Who am I?

I'm everyone.

Yesterday we went to a Scottish Festival.  It was a gorgeous day, albeit a bit hot, but I didn't get nauseous despite all the sun so I was insanely happy.  As we made our way across the expansive grasses, I turned my head and saw a familiar face tilted to one side, looking up at me.  I got one of those happy excited feelings one gets when they are very pleasantly surprised by the recognition of someone whom they're always happy to see and seldom get to, so I smiled of course.  Our friend was there with his wife and kids so I was surrounded by all sorts of happiness yesterday.

While there, Dale and I visited the table of the Farquharson clan, of which Dale's family name is a sept.  I asked whether McQuoid was Irish or Scottish, because I couldn't remember which side of my family is Irish and which is Scottish.  I found out McQuoid is a sept of the same clan as Dale's.  Whups, I thought... I married into my own clan!  (Turns out that side of my family is actually Irish... I checked when we got home.  But it was funny to think Dale and I were several-gens-removed relatives for a while there.)

I didn't get to sample the meat pies and already know I probably wouldn't be able to stomach haggis.  But they had really fresh lemonade there, freshly squeezed, iced, and sweetened water dumped into a large metal mug.  Very good lemonade, quite possibly the best I have ever had!

We also listened to a very fascinating history about weapon creation and use in Scotland some hundreds of years ago.  The lady telling the story gave a strong bias against the English, saying for 300 years they kept killing themselves before smartening up and realizing they weren't getting anywhere doing that, and calling them pompous for thinking the peasant Scots would just fall back upon seeing them upon their wondrous horses.  I had to laugh at her telling, even though I dislike the warring between nations and just don't get it.  I couldn't help but think, too, that she's talking about a portion of my bloodline somewheres... I'm a mutt, and while people categorise themselves as either British or Scottish, I'm both, and have respect for them as such.

The reason I say that I'm everyone is because of my increasing interest in everything.  I love to explore cultures and pull out the things I love about each.  I used to be solely focused on Native American culture, having thought I was part Cherokee.  (That's up for debate now.)  In recent years, I've become more and more interested in British speech, food, etc.  Especially tea, and lately, scones and clotted cream (OMG!!! yum).  I enjoy hearing about various religious views and comparing them to what I've already heard everywhere else.  I've managed to trace one of my family trees back to 1500's England, possibly Wales, assuming all the children reported between married couples were not actually born of indiscretions... which of course, is quite possible so big whup... still, fun to research it all.

And for a split second, I thought I might have descended from the same clan as Dale's.  That suddenly had me wanting to try on a kilt!  I love the Scottish brogue, and the English "snob" or whatever you'd call it, and the Irish love of the colour green.  I like Celtic knotwork, the look of Gaelic (no, I cannot speak it, I tried once), and lots of fog, which I've heard is a regular thing in the U.K.

I love the Spanish language.  When I was a teen, I loved the Arroz Con Pollo my Puerto Rican friends' mother made.  I love corn mush with bacon in it from a few of the Native American recipes.  I love all sorts of things from all sorts of places and I haven't even made it out of the U.S. yet to seek out yet more things to become attached to!

Anywho, I just finished another scone and some tea.  Funny thing is, I love Jasmine tea, and I tend to favor a tetsubin pot (Japanese?) to make it in.  I love cream tea with the cuke sammiches but wouldn't ever buy a stereotypically ornamental English tea pot to make tea in.  I like the plain white ones instead.  Or green.  LOL.

In the future, I need to spend more time researching Scottish customs, foods, drinks, etc, as well as Irish ones, histories, etc.  All is so intriguing...

~w