Robert Burns.......25Jan 1759-21July1796

Who is he....well he is none other than the great Scottish Bard, and why have I decided to make an entry in my blog about him, I hear you ask. Good question too, but be patient, all will be revealed.

Well it all started when Ronan came home from school yesterday with a sheet of Scottish poems and he had to learn one, or if he didn't like one on the sheet he could choose an other. Needless to say he wanted an other, so there was nothing else for it but to go on the internet and do a search, (whatever did we do before it?) and I came up with a couple of likely candidates..... "The Sair Finger" by Walter Wingate, which is one I remember from school and "Mince and Tatties" by Anon. He will most likely coose the "Mince and Tatties" one since it is shorter. I must admit I like it too.

"MINCE AND TATTIES" By Anon
I dinna like hail tatties
Pit oan my plate O mince
For when I tak my denner
I eat them baith at yince

Sae mash and mix the tatties
Wi mince into the mashin'
And sic a tasty denner
Will aye be voted "smashin'!"

Glossary - hail=whole, tatties=potatoes, pit=put, oan=on, mince=ground meat, tak=take, denner=dinner, baith=both, yince=once, Sae=so, wi=with, sic=such, smashin'=wonderful

I also have an other reason for mentioning Robert Burns, because when I was tracing my family history I discovered that I have a proven connection to "The Man, himself"! Maybe thats why I like poetry and I have been know to write some myself when the mood takes me!!! (But I promise I won't inflict that on you!!) How is he connected, well I discovered this site http://www.burness.ca and then I discovered that my gt gt gt grandmother, Mary Burness was a 3rd cousin, twice removed to Robert Burns. Her gt gt gt grandparents were William Burness and Christian Fotheringham. William's brother James was Robert Burn's gt grandfather. Robert Burns was actually born Robert Burness but changed his name to Burns in 1786. His father was born in Stonehaven Kincardineshire Scotland, but moved to Edinburgh then Ayr, where Robert was born on 25th January 1759 (247th anniversary of his birth this year). He died in Dumfries Scotland aged 37 years on 21st July 1796. So there you have it, I have a famous ancestor. I also have an other one ( not so famous) but I'll save it for an other day...