Nope, not kilt or Celt related, other than in a family way.

My local tattoo artist moved back east to Fayetteville, N.C. last I heard. Has taken a while to find a new guy who I could trust.



When Bradley was in Flagstaff earlier this year on his honeymoon he got a tat from Patrick at Burley Fish and reccomended him. That's where I wound up.

What I wanted was a tat for the time I spent working in the mines as a boy right out of high school. Didn't realize until I went back to the San Juans this spring how much they shaped my future - even though I was intelligent enough to get out of mining. The crossed rock hammers (what I used as a sample boy roaming the bowels of the San Juans) are a memory of that time...and a reminder that for some reason God let me live through all the explosions and falls of ground that could have killed me....and a reminder that its common medical knowledge that concussions from such events can mess up a person's brain.

There's probably some Gaelic to it since they also are in honor of my great grandfather Archibald Macdonald and my grandfather Murdoch Macdonald, both of whom were Montana miners.

Anyhow, thanks Brad for the referral to Patrick.

Ron