Whew! Talk about a crazy couple of weeks. How the Scots is like a tail grown far too fond of swinging around an old dog. Of course, I love it. But I want to do a double shout-out. Huge thanks, first to Harry Duckworth and friends at the Manitoba Historical Society. They flew me to Winnipeg to address the 46th annual John A. Macdonald Dinner at the Fort Garry Hotel, and gave me an incredibly warm welcome, starting with a pre-event dinner at Cafe Carlo. The Macdonald extravaganza unfolded two Saturdays ago, and drove the Scots to the top of the Winnipeg bestseller list. Then, this past Saturday, the Royal Scottish Country Dancing Society of Toronto had me and Sheena reeling around at the Royal York Hotel. Not only that, but they went far, far beyond the call of duty -- I'm thinking Louis Racic, Margaret Reiger, Barbara Taylor AND their spouses -- in getting us up to speed for the 48th annual Tartan Ball (more or less up to speed, I mean, for at least three dances). No mean feat! And to cap it all off with a bottle of Lagavulin? Well, what can I say: HUGE THANKS!

You have to love the way the Manitoba Historical Society is bringing me in for the 46th annual Sir John A. Macdonald Dinner. They know how to treat an author! And check out the new Adventure Canada brochure. I've been traveling with these folks, experts all, for a few years now, and I swear they just keep getting better. If you scroll down, you can find Our Hero writing about his 10 weeks of road-trip rambling around Scotland, summarized in How the Scots Invented Canada. Then comes the confession about how I glossed over two key moments. "The first came when westood in the wind at the Mull of Kintyre in the south of Scotland. We had arrived in a morning fog, but as we stood gazing over the water, the fog lifted and, sure enough, we could see it, not twenty kilometres away: the northcoast of Ireland. We could almost touch it.The second moment occurred on that coast. Having deked over to Ireland, we were staying at a B&B just outsideBallycastle. One evening, we chased a rugged, cliffside path along the rocky coast until, as promised, we came to the ruins of a magnificent castle." Read the rest by scrolling down here. Go head, you know you want to!