I constantly forget my Scottish connection even though it had a profound influence on my life. I think I was just too young to take it all in...but I did spend a year in Scotland taking my teacher's training. One of my estages was with a very elite girls' private school. The mistress of the class told me from the first day that I wouldn't be measured by my sewing skills so much as how I read a story out loud to the children. In Scotland, I was the one with the accent and I was the one who was difficult to understand! Oh how I practiced for that lesson. I suppose I succeeded...I got my certificate.

When I began teaching, it was the practice to start in the elementary school which I did. It wasn't until a number of years later and a number of other positions that I applied to teach high school in the same board. The personnel director was my old school principal from my first teaching position. He told the high school principal that I should be teaching English because I read out loud beautifully...and that is how I became a high school English teacher for thirty years!

I have no pictures of that Edinburgh time. But I do love dogs and I do visit some Scottish deer hounds on occasion.