We are not Irish. But we do have quite a bit of Scottish in us, Paul more than I. We do not normally celebrate the Irish Saint Patrick's Day, so, rather than limit it to the Irish, I've chosen to celebrate all things Celtic and that encompasses a lot more than just one country.

The Shout-Out Sunday web site for today, March 9, 2014 is:




Click on the images above.

Specifically, from this Mary Jones site is the page that spurred it all on for me when I was foraging around the forest of web sites looking for today's Shout-Out site:

The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn mac Cumhaill

Anyone with a love of Celtic history will find, I'm sure, something to love in this very large web site of Mary Jones. I got really lost in its highways and byways yesterday, spending way more time than I'd planned to spend reading about such things. So enjoy it now or save it and go back for a read when you wish. The side-bar on the left of links is all there for the taking.

Now, you may ask why I landed on "Fionn mac Cumhaill". Well, I was looking up the name of "Finn McCool" originally as it was something that came into my head the other day when I was trying to remember the name of the main character of a trilogy of books I bought recently. Turns out that the character's name wasn't Finn McCool but rather Fin Macleod.

And since I've mentioned Fin Macleod now, here is the little back story about that character.

Peter May, a Scottish writer, has written a trilogy of books called THE BLACKHOUSE, THE LEWIS MAN, and THE CHESS MEN.



Let Peter May tell you himself about his book, The Blackhouse, in person in the video clip above. Isn't that Scottish accent just pure heaven?

I stumbled onto these books from another web site I frequent called dovegrayreader scribbles. Lynne Martin is the author of that wonderful blog which includes a universe full of information about books, among other things. I almost always end up ordering some book or other after visiting her site, and I even got off her mailing list for a while because I needed to cut down on book-buying! But I'm back on it again because I can't stay away. Her side-bars are just chock full of great pages and ways to find the books she has read and reviewed. You'll see... just have a wee peek over there. She lives in southern England and has lots to write about her neck of that wonderful part of the world.

But back to my story. I listened to that video above of Peter May and, of course, went and ordered all three books in the Lewis trilogy. The main character is Fin Macleod and here's a bit of description for you:

"The Isle of Lewis is the most remote, harshly beautiful place in Scotland, where the difficulty of existence seems outweighed only by people's fear of God. But older, pagan values lurk beneath the veneer of faith, the primal yearning for blood and revenge.

"When a brutal murder on the island bears the hallmarks of a similar slaying in Edinburgh, police detective Fin Macleod is dispatched north to investigate.

"But since he himself was raised on Lewis, the investigation also represents a journey home and into his past."

{Above from ur-web.net - the Lewis Trilogy page.}

As you can see, it was just a simple case of getting the two names mixed up in my totally mixed-up brain - Finn McCool and Fin Macleod. When I went looking for a web site to read on the Lewis Trilogy, I entered the name of Finn McCool and was directed by the googleteers to the Celtic web site which is the subject of this entry. I knew I was in the wrong place and figured out I'd gotten the name wrong, but I was helpless to leave that Celtic site of Mary Jones just then as it drew me in and held me for most of the morning!

So today you have two-for-one in the Shout-Out Sunday on offer here. Hope you enjoy some Celtic stories and history and also check out the books by Peter May. I have to tell you that I gave the first one, The Blackhouse, to Paul when it came in the mail the other day and he is almost done reading it. The amazing part of that story is that Paul NEVER reads novels. Never. I told him to just give it a try... so he did. He was up there in his room all day that day reading and I noticed this morning that his bookmark is almost at the end of that book. I'm sure he'll be moving on to the other two books very soon. He is loving them! So maybe we have a convert! From non-fiction only to the occasional well-written fiction, especially if it involves Scotland, one of his passions.

Below are two short but beautiful musical tours of Lewis, don't skip them!





Uh-oh... I just learned that Peter May has a new book, Entry Island, coming out about Quebec, Canada, and the Isle of Lewis - so I can see another purchase down the road!

One of my lifetime goals was to visit the Isle of Lewis and see the Standing Stones of Callanish - I can't see this happening for us now, but I can dream...

I'll leave you with a little video of a trip to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland including bits about the blackhouses:



Slainte (cheers!) to all thing Celtic,

Bex & Co.


It's in every one of us to be wise;
Find your heart, open up both your eyes.
We can all know every thing without ever knowing why.
It's in every one of us, by and bye.

~ John Denver & The Muppets ~


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