Bloomin' marvelous

Hurrah - two of my easter (?) cacti which are cuttings  have bloomed.  

Today has been given over to pottering in my shed - repotting some pansies which I resurrected from last year and sowing seeds in containers.   

In between times I have been researching my family tree focusing on my Perthshire Connections.  I found a distant cousin who had emigrated to Canada in 1911 but came back for a visit in 1922.  The reason he gave for his visit on the return arrive form was "had longing to see  old land" (see extra).

Coincidently we had been talking about the word "cianalas" in my Gaelic Class on Tuesday.  It can be used to express a feeling of homesicknesses (tha cianalas orm -  yes another one which is on you) but also means a more general yearning or nostalgia. This then led me down an interesting side track on how the meaning of the word nostalgia has changed over the centuries ....