Frances Cecelia McLeod turns 95

Mother of Mine

For Frances Cecelia McLeod 95 years old on November 15th 2010

Long before the eye-light twinkled

Mother of mine, Mother of mine

E’re his forehead for me wrinkled

Mother of mine.

You by God’s hand were selected

So we were raised up and protected

And guided in this early time,

Mother of mine!

When the twinkle dimmed and faded,

Mother of mine, Mother of mine,

And our lives grew grim and jaded,

Mother of mine.

You buoyed us up with your intention

Of disappointments made no mention

Filled our hearts with song and rhyme

Mother of mine!

So your life has not been wasted

Mother of mine, Mother of mine,

Sweet has been the life we tasted

Mother of mine!

And the time that still remains

As the hour glass slowly drains,

Is a gift that is sublime,

Oh mother of mine!

Hilda Lane - Frozen in Time

Hilda Lane

1929 - 2010

Hilda Lane, the graphic artist and illustrator, was the owner of the Hollywood Sign Company, and consequently knew just about everyone of significance in town. She was a great friend and compatriot when I lived in Laurel Canyon, and was on my team during my presidency of the Lookout Mountain Associates. We had enormous fun fighting for good causes and planning Oktoberfests. She also loved the Wajinga gatherings of East African enthusiasts. She lived alone in a house she and her husband built, that became frozen in time after he died in a private plane crash.

On the hill crest above Laurel Canyon

With a view of the city and sea

There’s a ginger bread cookie house chateaux

Where I’ve been invited for tea.

There are carvings on gable and roof line

Repeated in each window frame,

There’s a garden surrounding this sanctuary

The home of my friend Hilda Lane.

I would just say a word about Hilda

Who lived all alone on the hill,

Her life it was thoughtful and generous

Filled with good deeds and spreading good will.

If a cause ever needed a champion,

To Hilda its advocates climbed,

She would listen intent to the story,

Weigh it carefully, and make up her mind.

Now if Hilda decided she liked you,

And she liked the idea that you brought

She would put all her effort behind it

And together the battle was fought.

I had a fine friend Hilda

An ally who never would wane

And together we vanquished the dragons

That haunted each chosen campaign.

Hilda lived all alone on her hilltop

Since her husband’s plane fell from the sky,

And she kept every nuance in order

No matter how fast years went by.

And nothing was changed in her life style

Not a curtain, a cup or a line

And she drove the same car down the hillside

From her Swiss Chalet frozen in time.

Neil McLeod 10.30.2010

Highland Games in Fresno

When my family were busy, Justin Sloggat, the producer at Six-14 Productions Inc, ran away with me to the Highland Games in Fresno. I have been the story teller up there for years, and I wanted to capture the mood of the event. I really like what Justin has done here.

Bill Gates on Israel

Please check out this wonderful short impression of the Israeli contribution to our lives. There is so much inferred in such a simple humble way. There is no question that we must support this country against its detractors, not to do so would be cutting off our noses to spite our faces.

Tribute to John Lennon at LeTip

With thanks to Julie Hopkins, the Portrait Photographer, who shot this footage with her phone, here is the tribute to John Lennon, sung by Michael Tan, the Home Theater specialist. Michael Greenfield of Ace of Hearts Entertainment played guitar, and I am on the harmonica. It was a good effort.
Neil

Blue September Hollywood in Blue

Some may have wondered when they saw it, why the Capitol Records Building is illuminated in blue this month. It is to support the new GO BLUE Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaign.

Men need to get checked regularly before complications make treatment drastic or futile.



There were other building also shrouded in blue, the famous Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.


Not to be outdone, Alan Johnson's Ramada Plaza got into the act too!


See the video!

Remembering Alaska - The Last Frontier

It has taken a few weeks for the significance of our family summer holiday in Alaska to sink in. For a few days I found myself jabbering about the scenery and the game, and feeling I should correct my terminology, and the salmon virtually leaping out of the water onto my hook, and the blue color ice in glaciers. So I stepped back and waited. But now here it is!
We’ve been to Alaska, the whole family flew up to the last frontier, into Anchorage on Alaska Airlines, and then on a shorter connection into Fairbanks.



There to meet us at the airport were the Mikats, what a clan! We know these folks through our online home schooling program which Maran and Oliver took. Greg, the dad, is a sergeant and a musician serving at Fort Wainwright, and he and Laurie really went out of their way to make us welcome.



After a first night’s picnic supper and rest on base, we loaded up Greg’s trailer with everything we needed for a camping trip, and all eleven of us set off to Denali National Park.



A drive across Alaska, any drive, is going to be scenically beautiful. The country side is unspoilt and breathtaking. Of course the weather is changeable, and it is apt to get cloudy and rainy in a moment. But we were blessed and our days in the park were warm and sunny making the drive down to the park a pleasure and the setting up of camp easy.


Sergeant Mikat’s trailer even had firewood in it, and we had a wonderful fireside supper while endless daylight drifted on till eleven p.m.








An early start the next morning allowed us to take the first bus into the park proper, and although we never did see Mount McKinley clearly, we saw just about everything else there was to see.



















There were Dall sheep on the mountain sides,




















a Grizzly sow and her cubs cavorting in the river draw,


























Caribou

















and Moose,

















a wolf on the kill all right beside the road,


















and eagles

















and Ptarmigans.

















We slept contentedly that night after our campfire dinner, and had a good run back to Fort Wainwright the next day before starting off the next day for Valdez.

















It’s a long run following the great Alaska Pipe Line all the way down to Prince William Sound, but gosh the views were spectacular.



It was late when we got into the trailer park and after we set up kitchen it started to rain. Putting up an extra tarpaulin allowed us plenty of room by the fire pit to kick back and enjoy supper. We were going fishing the next day.

When the Salmon are running you could probably scoop them out of the water better with a net than a line, but we were using rods lines an lures.





It wasn’t hard. As soon as the lure hit the water it was being tugged at, and if you jerked the line suddenly you could, and we did, snag a fish by the fin. We ate well that night, with more fresh boat baked Pink than we could eat.

Our final adventure was Glacier Lake kayaking. Rowing right into the crevice of a glacier and looking into the ice which is a deep light blue is a fairing thrilling experience. The color is something to do with the ice being compressed for thousands of years. After that we took out T shirts and drove all the way back to Fairbanks for our final night. We all got along with the Mikats, and pray we will go traveling with them again.

Blue September

September 1st 2010 sees the launching of the Blue September campaign here in California, which is an Australian idea to boost public awareness of the significance of prostate cancer round the world. You will see well know land marks like the Ramada Plaza on Santa Monica, the Capitol Records building and the Roosevelt Hotel lit up in blue at night, and why, because blue is the the color of the ribbon for this critical new movement. Remember the girls have pink for the breast cancer awareness movement, well now there’s a blue ribbon for the boys.

Tonight we were at the Blue September Eve party at the home of Chis De Cure, the Australian Consul General and his wife Cathe. We were in good company with Alan Johnson, the Ausie hotelier who seems to know everyone. Tom LaBonge was there to present a City of Los Angeles Proclamation to Dr Mark Scholz MD coauthor of the new book “Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers”. We raised our glasses to fine "Messenger" wines grown in Napa by another Australian, Rob McDonald.

Prostatic cancer is a treatable condition which may linger for many years only to be overtaken by other more strident extinguishers of human life. But while this is so, and while most men will eventually develop prostate cancer and live to die from another ailment, there are many who for the wrong reasons decide they do not need to see a doctor, and only when it is too late will they seek help for a condition so advanced that mortality is a certainty. This is particularly true for the men of the African American community.

So run in and get checked. Go Blue!

Keeping Up To Date Professionally

Continuing Dental Education is a constant feature in my professional life. There is always something new to learn and one is never able to be completely up to date. The highlight in my “academic refreshment program” is participating in the “Pacific Coast Society for Prosthodontics” congress each year, it was the seventy fifth anniversary of the society. This organization of Prosthodontic experts holds its annual meeting in the summer in a different west coast location each year. Papers are presented by original researchers on their recent findings and research. This year it was at the Silverado Resort in Napa, and Nancy and I got away sans children for the first time in many a year.

The Links from the club house at the Silverado Resort

Apart from the updates in the latest porcelain for dental crowns and how the use of implants is growing and improving, we also enjoyed fine wine and a drive up the Napa Valley passing many now famous named vineyards on the way. The setting seems idyllic, rows of neatly groomed vines narrowing away to the gentle hillsides dotted with classically Tuscan or Provencal looking homes and tasting rooms, dabbed with yellow ocher on the fields of green.

One private night out we dined at Neela’s, where caterer and authoress Leena Paniz has set up her new enterprise to bring Indian haut cuisine to Napa. One doesn’t usually associate Indian flavors as being well accompanied by wine, but clearly, though we stuck with Kingfisher Ale, many of the patrons were choosing the local vintages. The food was excellent. The Palak paneer, Cornish game hen and the lamb kebab were delicately spiced and delicious. There was one other thing to note, oh her breads, they are cheese dressed warm and moist. Mmmh! Neela catered a reception one evening and taught a cooking class for the spouses.

A special bindi for each lady

The president’s installation ball was a big hit, and was in the Bollywood theme inspired by Dr. Arun Sharma, our outgoing president. As we entered the ladies were offered beautiful bindis to match their outfits.

Pukah Sahib and Memshib

Later when the dancers came on the whole room was inspired by their vigor, and when they asked us up to join with them the entire audience got up to dance.

75th anniversary pin I designed for the PCSP

Crowded floor

Casa Hogar – Helping the children

My good friend Nick Medoza, and excellent electrician, invited me to drive down with him to Tijuana, to spend some time with the children in the Casa Hogar Orphanage. We all piled into our cars and shortly after 7.00 a.m. we were on the road. In a few hours we were crossing the border into Mexico. Our arrival at the children’s home on the southern hillside of the city was greeted with a shower of shouted welcomes and cheers, and we all received warm hugs of welcome from these delightful youngsters as we climbed the stairs beyond the iron gates from the dusty dirt street.



















My mission was to give dental advice and an examination to all who wanted it. I talked to an attentive audience about the importance of brushing and flossing, and was pleasantly surprised by how well they listened as my words were translated. Then I examined some on the children, and was able to make some treatment recommendations. I wanted to use x-rays and treat, but that I cannot do in Mexico.



















Pastor Freddy Duarte and Eva Morales, are doing marvelous work devoting their lives to helping this little band, saving “Just a few star fish”, but each one will have a life that is much better for it.



















When the dental exams were over we all trouped out and convoyed to Parque Morelos and there we played ball games and barbequed their dinner.



















After prayers of thanks, we said good byes, and then caravanned back to wait in line for an hour watching the hawkers and beggars as we queued up to present our passports and cross back into the United States. The contrast between the chaos of Tijuana and the order and cleanliness of the United States is dramatic.



















The children at Casa Hogar need help: Casa Hoar Eben-Ezer, Tijuana , B.C., Mexico.

Let Us Take Care Of Your Dental Emergency

No matter what kind of dental problem you are having we will able to to help you solve it. We have a complete team of specialist dentists to assist us so give us a call 310 275 5379. Give yourself a biting chance. 310 275 5379 or see our website: drneilmcleod.com

A tribute to Ann FitzGerald Skipper

A tribute to Ann FitzGerald Skipper
1925 -2009

It is with great sorrow that I have to report of the demise of my dear friend Ann Skipper, who had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for some years and sustained a severe stroke late last December. She was eighty four and passed away on the 30th December. The humility and lack of fanfare typical of the family resulted in my not discovering the truth of it until now, June 2010.

After a very full life raising four boys as the wife of a schoolteacher, Ann took up Scottish Country Dancing, and became an accomplished teacher in the late 1970s. In 1983, Ann and I met at a Highland Games in Costa Mesa as a result of an introduction made by the Broadcaster Tom Girvin. She rapidly endeared herself to me and inspired me to take up Scottish Country Dancing. From that point on Scottish country dancing was a regular activity in the Clan MacLeod Society in Southern California. Together we started a dance team who came with us to the Clan MacLeod Parliaments in 1986, and 1990. In 1986 we published our first book on Scottish Country Dances that relate to the Clan MacLeod, it was called “Dances of An Island Clan”. This book was really successful and helped to inspire lots of McLeod’s across America and beyond to take up Scottish Country Dancing, and five teams were formed in the United States. Here in California the McLeod Rant was one of the most successful dances held each year.

Ann and I continued to gather dances related to the Clan and for the next 10 years worked on producing another book. As the dance teams were formed, Ann took over their coordination and became the Dance Mistress to the Clan MacLeod. In 1991 the “Ghillie Guide” was published, a small booklet with a wealth of information on the nuances of dance steps, figures and terminology needed to understand the many dances we were discovering. As dancing became popular at Clan ceilidhs Mrs. Skipper met the need for simple dances for these occasions and published “Clan MacLeod Dances For Ceilidhs” in 1993. A year later in 1994, “If the Ghille Fits…” was published, and together with“Dances of An Island Clan” it makes a unique repository of knowledge of Clan MacLeod dances and history.

It is not possible to begin to communicate the extent of the commitment and devotion Ann Skipper directed to her labors on behalf of Scottish Country Dancing, and especially to the Clan MacLeod. She was inspired in the Milligan tradition and was tireless in her work. Her academic research resulted in her readership at the Huntington Library here in San Marino, California. In 2000, as if to welcome the new Millennium, Ann published her crowning glory “Best Foot Forwards” a collection of twelve of her own dances each designed to emphasize a particular dance figure she wanted to teach. This little booklet alone represents an enormous amount of work, and places her in the ranks of the great Scottish Country Dance choreographers of the twentieth century, many of whom she new personally.

Ann stepped down as Dance Mistress to the Clan MacLeod in 2002, and in the letter to her from John MacLeod of MacLeod he wrote, “I must thank you very much for all the work you have done on the dance scene in clan MacLeod. You have been most successful in your role as teacher and enthuser and the clan is in your debt. I am sure that the heritage of dance will live on.”

Her four sons Tim, Andy, Brian and Paul, her husband Peter, the many grand children and a myriad of dancers around the world will mourn the loss of this “best of mothers and wonderful American lady” who is much loved.

Dr Neil Stewart McLeod FSA (Scot.)

Happy in America

I grew up in Africa, I’ve been to Zanzibar
I’ve seen the great Rift Valley, and it’s western rim so far,
I’ve stood on Table Mountain with Cape Town down below
A sight I’ll long remember and think about ..although...

I’m happy in America, America for me,
The land that flies the Stars and Stripes, home of the brave and free
And should my memory wander and hanker for old haunts
It’s the notion of how much I’d lack if I weren’t here that daunts.

I was born in Oxford City famed for mist and spire,
I know Scotland’s Western Isles, The land of Heart’s Desire
I traveled to Bologna to Napoli and Rome
But though I’ve loved them all at times, I do not call them home.

There’s no place quite like Rio with Christ’s statue so tall,
Few natural wonders impress like Iguacu Water Fall.
New Zealand is so beautiful, Australia’s got a reef
With the most amazing creatures in the waters underneath.

Oh! I spent time in London, that’s a city I have known,
I’ve crossed through France and taken luncheon at Chalon sur Saône
I call the world my oyster and round it I may whirl,
But when I’m done I’m headed back to claim the greatest pearl.

I’m happy in America, America for me,
The land that flies the Stars and Stripes, home of the brave and free
And should I chance to wander and take a final fling
Doubt not that I’ll be back again, America I sing.

Memorial Day 2010

On Memorial Day the Boy Scouts help us remember the fallen by planting flags on each grave in our National Cemeteries. Although this picture taken with my son is a few years old now, it captures the sentiment of what we value most and what needs to be treasured in this great country the USA.

Dentist | McLeod Neil Dentist, West Hollywood, CA

Dentist | McLeod Neil Dentist, West Hollywood, CA

Cricket Song

In Kenya the call of the crickets is a well loved bush sound, which for many was a sign of safety and peace. The crickets would chirp away all night unless something approached. Then all would be still and alert, ready for the intruder. Many settlers have them as their ‘watch dogs’, and they would awaken if the song stopped.

God’s Wee Watchman

Who is God’s wee watchman
Chirping through the night?
Who lets us know that all is safe
That everything’s alright?
Is company when we’re wakeful
Who softens night like dew,
Who lulls to sleep with singing
Oh little cricket, it’s you.

And should you stop your singing
And all the dark is still
We’ll wake and lie there listening
And hold our breath until
The comfort of your laughter
Dispels the fear of harm
Oh little cricket it is you
Who signals the alarm

Cat Gone

Too late to the rescue
Too slow out of bed
I heard the Coyote howling
Jar my dreaming sleep with dread.
I heard the mournful mewing
I knew it was too late,
By letting her be out at night
She kept her date with fate.

This was not the first time,
And it won’t be the last,
The neighbor dog’s gave the alarm
The time was coming fast.
I didn’t rise to face him
Bare footed in the chill
To make him drop the sad remains
And drive him up the hill.

Too late to the rescue,
Too late out of bed
I heard the Coyote howling,
I knew the cat was dead.
It was just a little feral
Not a real pet
But when I heard the meow I knew,
It’s too late for the vet.