I am a flutist and music educator by education and love.  I retired a few years back.  Truly loved teaching.  So....I confirmed my Scottish roots in a book that listed a variation of my maiden name - Glendening (Glendinning) as a sept of Clan Douglas.  My parents passed away much too young and predeceased my Dad Dad.  For some reason I never asked him about his Glendening heritage.  But my mother would often say things like, "We're too Scotch (Scottish) for that" and such.   I also figured that a name beginning with "Glen" just had to be Scottish.

So around 2007 or so my husband thought that my son and I might enjoy visiting London, its environs, Nairn, and Edinburgh.  Of course I had NO knowledge of Scottish history at the time, so that when we were in Nairn we did not go to Culloden Battlefield.  Rather, since Richard knows that I love all types of boat trips, we took a trip up Loch Ness.  My son enjoyed climbing over castle ruins.  When we got to Edinburgh, I located the book that I described above.

Since that time, I volunteered for American-Scottish Foundation, learning that I am not good at office work.  I marched in the NYC Tartan Parade with their group 3 times and had a blast.  That third year was four years ago.  I had just started learning the pipes with a small band in NJ, CūChullain Pipe Band - nice band.  They don't compete, but march and play in about 9 or so Winter, St. Patrick's, Memorial Day and other parades.  Last year, I marched and played in 9 parades on Kitchen Pipes ~they have a precedent of that.  I also marched with "Tunes of Glory," founded by Jock Nesbit (may he rest in peace) and his son, Colum, in the 2019 NYC Tartan Parade in this massed band.  It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

I've been playing around but not really seriously on Dojo University for 2 years.  Since my pipeband is not meeting during Covid time, I need to get serious about joining the classes here so that I maintain and improve my skills.  I'm baaack!