The MacLeod Family and Their Dog

Drawing by our own caochlan in the garden.

I'd like to introduce you to my family. As I mentioned in my first post, I have no intention of violating their privacy by posting their real names and pictures online. Also, I will be blurring the line of fact and fiction by changing certain details in our stories,  If I write a more journalistic piece, I will most certainly endeavor to be as true to the facts as possible and cite sources where appropriate. But here, well, we live in the village of Glen Caochlan, a hamlet in the woods on the edge of Stornaway, a pleasant university town in the eastern United States, quite near the Scottish border. Caochlan means small rushing rivulet, or rill, in Scottish Gaelic, and we have many of them. One runs through the bottom of our garden during the rainier times of year.

Another rill rushing along the west of the village.

My family. Each of them has chosen their own name for the purposes of this blog. There is my husband, Craig. He is tall, strong, handsome, and well-bearded, with a warm voice and warm brown eyes. He is an introvert who thinks the idea of being a light-house keeper on a remote isle sounds very appealing. He has many skills, some of which are the abilities to figure out how to do anything with his hands. I especially like to see him with an axe in his hands splitting wood or chopping down a tree. Very lovely sight.

My children are Mason, Annabelle and Callum. Callum, the youngest, had his name chosen for him and he knows nothing about it because he would certainly have a fit. He doesn't want anyone to call him anything except his exact own given name. No nicknames, please, unless you like inciting four-year-old wrath, which unfortunately certain older brothers do enjoy doing. Mason enjoys video games, comic books, legos, riding his bike, listening to read-alouds, building fires, and eating snacks. He is eleven.  Annabelle is a fiesty eight-year-old who is more than able to handle her brothers. She is strong, wiry, excellent at gymnastics and climbing trees. She also likes to read and draw and most of all, play with her friends. Mason is four, wonderfully snuggly, loves legos and building forts. Last- there is our dog, and I am sure you will be hearing about him. I'm not too concerned about violating his privacy and intend to exploit his antics to my fullest abilities, so you may know his real name, Bear. He is a large black lab and he tries to be good but he peed on Mason's math book last night and woke me up at 4 am to go outside and chase possums. I homeschool the older two and send Callum to a farm two mornings a week where there is a small, wonderful preschool. There you are, that's us.

Blue-eyed grass and ferns by the rill.