Uncle Billy rescues the bride





                   

     Morna and brother Calum with Billy and his bride (their Auntie Joan) -  Independence Day 1986!

          My blog has been on hold for the past week because the scheduled "get together for wedding preparations" day Mob and bride had planned for last Monday was postponed due to the bride recuperating from being in a traumatic car accident the previous week. 

          Morna skidded on early morning black ice on the Tyndrum-Oban road, turned full circle and was stopped from going down an embankment by the car colliding into a tree.  Luckily she escaped with only bruising and whiplash,  for which we are all very thankful.  The car is beyond repair and contents including her mobile phone and laptop had to be recovered as they went flying out through the broken windows and items are still missing. 

          At times like this we are so grateful for acts of human kindness, not least the lady from Dalmally who, en route to the train station, missed a day's work in Glasgow, because she and her husband took Morna back to their home following the accident.    Many thanks also to Uncle Billy (aka father of bridesmaids) who responded immediately to a call from John before 7am in the morning and, missing a day's work also, drove him out to assist Morna.    He helped them both to sort out all the accident aftermath with police and vehicle recovery, driving them back to Glasgow and taking  Morna to be checked out at the hospital.  So we celebrate the fact that there are people out there who love and care!

          Now apart from dealing with insurance claims, Morna and John are considering borrowing a metal detector to go and look for her engagement ring (which was lying in a compartment along with her watch) lost in the impact of the crash.  It's a shame but hey, we remember that it's life and love that are important!

  


Morna showing Granny her ring in March 2010




"Friends

We rejoice and delight in you,
we will praise your love more than wine."

Solomon's Song of Songs 
Ch 1  v.4

Meet our wedding planner

 



Carlotta, busy planning the venue decor

16 weeks to go and today Carlotta demonstrated how fabrics can be used to change the appearance of the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig atrium into a perfect wedding reception area.

Her clever use of the voile against the wonderfiul backdrop of views to the Sound of Sleat creates the correct ambience and covers and sashes on the chairs transform the dining-room into the perfect restaurant for the wedding meal.

Mòran taing Carlotta!

PS  Now do you think she can transform Mob into the perfect mother-of -bride?

PPS  And is she able to transform unpredictable Skye weather into a perfect sunny day on 3rd June?

Legacies

I very much empathise with the poet Seamus Heaney's remembrance of his mother in this poem, where he writes of his feeling of closeness to her as they prepare Sunday lunch in the kitchen.

"When all the others were away at Mass
I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.
They broke the silence, let fall one by one
Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:
Cold comforts set between us, things to share
Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.
And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes
From each other's work would bring us to our senses.

So while the parish priest at her bedside
Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying
And some were responding and some crying
I remembered her head bent towards my head,
Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives--
Never closer the whole rest of our lives."         

This poem evokes all kinds of memories for me of Granny in her kitchen,  not least the literal scenes from my own youth of the preparation of Sunday lunch while my father was in church.  I think of the camaraderie between mother and daughters as we helped get numerous meals ready for the incessant flow of people who gathered round her table over the years, our common bond and the sharing of our lives, over the preparation of  roast beef dinner.   My memories fast forward to later years, as I stealthily join her early morning in the kitchen, and we sit resplendent in nightclothes to chat about babies, husbands and homes, with cups of tea and pancakes defying our desire to diet.   As the grand-daughters grow up their initiation into adulthood include tea and chat and pancakes with Granny at her kitchen table during their visits to Waternish. 

In my remembrance poem we sit early morning bereft at her kitchen table with her legacy -  the freshly-made pancakes -  which we eat in silent, tearful tribute.

                            Granny and her five grand-daughters - another legacy

Progress and to how to get ahead

In the last month:-

1. Bridesmaids's dresses purchased - details not being published yet, but needless to say that having been purchased from Catherine's of "Pertyck" (well it sounds more upmarket than Partick!), they are posh and lovely and very fit for purpose. Most importantly both bride and bridesmaids are very happy with their ultimate choice.
2. The bride has now been initiated into the properties and uses of voile in wedding venue decor (please note not for making wedding outfits - lol!) having been accompanied by parents on visit to Glasgow fabric shop.
3. Rev Iain Urquhart, the Gaelic chaplain at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig has rescued us from our ministerial plight and agreed to conduct the marriage ceremony.  This is wonderful news as he is erudite, eloquent and a wonderful Gaelic speaker and can be relied on to entertain the guests with his pithy comments re the bride's family (causing only a very slight concern to mother and father of bride at present!).
4. Kirsty, aka chief bridesmaid of bride (aka Cbob) spent a few days at Dubhard assisting and encouraging (well insisting that we remain on task!) with the production of the wedding invitations.  Readers should note that in the interests of research, the aforementioned bridesmaid had to forfeit her diet in order to sample a selection of chocolates (these having been made in order to be measured for the ordering of favour boxes - this was duly done after the consumption of the chocolates for which we thank Kirsty). 
5. Mob has finally succumbed and joined bride, bridesmaids and mother of bridesmaids in quest for sylph-like figures on June 3rd.  However a slight hiccup by way of a three lb weight gain was encountered during family weekend attending Celtic Connections in Glasgow and being forced (writer's licence here!)  to eat heartily (not least black pudding brought back from Charley Barley in Stornoway by the bride!), drink, ie alcoholic beverages (will blame sister Joan, aka mother-of-bridesmaids, for this slight indiscretion) and generally helping one's husband, aka father-of-bride to celebrate his birthday.  This is now being rectified,  though another few hiccups loom in the guise of a works' night out and a bridesmaid's 21st birthday .......
6. Meanwhile, though mother of groom, aka Mog, is busy shopping for outfits she has not succumbed to the idea of buying a matching HAT for her outfit.  Fascinators rule at present ...

Fascinating fascinators modelled by the bride and bridesmaid Julie

If they want to get ahead, should they get a hat?