Auchindoun

It's raining today--and Mt. Flag is covered in a blanket. Mt. Flag used to have a flag atop it (though a friend claimed it was only a red sweatshirt), but the flag has since disappeared. This I hear from word of mouth and pictures--I haven't had time or stamina to get to the top.

Across from Mt. Flag is the many-peaked Mt. Jasmine. Actually, the locals call it something else. Mt. Flag is the real name for the hill so proud outside our kitchen window--we even have our Mt. Flag Road here. Mt. Jasmine is my name for the hill that is simply known as: "the mountain behind the village". I call it Mt. Jasmine because there's a lot of flowers.

The way the mountains look reminds me of the picture I saw of Auchindoun castle. Auchindoun is in Scotland. It's had a turbulent past--at one point the McIntoshes destroyed a previous version of it, commemorated in that ballad, "The Burning o' Auchindoun". I have no idea whether or not there was a real Willie McIntosh, who in the ballad says: "Hang me, heid me, that will never fear me!" I guess he really wants to burn down the castle! Anyway, it was either gutted, but not burned to the ground; or else it was rebuilt, because it stands in misty ruins now. It's beautiful, really. Here's a picture. Oh, I guess they did rebuild it after the McIntoshes burned it.

Anyhow, I like this better than the castle that "my clan" (since I'm not a member and neither are my parents, it's simply a name similarity) has, for the simple fact that it's prettier. All alone, kind of wrecked and ruined...what might have gone on in more peaceful times? I love thinking about it...