Yes, I'm a newbie. Right now, I live in Istanbul, but in September I'm going to be returning to my adopted permanent home of Vancouver, BC, where I'll once again be able to take mallet in hand and indulge in my passion for croquet.
Well, you might ask, what does all this have to do with kilts?
Between now and September, my wife and I will be visiting Scotland for the first time. While there, we'll indulge in a bit of distillery visiting, some walking here and there, some exploration of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and of course a couple of visits to croquet clubs, where I will try to scrape some of the rust off my decaying skills. We'll also go to the Braemar Gathering.
So what images might be running through my mind? Scots in kilts and croquet playing. When you think about this too fast, the images tend to blur together. It struck me that a nice kilt might be just the thing for croquet, if the fabric and construction can cope with frequent contact with the mallet.
The only problem is that traditional croquet playing is done in white. I Googled "white kilts", and the next thing I knew, here I was, reading postings on white kilts in your Forum. I also managed to sneak over to the Croft Weaver Tartan Designer where I laid out a mostly-white tartan for myself.
The only fly in all this lovely ointment is the cost of it all. We're going to be retiring on a rather minimal budget (the visit to Scotland is our final fling, a last pretense at being fancy free), and the costs of kilt manufacture look steep to someone used to buying cheap shirts on sale, and infrequently at that.
So I think I'll wander around this lovely website and dream, and be a kiltie in thought until I can afford to become one in deed.
It's grand to be here, and I look forward to getting to know you!
-- vanwenger (Pierre Dunn)