CALENDAR Mother Lode Scots Publication Sep 3-4 Pleasanton Games, Social Sep 3, 2:00 Sept 30—Oct 2, Decom- pression Campout Wee Tidings October 19— 6:30pm General Meeting November 11– Jackson Veterans Day Parade, VOLUME 15, ISSUE12 SEPTEMBER 2011 Time: TBD November 16— 6:30pm General Meeting Words from the Chief December 10— 5:30pm Christmas Walk, Volcano December 17— 3:00pm Christmas Party, Fiddle- bank account is solvent club banner and the two flags town OK – I am getting the motor enough to handle this drain, of Scotland (don‘t get picky home ready… Look out but of course if any of you on me now), and will be January 14—5:00pm Pleasanton campgrounds! I wish to kick in another ten dressed in our full peacock Burns Dinner, Fiddle- dollars it sure helps! town hope to see a lot of MLS colors. Sergeant-At-Arms members there, and don‘t Bob Edmiston will pipe us as Inside this Issue: forget our Saturday social It was also decided that our we march. It is very impor- gathering at the MLS tent website, as well as our news- tant to our club that we have Chief’s Corner 1-2 right across from ‗the pub‘ in letter, will be made available a large presence at this for commercial purposes, Vice Chief’s Corner 3 the glen of the clans. Gravy event! By that I mean we The Wonder Dog has been meaning we will now accept want members to attend and Nancy’s Notes 4 supervising the camper load- paid advertising. This is a march, wave at the crowd, ing so there is a lot of sausage revenue generator for the talk to people, get them in- Guest Columnist 5-6 and bacon and other such club, and certainly not an terested in what we are do- Celtic Cowboy Campfire 7 treats for me to cook across unusual situation for clubs to ing. And this is also impor- the few days of The Games. offer ad space for a fee. tant because this year our Greetings from Clan Cun- Marilyn McDanel will handle candlelight walk moves to ningham 8 Well we had a regular meet- the website and advertising Volcano which means our ing last week and handled a copy, which will be shared visibility in Jackson disap- Burns Dinner 9 number of matters that I will with Nancy Gray for inclu- pears other than this new detail for you here: sion in the Wee Tidings. exposure. We have twelve There are various issues to members already signed on As you know the effort to be worked out such as fees, to participate but we need secure our status as a non- and your board is working you! profit requires certain expen- on these. ditures, and a couple of This is a morning event, and months ago we asked for Vice Chief Jack Magee has should conclude perhaps members to donate ten dol- registered our group to around 11:00AM so you lars toward that effort. This march in the upcoming Jack- don‘t have to dedicate the has resulted in $250 (thank son Veteran‘s Day Parade on day to it. We will work on you!) and it was moved and November 11th. This is good getting organized for coffee passed that we will go for- news because it gives us and pastries or such once we ward using existing funds aug- great involvement in the lo- have a total member count. mented by the $250 and be- cal community, high visibility, So please send me a note gin processing the paperwork. and potentially a membership and get included! Just look The total cost is expected to effort as we put on a good at your calendars and book be approximately $450. Our display to attract newcom- the time, send me a note so I ers. We will march with our VOLUME 15, ISSUE 12 P A G E 2 can add you to the list. I see this as We had a nice presentation by Moving on we have an interesting a new annual event for us, and a guest Naida West, author of several piece this month from guest con- strong turnout is critical to such books regarding her ancestors and tributor Bob Matheson who took visibility by the public. their Celtic origins – Thank You an aggressive approach to acquir- Naida. ing new members for his group, The Fiddler‘s Jam is on September and shares this with us here. 17th in Fiddletown. Treasurer Stu- Also new member Malcolm Carden art has generously volunteered to will be creating an MLS Facebook That‘s all for now, I will see many host the MLS tent all day, but he page for us – once he gets a breath of you at Pleasanton, and many needs help and we need goods to from his duties with the San Fran- more at the soon-to-be Decom- sell. This is not a flea market or cisco Caledonian Club and their pression Campout only a month second-hand sale, it is essentially an Pleasanton Games. away. If you haven‘t registered ongoing concert where certain yet please do on our MLS web- groups can sell select items. In our And of course a fine feed was en- site. case and for the most part that joyed at the meeting, where Wade means things like baked goods. So Hurst and yours truly exchanged Yours Aye, Chief Kevin here we have another opportunity thoughts about our Brown Recluse for public exposure, fund raising, spider bites. You will note we both and new member recruiting … and have gray hair … I see a connec- it requires club participation to tion! work. Even if you don‘t attend we need your donations of baked goods or other that can be sold to As some of you know I am also raise funds. The Hurst‘s brought a Vice Chief of the Gold Country homemade dessert (I‘m sure Wade Celtic Society which covers basi- made it) to the meeting that would cally Nevada County although we be a great item for $1.50 have members in the Sacramento each. That kind of unique contribu- area as well. The GCCS hosts a tion can help us be a suc- truly wonderful Burn‘s Dinner cess. Brownies, cakes, cookies etc every year in an old gold rush all have appeal, but Paulette advises miner‘s foundry, and it sells out at to make sure everything is already 260 people without fail. This year in single serving portions because we had Golden Bough perform, and people don‘t want to buy an entire they did a terrific job. For the past cake. So for this I ask that you co- few years a table of eight has been ordinate with Stuart, and please – held in reserve for MLS members take the time to contribute and wanting to attend, and this has been help our club grow. enjoyed by various members. Last year I gave the Toast to The Las- The Nominating Committee has sies, and our Marilyn McDanel gave been established with Vice Chief the response. Well I guess I did a Jack and Treasurer Stuart handling poor job of it because as punish- the task. They will be contacting ment next year I will be the Master every MLS member to solicit your of Ceremonies. So keep this in ideas and opinions on board mem- mind as I again reserve a number of bers for 2012, but naturally you can seats for MLS members. This is also contact them with your sugges- your chance to enjoy some true tions. Please be involved in this gold country charm and a splendid effort! We need new faces and Burn‘s evening. If you would like to new ideas, and lots of club partici- bring your camper I welcome you pation to keep things rolling along. to stay on my land only three miles from Grass Valley. Hope to see you there! VOLUME 15, ISSUE 12 P A G E 3 Did you miss our last meeting on August 17? If so, you missed some- thing special. Joining the 'regulars' was new member Sharon Showalter of Vice Shakeridge Road, Volcano. Sharon is very personable, a 14-year resident Chief’s of Amador County, and very interested in genealogy. She learned of our Corner little group and said, "Why not?" Welcome, Sharon. We were also joined for the first time by members Malcolm and Maureen Carden, Mi- chael Sharp, and Nancy Gray. Malcolm and Maureen live in Sonora, and Malcolm is the 3rd Chieftain of the S.F. Caledonian Club. Michael has been a member for almost a year, and lives in Walnut Creek, and Nancy is editor of the Wee Tidings and lives in Alameda. Paulette and I invited Nancy to spend a couple of days with us so she could attend the meet- ing, and we really enjoyed her visit. A potluck, generous with main dishes and a very delicious dessert made by Cheryl Hurst, was followed by a brief business meeting and a very interesting presentation by author Naida West. Naida spoke mostly of her award winning novel, 'Symon's Daughter: A Memoir of Elizabeth Symon Smith'. Elizabeth was the daugh- ter of a Scottish Presbyterian minister who immigrated to Utah, and is Naida‘s grand- mother. She also introduced her trilogy, historical novels of early California. Did you also miss the (Celtic) Cowboy Campfire at Red Mule L-R: Naida West, Michael Sharp Ranch? What a great and Cindy Ferguson Chief Kevin and Vice Chief Jack time! There was time to roam the grounds and take in all the wagons and stage coaches by which we used to move about the Gold Country.