I did not preregister for Convergence this year, but did so at the door ($$), and am glad I did.( Read more... )

A history of Ireland in 100 objects

... by the 1420s the area called the “land of peace” - that is, under secure English administration - was confined to Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Louth. By the 1470s, this area was being referred to as the Pale.

This past weekend mia_mcdavid and I were part of colgaffneyis group at the Scottish Ramble, held at the Landmark Center in St. Paul.
( Read more... )

Liam Swords, in The Flight of the Earls, includes a brief account of the Nine Years' War, the last and greatest of Irish rebellions against Queen Elizabeth I of England, but is more concerned with the aftermath. On September 14, 1607, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and leader of the rebellion, Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, and nearly 100 of ( Read more... )

( Our foster daughter )

colgaffneyis stuff is out of our garage, and we have managed to get our stuff out of it as well. So we are able to put both cars in it. Still to do:

1. Put away all the wool plaids that have been drying in the basement.
   
2. Clean the rust off some of my tools that were caught in the rain at Mankato.
   
3. Clear my workbench (At least far enough that I can use it).
   
4. ( Read more... )

After skipping it Saturday I spent most of Sunday with colgaffneyis at the St. Paul Scottish Ramble. This was a good time.

( food and drink )

One thing that find frustrating about colgaffneyis is that members seem quite happy to repeat generalities about the past (sometimes quite implausible) without checking the historical facts. I have a pretty good BS detector, and it frequently goes off in our camp. Here is a draft of the latest result of this. I will be publishing it in colgaffneyis newsletter. Whether ( Read more... )

A few weeks ago I wrote a note on classical literary Gaelic/Early Modern Irish. Today I found more about Dán Díreach at Medieval Irish Poetry.

I hope I remember to look up Mo-chean do theacht, a sgadáin in Lent next year :-)>

Looking at the parent site, I noticed that the author is also interested in science fiction and filk.

Gaelic Society - an Overview ( Read more... )