I made this wee video to try and explain why I feel that storytelling and sharing these songs is so important. 

Here are some ideas for getting a bit more Gaelic in your life every day. Please add your ideas in the comments.
It is easier to get Gaelic into your life if you have someone else to speak it to and with and to help remind you to speak Gaelic. There are also many good ways to get lots of Gaelic in your daily life if there are no other Gaelic speakers around.
So here are some ideas for both situations.
Ask common questions in Gaelic: What are the questions that you ask every day? Things like "Dè an uair a tha e?" (what time is is?) are easy to add into your day and if you have some reasonably cooperative people around you might be able to get some non-Gaelic speakers to let you ask these questions too.
Pick words and phrases that you are only going to say in Gaelic (maybe not at work). You can use phrases like "glè mhath"  in so many situations. 
Make Gaelic fun. Play games in Gaelic, play mini golf in Gaelic, what ever you do for fun do it in Gaelic. 
Set aside special time when you will only speak Gaelic. It could be once a day or once a week, maybe a Gaelic only brunch on the weekend or make an appointment with a friend to have a Gaelic conversation.
Turn on the Gaelic radio. Even if you are not actively listening listening to Gaelic does have benefits.
Write a Gaelic journal. Try  to write a little Gaelic every day. It might be difficult at first but it is well worth it.
Read some Gaelic every day. Read a book or the news or an online article. Start with short bits and build up.
What are some of the ways you get Gaelic into your daily life?

Today's post is inspired by the fact that what sounds like rhinos but is probably chipmunks have moved into a wall in my house. 
This got me thinking about words for North American animals. No problem with things like bears (mathain) and wolves (madadh-alaidhean) they had those animals at one time in Scotland. But what about things like chipmunks and bobcats?
"Tha sinn duilich ach cha deach càil a lorg." is what am faclair beag has to say about chipmunks and bobcats and other North American animals. 
What about mountain lions, raccoons and coyotes. These are all animals that live around me here in Colorado and I'd love to talk about them in Gaelic but it can be very hard to find an agreed name for them in Gaelic. 
Some of course will have Gaelic names in Nova Scotia because the Gaelic speakers there will have been dealing with them too. Others especially some of our western desert animals may not have a formal Gaelic name. Yet. We speakers of Gaelic out here fad air falbh bhon seann duthaich, might be able to come together and decided what we would like to call these beasties in Gaelic. 
Some could be borrowed in directly like perhaps we could use puma for mountain lion it follows the spelling rule and, as far as I know, doesn't have another meaning in Gaelic. Others will need names that say what they are. What are your ideas for these animals?

And those are just the animals. We have lots of strange plants out here to. Ciamar a chanas tu sagebrush sa Ghàidhlig?

Tha mi air a bhith a' dèanamh mòran Gàidhlig am mìos seo agus mar a thuirt mi an-dè tha beagan cianalas orm gun duine mu chuairt orm aig a bheil Gàidhlig. 
Uill an-diugh bha mi ann an taigh-cofaidh comhla ri m'athair. Chaidh mi suas dhan bhar airson phaigheadh agus as deigh dhomh paigheadh thuirt mi "Tapadh leibh" sa  Ghàidhlig ris a' bhoireannach an sin. Cha chuala i mi 's mar sin cha d'fhuair mi sùil neònach bhuaithe.
Bidh mi a' bruidhinn Gàidhlig ris an cat agam agus ris a' choimpiutair (mar as tric nuair nach eil e ag obair ceart) ach chan eil comhradh math ann an sin.
Tha ceist agam dhuibh. Ma tha sibh a' fuireach ann an àite far nach eil luchd labhairt na Gàidhlig ann dè ni sibh?

All this work that I've been doing on Gaelic, getting ready for the start of classes, fundraising for the project and just enjoying Gaelic on the internet, has made me feel a bit lonely for other Gaelic speakers. So I made an other wee video.

Well by news I mean my Facebook news feed, but it was làn Gàidhlig today. Here are some of the great things that I came across today. 
Some great music and a fantastic interview with Goiridh Domhnullach from Nova Scotia Canada.

I find my self again, nearing bedtime without having written a blog-post. So I thought I'd tell you a story. This is a story that my grandfather used to tell my mother and her sisters when they were little and wouldn't go to sleep. Tha mi an dòchas gun chord e ruibh.

A bheil sibh eolach air an às-earrann seo "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" ?
Uill am measg la luchd eolas agam tha e gu math ainmeal. Ann an doigh tha mi ag aontachadh ris agus ann an doigh eile chan eil mi ag aontachadh ris idir. Tha mi a' smaoineachadh gu bheil am pìos mu dheireadh ceart. Nuair a tha sinn toilichte nar beatha agus nar obair tha e nas fhasa airson na daoine eil mun cuiart oirnn a bith toilichte cuideachd. Agus ma tha sibh a' dèanamh obair a bhios a' còrdadh ruibh bidh an obair nas fheàrr cuideachd. Tha obair na Gàidhlig a' còrdadh rium gu mòr. 'S urrainn dhomh a bhith ag obair air Gàidhlig bho mach gu dubh agus ged a bhithinn sgìth bhithinn glè thoilichte cuideachd. 
Air an làimh eile sin an cuispear far a bheil an t-eagal orm cuideachd agus chan eil an t-eagal sin gum bidh mi ro mhath.
 Chaidh mo bhreith is mo thogail ann an Colorado. Chan eil ach beagan sinnsirean Gaidhealach agam agus iad fada fada air ais. Ged a bhios mo chridhe ag eiridh nuair a chluineas mi Gàidhlig chan e fìor Gaidheal a th'annam. Mar sin tha eagal orm uaireanan gum bi duine a' smaoineachadh nach eil annam ach cleasaiche a' leigeil orm gu bheil mi nam Gaidheal. Agus uaireanan bidh mi a' leigeil an t-eagal sin gam chumail air ais. Co-dhuibh, a-nis airson a' cuir an t-eagal bhuam, 'S e Aimeireaganach a th' annam, dh'ionnsaich mi Gàidhlig ann an oilthaigh agus is fior thoil leam i. Chan eil an Gàidhlig agam gun mearachdan fhathast ach 's e obair na Gàidhlig an obair as fheàrr leam san t-saoghal, is fheàrr leam ceòl tradaiseanta agus tha spèis agam air an cultair Gaidhealach agus cumaidh mi orm ag obair air sgàth a Ghàidhlig. :)

So for today's blog post I thought "I'll do a musical post". I had such great fun making that wee video and I though it would be fun to do a whole song. 
I thought I'd do Chi mi na Morbheanna. I like it because it reminds me of both Scotland and Colorado. I got out my fiddle, which I freely admit I'm not that great at playing but I thought I might be okish at this song especially with a few effects from the recording program.
To make a long story short, the result was not quite what I had in mind but did inspire a blog post that has nothing to do with Gaelic which you can find here
http://urail.weebly.com/blog-carolines-creative-experiments.html
I promise I'll have something a bit more Gaelic related for tomorrow and in the mean time check out the Classes they are staring on May 21 and the indiegogo campaign for my summer project of Bringing Gaelic to Americans who may have no idea that it even exists. 
Chi mi am maireach sibh. 

Tha mi a' cur mìosachan ri cheile. Mìosachan le beòthaichean Albanach ann. 'S e seo an trioblaid agam, tha cuis dealbhan air buthaidean agam. Is toil leamsa iad uile. 'S e buthaidean an t-eun as as fheàrr leam. Bidh mi fhìn agus mo sheanair a' cur deabhan de buthaidean dhan a chèile. 
Co-dhiubh chan urrainn dhomh tagh a dhèanamh agus tha feum agam air ur cuideachd. 
Dè am buthaid as fheàrr leibhse?
So I'm putting together a calender of Scottish wildlife. This is the problem, I have too many puffin pictures. I like them all. Puffins are my favorite bird. My grandfather and I send  pictures of puffins to each other.
Anyway I can't decided and I need your help.
What is your favorite puffin?