Mia took Tom up to the Respite camp on Friday night. This time Respite was at Camp Friendship, near St. Cloud, and about a three hour round trip drive. We had an opportunity at a much closer site, but we thought Camp Friendship would be more interesting for Tom.

Saturday we went to Ramble, getting there a little before the official opening at 10 AM. We really should have arrived earlier to help with set up for colgaffneyis. The event proved to be pleasant in a somewhat low-key manner. We did not dance until about noon–that was when our only fiddler arrived. We danced again in mid-afternoon. There were no formal military drills, but I assisted twolodge with a sword demonstration and spent a lot of time talking to patrons about our various weapons. Kali, with her spinning, and mia_mcdavid, seated nearby weaving on rhymeswithghoti‘s loom, attracted a lot of interest all day long.

Having been to Scottish-American events for 20+ years, I had seen all usual sorts of thing that are sold there, and had purchases such as I wanted of those. However, occasionally I run across the unusual, and such was the case on Saturday. There was a used book dealer there with a lot of books of Scottish interest. Mia noticed a copy of Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, originally from 1773, and showed it to me. Only $12! With that in hand, I looked around in case there was something else I wanted.

Sure enough, a few minutes later I noticed Orain Iain Luim: Songs of John MacDonald, Bard of Keppoch. John MacDonald (Iain Lom) was the greatest Scottish Gaelic poet of the 17th century, and an active participant in the turbulent Highland history of that period. I have frequently seen his work quoted, but had not actually found a collection of his work. This cost me $50. That evening I checked online and the lowest price I could find was $78.