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Photo courtesy of Steve Larkin

GAELIC LANGUAGE
Gaelic is spoken both in Ireland and in Scotland, in two distinct varieties that are generally referred to as Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic. Like Welsh, it is one of the Celtic languages and thus part of the Indo-European family. Gaelic is also sometimes referred to as Erse.
Irish Gaelic, often known simply as Irish, is an official language of the Republic of Ireland. Although spoken by only one million people, or about one-third of the population, its use has been strongly encouraged by the government and it is taught in all Irish schools.
The traditional Gaelic alphabet, was evolved from the Latin about the 5th century.
It contains only five vowels and thirteen consonants- the letters i, k, q, v, ~ x, j~, and z are missing. An acute accent over a vowel indicates that it should be pronounced long, where a single dot over a consonant indicates that it should be aspirated. Nowadays Gaelic is generally written in modern English characters. In the new orthography the dot was dropped and the letter h placed after the consonant instead (e.g., ç became ch).
About the 5th century Gaelic was carried from Ireland to Scotland. With the passage of time the Scottish variety diverged to the point where it was clearly a separate dialect. Unlike Irish Gaelic, however, Scotti~h Gaelic has no official status and is spoken by only 75,000 people, or l ½ percent of the population of Scotland. Scottish Gaelic frequently uses a grave accent wher Jrish uses an acute.
English words of Gaelic origin include hard, glen, bog, slogan, whiskey, blarney, shillelagh, shamrock, colleen, brogoc, and galore. Specifically Scottish Gaelic are clan, loch, and ptarmiigan.

What's in a name?
Many have ask where the name Neva originates? Well, to begin, in my situation, my Aunt Annie always said that if she had had a daughter she would have named her Neva. At the time of my arrival Aunt Annie was helping Mother prepare for my impending arrival so my Mother named me - Neva more or less as a favor.

Now for the name.
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The Neva River and Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
The Winter Palace, which contains more than 1,000 rooms and halls, first was occupied by Catherine the Great in 1762.
Bolshevik revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace in 1917
and overthrew the provisional government

The Neva in Winter

From "We The Living" by Ayn Rand

The river was a wide crack in the heart of the city.
It stretched the silence of its snow under the silence of the sky.
Far away, smokestacks, like little black matches,
fumed a feeble brown salute of melting plumes to the sunset.
And the sunset rose in a fog of frost and smoke;
then it was cut by a red gash, raw and glowing, like living flesh;
then the wound closed and the blood flowed slowly higher up the sky,
as if under a misty skin,
a dull orange, a trembling yellow, a soft purple that surrendered,
flowing up into a soft irrevocable blue.
The little houses high and very far away,
cut brown, broken shadows into the sky;
some windows gathered drops of fire from above;
others answered feebly with little steely lights,
cold and bluish as the snow.
And the golden spire of the Admiralty held defiantly
a vanished sun high over the dark city.

Add a little sweetness
with
Neva's Divinity
Ingredients:

3 C Sugar

3/4 C Light Karo syrup

3/4 C Water

3 Egg whites (at room temperature)

1 t Vanilla

1 C Chopped pecans

Directions:
Combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy saucepan
. Cook over low heat and stir just until sugar dissolves.
Cover and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes to wash down sugar crystals from inside saucepan.
Uncover and cook, without stirring, until mixture boils and reaches hard ball stage (260°F on candy thermometer).
Beat egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form.
With electric mixer running at high speed,
pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over the egg whites.
Add vanilla and continue beating until mixture begins to hold its shape
(should be about 3 or 4 minutes).
Stir in pecans. Candy may be tinted with few drops of food coloring, if desired.
(Green, of course, for the Irish in us.)
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper. Allow to cool. Makes about 5 dozen pieces.