I imagine the first question anyone will ask is what is a column called "Scottish Flotsam". I guess we will have to begin with what is "flotsam". Among the definitions of the word are "things washed ashore" or "miscellaneous trifles". Well, we believe you can find some great treasure on the ocean shore. But -- you will never know what you will find or its value. So we decided that is what this column is - flotsam. We wanted a place to put things that didn't fit anywhere else and might be of interest. Each item could be a column itself and might be some day but for now it will be the flotsam, which washes our way.

Kenneth II (Died 995)
Scot king of the united Picts and Scots (from 971), son of Malcolm I. He began his reign by ravaging the Britons, probably as an act of vengeance, but his name is also included among a group of northern and western kings said to have made submission to the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar in 973, perhaps at Chester; and the chronicler Roger of Wendover (Flores Historiarum, under the year 975) states that shortly afterward Kenneth received from Edgar all the land called Lothian (i.e., between the Tweed and the Forth rivers). This is the first mention of the River Tweed as the recognized border between England and Scotland. Kenneth was slain, apparently by his own subjects, at Fettercairn in the Mearns.

It is time to stop combing the library but we can not quit without some quotes from The Pocket Book of Scottish Quotations another great History bookshelf resident. Let's see what quotes we can find.

This month we continue with the subject of love.

A' thru the nicht we spak nae word
Nor sinder'd bane frae bane:
A' thru the nicht I heard her hert
Gang soundin' wi' my ain.
William Soutar (1898-1943), ,The Tryst

I will make you brooches and toys for your delight
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Romance

Absences are a good influence in love, and keep it bright and delicate
Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque

We always believe our first love is our last, and our last love our first
George Whyte-Melville (1821-1878)