{"id":2227,"date":"2011-12-31T17:43:40","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T17:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/?p=2227"},"modified":"2011-12-31T17:43:40","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T17:43:40","slug":"hogmanay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/hogmanay\/","title":{"rendered":"Hogmanay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Robert Burns, who is most famous for his recasting of the traditional folk poem \u201cAuld Lang Syne,\u201d was born in Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of William Burness (1721 - 1784) or Burns (Robert Burns originally spelled his surname Burness, but eventually dropped the 'ess'), a self-educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar, Kincardinshire, and Agnes Broun (1732 - 1820), the daughter of a tenant farmer from Kirkoswald, South Ayrshire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I rose at 0330 and could not get back to sleep, so I folded the now-dry laundry from last night’s pre-Willow-suitcase-emptying drill. Part of the frantic hurtling across the Rust Belt I looked blankly at ninety or so personal e-mails, most of which mean nothing.<\/p>\n

One did. It was an account of a journey to assist in the transition of a parent by an old shipmate. It included a trip on the train, making the trifecta of Planes, Trains and Automobiles from their island outpost in the Florida Keys to the Rustbelt of Indiana.<\/p>\n

I was struck by how similar the chords were in our holiday wanderings. On the East and West legs of the out-of-time railroad experience they spent mealtimes with Mennonites. I actually was in Shipshewana last year. The local chapter of the American Motors Car Club- a quirky bunch of people in their own right- had named their summer rally after Raven, the last man standing of George Romney’s design team at Rambler.<\/p>\n

I have to tell you, it is thoroughly bizarre to be in a parking lot filled with shiny Ramblers as the sturdy Mennonites in their horse-drawn carriages whirr by on the highway.<\/p>\n

Raven was the headliner for several of them, the last of which was two years ago in the gentle process of the furling of his flag. I held the torch last year, but missed the rally this last summer. I will attempt to go next year, if they continue to honor my Dad.<\/p>\n

Sic transit gloria and all that, I am afraid.<\/p>\n

So we lurch toward our nightfall, doing what we can for those who will go before. Another New Year, arriving unbidden.<\/p>\n

Auld lange syne, and a thanks to Mr. Bobbie Burns. It is the only time of the year I think of my Scottish kin, the Clendenins, who arrived first on this continent after the disastrous defeat of the Highland clans in ’45 at Culloden Field.<\/p>\n

One of them was Jimmie Clendenin, who served with honor against the King in the Continental Army’s Third Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot.\u00a0 Until this morning, I wan\u2019t familiar with Hogmanay, the tradition of the doughty Scots that commences with a wee dram in the early evening of New Year\u2019s Eve and (apparently) ends only when they run out of alcohol after the Bank Holiday.<\/p>\n

The curiously amusing Scots humorist Craig Ferguson has summed up the confluence of my Celtic genetic heritage thusly:<\/p>\n

\u201cHogmanay… is a time when people who can inspire awe in the IRISH for the amount of ALCOHOL that they drink decide to RAMP IT UP<\/span> a notch.\u201c<\/p>\n

Happy New Year, Shipmates. And have a wee dram for all of us! I will be back right after the Bank Holiday\u2026<\/p>\n

Copyright 2011 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I rose at 0330 and could not get back to sleep, so I folded the now-dry laundry from last night’s pre-Willow-suitcase-emptying drill. Part of the frantic hurtling across the Rust Belt I looked blankly at ninety or so personal e-mails, most of which mean nothing. One did. It was an account of a journey to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2229,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions\/2229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}