Hello Rabble!

I've been waiting to share this with you all since January, but I had to wait until I upgraded my computer system. Now that I'm up to date with current technology, here's what I wanted to share....


My Great Aunt Mary ("Grandma" to me, as she was my actual grandmother's sister) passed away back in January. While I was still at her house, I passed her bedroom where my cousins were sorting through some of her things. I happened to notice a "skirt" hanging on the bedroom door with a very familiar pattern to it. Grandma had told me a long time ago that we had some "Scots" in us from the Burns side, so I was already familiar with the tartan from my own research after I had gotten involved in Middle Ages re-enactment. (Found out while at Grandma's this past January, that we're actually descended from Robert Burns the Poet!)

Anyway, after stopping dead in my tracks, I held up the "skirt" and stared at it. I then turned to my cousins, who immediately thought I was going to ask if I could have it (which I was...eventually!) and told me that I couldn't have it and that it was going to be "archived". I said, "No, no, that's not what I was going to ask. I wanted to know if this is what I think it is...the Burns tartan?" I was then told that yes, it was indeed the Burns tartan and that it was a ladies kilt that was sent to my Grandma by a relative who had bought it for her on a trip to Scotland years ago.

I never knew that Grandma had an actual Burns tartan kilt and it gave me goose bumps to discover it hanging on the doorknob! The first thing I thought of was, "I gotta get some pictures of this and post it on Xmarks!" I have no idea how my uncle is going to "archive it", but I made sure that he knew that if for whatever reason it couldn't be "archived", that I would love to have it! So, here are the pictures....and I didn't forget the "pleat" shot!

B. Somm

Burns Tartan Ladies Kilt (front). Made in Scotland for my Great Aunt Mary:



Back:



Pleat Shot:



Burns tartan pattern up close w/ obligatory kilt pin: