Life in the Highlands

It has been a strange few weeks. I am very busy, I have a sinus infection that has resulted in a persistent low grade fever, I have some exciting projects in progress and some annoying business issues --- in other words, just more life. But, busy though it has been here, my brain has been in hyper-drive as usual and that is more good than not.

I’ve recently discovered internet radio. I used to listen to audio books while I worked but these days I am doing stuff that requires focus so I want something that I can kind of listen to but also ignore. For some reason I have fallen in love with the BBC’s Radio Scotland. It’s an interesting international compromise. I have often listened to French or German radio stations but I really have to concentrate too much to get a clue as to what they are talking about. Those are the only languages I have even a little bit of skill at. But Radio Scotland is fascinating because it does take some small effort to understand but not a lot and I LOVE the brogues.

This fascination is somewhat enhanced by the fact that a few years ago I was told that my Great-Great Grandfather James Valentine was from Scotland. I never knew that. There was a family myth about the origins of my father’s grandfather but I never liked it and never wanted to think about it. Suffice it to say it involved criminal activity but, in retrospect, knowing my dearly departed father’s penchant for creating “colorful” stories about his past --- well --- it’s far more understandable.

Anyway, when a distant cousin contacted me and sent information about James Valentine it all made a lot more sense. I’ve never been much interested in genealogy. Well, I think it is interesting but I’ve never been much motivated to find out more about my own family. But one day recently something intriguing caught my attention on Radio Scotland. There was a little news item about an exhibition of photography by James Valentine of Dundee Scotland (left). It caught my attention and I looked him up on the internet. He was born in Dundee in 1815 to John Valentine (my father’s name) who established Valentine Company, Printers and Lithographers in 1825. James became fascinated by Daguerreotypes in the 1840s, became a photographer and opened his own publishing company a few years later. His photographs of Scotland, England and Wales are wonderful (below).

I have no idea if they are ancestors or not. Maybe someday I’ll find the time and the inclination to check it out but, because I did after all inherit my father’s colorful imagination, I can dream. What makes him particularly interesting to me is that my father was an avid amateur photographer and I am a publisher and a great deal of my work involves working with photographs. Have those genes been passed on or is it just a coincidence? Probably the latter but you never know.

Anyway, while listening to Radio Scotland --- my favorite programs are Around Orkney and Shetland Live --- I’ve been thinking about how accessible the world has become. It’s right there, at the click of a button, in front of me while I work. I don’t know why I find Radio Scotland more appealing than, say, Radio Wales or just regular BBC programming. Partly it is the sense of humor that I’ve come to appreciate --- dry, self-mocking, and clever. And partly there is the sense of small town life that is something I so much value. I love the stories about community projects and local scandals and just the day to day life in a small, geographically confined area. One day there was a news item about an unidentified skeleton found in a tent in a remote region of a protected reserve. Several days later the skeleton was in the news again because he had been identified. I was relieved.

So, I have to get to work and I will, no doubt, be listening to Radio Scotland throughout the day. And maybe thinking about my new “invented” grandparent --- does this mean I have to give up Jean Lafitte? Not really --- that was the family that James’s children married in to…

Thanks for reading.