#050: i love tacos!

Postcard sent to my cousin, Marsalli MacLeod.

Marsalli MacLeod (or NicLeoid, to use the Gaelic Feminine), is the quintessential Highland lass. She grew up in Stathnaver with her sister, Catriona, after getting her PhD in Aberdeen, she now lives and works on the Isle of Skye. Her Facebook page is awash with photos of her climbing mountains and long distace road biking around the Scottish Highlands.

Like her sister, she taught herself to speak Gaelic (Our grandfather spoke Gaelic as a first language, but he didn’t pass it on to his sons), as an act of will.

When my father, William MacLeod, passed away in 2010, she flew over to West Texas for the memorial service. For the congregation she sang a Gaelic Lament, an old one that was actually called “The Lament of William MacLeod”, which pretty much blew everyone away, including me.

I sent her the “Taco” one as a wee reference to our short time in Texas together, as it were.

Read more about “The Scottish Project” here.