winter Pittsburgh Archives

Phipps Conservatory and Robert Burns sculpture Pittsburgh, PA

Ink drawing by Carol Skinger. An 8 1/2 ” x 11″ print for $25 can be purchased here.

Each year the St. Andrews Society of Pittsburgh hosts a Robert Burns dinner including traditional piping in the haggis, Taste of Scotland Buffet, traditional toasts, and Burns recitations. Membership in the St. Andrew’s Society of Pittsburgh is open to men and women of all ages. The St. Andrew’s Society of Pittsburgh offers several classes of membership including those have no ancestral ties to Scotland, but have an interest in Scottish life and heritage.

It sounds sort of interesting since I have never done it before. I am not Scottish (WOOPS I forgot, turns out I am partly Scottish) and neither is my husband.

We do like scotch though and we did meet at a bar in Boston (really Brookline) called the Tam O’Shanter or simply the Tam which closed in the 90’s And later I did draw a tam o’shanter on Robert Burns head in my silly ink drawing of Phipps Conservatory and the Robert Burns statue in Oakland which is the university area in Pittsburgh.

Finally what I hope brings me to Scotland itself one day is to see at least some of or even all of the route of my mom’s bicycle trip there in August 1938 with her college roommate Jean. Her photo album of the trip includes the map and diary. Bucket list stuff…