Garden Visitors
Contributed by Chris

Dull… I hear you say. But wait – these visitors to our garden in Portugal are certainly not dull to look at and most are fascinating to learn about. Join me in a trip around the garden in late summer and autumn.

My husband Cliff and I have been living here in our little country cottage for three months now and have not ceased to be fascinated by the variety of wildlife we see here. When we first arrived at the end of the summer we were amazed at the clouds of butterflies which flew up from the straggly plant bearing pink flowers just by the house. We have since found out that the plant is oregano - both beautiful and useful.

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Robert Burns
Contributed by Mr. William Paterson

Burns. The very name sets ablaze fierce emotions and reaches the deepest depth of feeling in all Scots. The very name reeks of and is Scotland.

Yet Burns was more. Like Da Vinci, Shakespeare, and Beethoven, Burns rises above limited nationalism to stride the stage of the world. His genius had a universal vision; his humanity embraced the common person world-wide; it goes beyond poetry to understand that the humble ambitions of a mouse are nearer to the grandest ambitions of Man than Man could ever realise.

And all this began in ‘an auld clay biggin’ in Alloway upon the 25th of January, 1759 when the first son of William Burnes (or Burness) and Agnes Broun was born.

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