes Place—Jamie’s plans and the noises Claire doesn’t make.

Chapter 56: Turtle Soup**

Chapter 57: Promised Land—Blue Mountain House

Chapter 59: In Which Much is Revealed

DRUMS OF AUTUMN

Chapter 2: In Which We Meet a Ghost—On a rock, again

Chapter 2: In Which We Meet a Ghost—“It’s much nicer with a man.”

Chapter 16: The First Law of Thermodynamics

Chapter 17: Home For the Holidays—Roger/Brianna

Chapter 21: Night On a Snowy Mountain

Chapter 23: The Skull Beneath the Skin—Grease for the gander

Chapter 40: Virgin Sacrifice—Roger/Brianna

Chapter 53: Blame—In the longhouse.

Chapter 67: The Toss of a Coin—Roger/Brianna—“It Was Red, by God”

THE FIERY CROSS

Chapter 6: For Auld Lang Syne—Roger/Bree—“Once more before we quit.”

Chapter 13: Beans and Barbecue—Butter churn.

Chapter 16: On the Night That Our Wedding is On Us—Roger/Bree—“I always sing for you, hen.”

Chapter 18: No Place Like Home—Balm.

Chapter 20: Shooting Lessons—Roger/Bree

Chapter 26: The Militia Rises

Chapter 40: Duncan’s Secret—Against a tree

Chapter 47: The Lists of Venus—Roger/Bree

Chapter 49: In Vino Veritas—**The Stables, “Watch while I take ye. Watch, damn you!”**

Chapter 57: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep…—Roger/Bree—“That What You Wanted?”

Chapter 80: Creamed Crud—Roger/Bree

Chapter 85: Hearthfire

Chapter 89: The Moons of Jupiter—Roger/Bree—Frustration

Chapter 93: Choices

Chapter 99: Brother—Fergus’s song

Chapter 99: Brother—Thoughts of Laoghaire

Chapter 107: Zugunruhe

A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES

Chapter 6: Ambush—Roger/Bree—“She got her corn ground…”

Chapter 7: James Fraser, Indian Agent—The Forfeit

Chapter 14: People of the Snowbird—“Ian, there is a woman in my bed!” “Well, two actually.”

Chapter 16: Le Mot Juste—**“On your knees, a nighean. Now.”**

Chapter 20: Dangerous Gifts—“What I’d give for a quarter of an hour alone wi’ ye, Sassenach!”

Chapter 29: Perfectly Fine

Chapter 35: Laminaria—Fergus/Marsali

Chapter 36: Winter Wolves—Ian/Emily

Chapter 40: Bird-Spring—Greased lightening

Chapter 47: Bees and Switches—Ian and Jenny

Chapter 66: The Dark Rises—**“I missed ye, Sassanach.”**

Chapter 72: Betrayals—Duncan and Phaedre

Chapter 73: Double-Dealing—Lizzie and the twins

Chapter 98: To Keep A Ghost At Bay

Chapter 102: Anemone—Bonnet/Eppie

Chapter 119: Loth to Depart

AN ECHO IN THE BONE

Chapter 5: Morality For Time-Travelers

Chapter 8: Spring Thaw

Chapter 11: Transverse Lie—In the barn.

Chapter 19: Ae Fond Kiss—Toe kissing

Chapter 50: Exodus—**In the garden.**

Chapter 68: Despoiler—Buffalo robe

Chapter 79: The Cave—The loch.

Chapter 85: Son of a Witch—Roger/Bree

Chapter 95: Numbness—Claire/LJG

Chapter 100: Lady in Waiting—That infamous hand job.

mrsd79

I have them bookmarked on my Kindle….but I am saving this list to avoid doing permanent damage to my scrolling finger.

scotianostra

On 25 August, 1923 Scottish novelist Dorothy Dunnett, was born in Dunfermline.

Educated at James Gillespie’s High School for Girls in Edinburgh. She started her career as a press officer in the civil service, where she met her husband, Dorothy Dunnett was renowned for the historical accuracy of her fiction which was based on extensive research. She wrote two series in which Edinburgh features prominently. The House of Niccolò is set in the 15th century and The Lymond Chronicles in the 16th. The books feature historical as well as fictional characters and Nicky Cannon has brought the Edinburgh they inhabited to life in Edinburgh.

Much lauded Dunnet was a leading light in the Scottish arts world and a renaissance woman, she was a professional portrait painter and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy on many occasions. She had portraits commissioned by a number of prominent public figures in Scotland. She had a keen interest in opera, was a trustee of the National Library of Scotland, a board member of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, a trustee of the Scottish National War Memorial, and a non-executive director of Scottish Television.

Dorothy Dunnett was married in 1946 to Sir Alastair Dunnett, editor of The Scotsman newspaper, and appears in his autobiography, Among Friends, 1984. By virtue of his knighthood in 1995, she became Lady Dunnett. She died in Edinburgh, and was survived by her sons Ninian and Mungo Dunnett. On 22 April 2006, a much deserved memorial stone to Lady Dunnett was laid by her grandchildren, Hal and Bella Dunnett, alongside those for Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott in the Makars’ Court in Lady Stair’s Close on the Royal Mile.

periwinklesong

One of my favourite authors.

scotianostra

One of my sources has the 16th of June 1338 as the date the Siege of Dunbar ended, others differ, I always thought it ended on June 10th, none the less it is a great wee tale so here it is.

Agnes, Countess of Dunbar, was the daughter of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, a close ally of Robert the Bruce. In 1337, while her husband was fighting in the north, ‘Black Agnes’ defended her home, Dunbar Castle, against an English siege.

Black Agnes was named for her olive skin and black hair. She was outraged when the Earl of Salisbury besieged her home and she refused to surrender. Her hubby, Patrick Dunbar, 9th Earl of Dunbar was away fighting elsewhere, , but where is a bit vague.

For months Agnes and a few servants and men held out against the English forces. The English earl brought mighty siege engines to batter the castle walls. Agnes and her ladies walked the battlements and dusted the walls where they had been hit with their white handkerchiefs.

Agnes stood on the walls of the castle and berated the English forces. When the Earl of Salisbury brought a battering ram called ‘a sow’ to the castle, Agnes had a massive boulder - that the attackers had fired at the walls - dropped on the war machine, destroying it.

The English held Agnes’ brother John Randolph, Earl of Moray, captive. They put a rope about his neck and threatened to hang him. Agnes called their bluff telling them to go ahead as she would fall heir to the Earldom of Moray. The English relented and Randolph survived.

Eventually the English earl gave up and abandoned the siege. Black Agnes became a folk hero. A ballad, put words into the mouth of the Earl of Salisbury: She kept a stir in tower and trench,That brawling, boisterous Scottish wench,Came I early, came I late,I found Agnes at the gate.

Here’s a video I made telling the story for the group from 8 years ago with pictures of the castle, the siege and drawings of oor Agnes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgGuRLu9Rp8&t=4s

periwinklesong

Thanks that was interesting and strangely enough I had to walk down to the harbour today to deliver an envelope. The kittiwakes were making a great stramash about something. So little left of the castle now - would love to have seen it before.

loremonster

Facebook PSA

Hey all, a little Social Media PSA if you have the Facebook App on your phone.

With the last update, Facebook began tracking something called ‘off-Facebook Activity’ which keeps up with all apps and browsing you do off of Facebook and collects that information with the purpose of targeting ads… which means they’re selling it to ad agencies. This includes access to any banking apps on your phone and your spending habits.

Not only is this a major breech of privacy that Facebook didn’t have to tell us about when they updated the app, it’s, of course, automatically turned on.

To turn it off, go into your Facebook app, pull up the menu from the main screen [the button with the three horizontal lines] scroll down to security and privacy, find ‘Off-Facebook Activity’ and hit the button that lets you manage your history to see all the apps it’s been collecting from. From there, you can clear the information it’s already collected, and there will be a button regarding ‘Future activity’ where you can turn the ‘feature’ off, at which point Facebook with give you an ‘ARE YOU SURE YOU DON’T WANT US COLLECTING YOUR INFORMATION TO SELL YOU THINGS???’ screen. Yes, yes you are sure. Because this is disgusting.

blackmarkettrombones

Facebook made this super hard to find, so I’ve written up instructions for how I got through it (on my app - I don’t know if there are other versions where it’s different):

From Facebook, go to the Menu by clicking on the three horizontal lines on the top right of the screen.

Scroll down to the bottom and select the Settings & Privacy drop-down menu.

Then select Settings (the first option under the drop-down).

This will take you to a screen showing multiple headers with lists of links under them

Scroll down to Your Facebook Information and select Off-Facebook Activity.

The next page has a short explanation of Off-Facebook Activity. Click Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity after the What You Can Do header.

This will take you to a screen with an option to Clear History (which I recommend). To actually turn off this feature, you will have to click the three dots at the top right of the screen and select the Manage Future Activity option that pops up.

This will take you to a page explaining in more detail what they’re doing. Select the Manage Future Activity at the bottom of the page.

THEN you can finally select the toggle to turn off Future Off-Facebook Activity.

If it’s glowing blue with the circle on the right side, it’s active, and if it’s gray with the circle on the left side, it’s off.

simplyclockwork

Just went and checked this out and yikes on a stick

delightful-fear

Yuck. I just did this.

periwinklesong

Reblogging for reference.