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RE: Dalmally



Hi Ken -
 
I only wish I had the words to truly capture the magnificent beauty of Scotland.  If she was a woman I would be first in line to admire not  only her beauty but her dignity and strength as well.
 
While I visiting my gran this trip she told me that a Robert Sinclair son of Archibald and Harriet (nee Laing) had two sons who are living in Perthshire.  Previously I had thought that Robert had died without children.  I haven't yet searched for them but may try so that I could make some contact on my trip over this summer.  
 
I have only been to Perth when I was a young girl.  Have to see if I can ask my mother for some pictures to jog my memory about where we went and what we did.
 
Where are you located now?
 
Have a wonderful day.
 
Ready Aye Ready,
 
Juli
Princeton, NJ but Forever Argyll
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sinclair@jump.net [mailto:owner-sinclair@jump.net]On Behalf Of Ken W Sinclair
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 12:16 PM
To: sinclair@jump.net
Subject: Re: Dalmally

Hi Juli
Its awesome to read your description of Dalmally and area. I closed my eyes, and I could smell and feel the air.
My Sinclair`s came from Perthshire, which I know nothing about yet.
Ken W Sinclair
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Juli <kalwa@cwix.com>
To: <sinclair@jump.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 7:39 AM
Subject: Dalmally

>
>Hi Donald and Friends -
>
>Dalmally Church is beautiful.  The square shaped clock tower with the
>attached octagonal church is very unusual but beautifully positioned on its
>small rise of land.
>
>My gran and I parked in the parking lot of the church and had a wonderful
>lunch of Scotch broth and soft rolls in the car as we watched the sheep in
>the adjourning field.  After lunch I scrambled up the hill and through the
>gate in the stone wall to enter the cemetery.  I only walked through the old
>section - closest to the church.
>
>My first impression of the church and cemetery is difficult to describe.
>Immediately I felt overwhelming excitement and yet even more pronounced was
>the deep sense of peace or balance that washed over me.  Somehow I knew I
>had "come home."
>
>The air in Dalmally, to quote my gran, "is sweet" and combined with the soft
>Scottish mist that was falling created an almost theatrical atmosphere.
>February is a wonderful time to visit the Highlands if you are interested in
>capturing a feeling of what it might have been like years past.  The stark
>form of the bare trees against the low hanging gray sky, the intense green
>of the grass, the mounds of rust colored dead bracken and everything around
>you water logged all combine with the beautiful clear air.  Time stops.
>Your senses are overcome with the rugged beauty of the land.  I wanted to
>taste the rain, listen to the "squish" of my shoes in the soft ground, touch
>the moss covered stones, fill my lungs to capacity with the fresh cool air
>and photograph all that I saw and do this all simultaneously.
>
>Dalmally Church and cemetery is beautifully kept.  Dunoon cemetery struggles
>with an outrageous level of vandalism (and an apparent apathy to it.)  There
>was no evidence of such a problem in Dalmally.
>
>The high gloss red double door is very welcoming.
>
>Donald, all the stones in the old section face East - do you know why?  I
>have heard tales of "The Gates of Heaven always being open in the East."
>Some stones would be easier to view if they were inscribed on the other
>side.  It is difficult to squeeze between the stone and the side of the
>church when the stone is 6 inches from the building to read the inscription.
>So there must be a very important reason for this.
>
>For anyone visiting Scotland - Argyll is worth the visit.  I thoroughly
>enjoyed the Loch Awe area.  Kilchurn Castle, at times described as gloomy,
>has become my favorite piece of real estate.  It is currently up for sale -
>asking price - bids over 150,000 pounds.  Worth every penny as far as I am
>concerned.  A group of Germans were looking at it while I was there.
>Wordsworth was also impress with Kilchurn and wrote the following:
>
> "Child of a loud-throated war, the mountain stream
> Roars in thy hearing; but thy hour of rest
> Is come, and thou art silent in thy age,
> Save when the winds sweep by...
>
>Personally I think Kilchurn and Loch Awe deserve a little more exciting
>poetry - but hey I'm not Wordsworth.
>
>Time to get on.
>
>Have a great day.
>
>Juli
>
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