At the North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas Texas the weekend of March 4, 5, and 6, 2005, readers shared their delightful gift of gab, speaking to me as I signed my Celtic/Romance books. I have to agree the festival was the best ever. Renown as the largest Celtic festival in the Southwest US, an estimated 37,000 to 39,000 people attended over the three-day weekend.

And it wasn’t just the Irish, I visited with a representative of the Scottish McDuff Clan. Garbed in medieval McDuff tartans, she showed me a map of Fife territory, which my ancestors were named after. As a member of the McDuff Clan through the Fife side of my family and having written a novel, "Danger Is Sweet" based on Kenneth MacAlpin and the Picts, I was thrilled to find that the McDuffs were part of that history.

The first Official Record of the Thanes of Fife was in 838 A.D, when Kenneth MacAlpin appointed Fifus Duffus as Governor of Fifeshire. I also spoke with a fan from the honorable Hay clan who bartered a mated print of New Slain castle for a copy of "Danger Is Sweet". I’m having a contest in April (2005) on my website to give away that print of this famed castle which inspired Bram Stoker when he wrote Dracula.

As far as my family’s Irish clan, at a neighboring booth my son purchased a pewter medal with our Butler Crest. And with a maiden name of Pritchett, I represented the Welsh as well. Yes. I am Welsh, Irish, and Scottish for as a friend put it, we are all such mutts on this side of the pond.

Speaking of mutts, dogs accompanied their mistresses and masters to the 2005 festival just as Celtic breeds joined their warrior masters in hill fort feasting halls in ancient times. Huge Irish Wolfhounds, shaggy Scottish Sheep dogs, Greyhounds, Collies, and Cocker Spaniels were out and about and many were dressed in their green, two Irish Setters sported tiny Leprechaun hats. Isn’t it glorious?

A merry time was had by all, people and dogs, with our senses immersed in the sounds of bagpipes, drums, loud foot slapping dancing, and a smorgasbord of mouth-watering aromas from haggis to fried Twinkies offered at food booths throughout the grounds. With bands such as The McKrells rock-bluegrass-Celtic folk stylings and The Elders straight from Ireland, the ethereal strains of Celtic music danced through the air not only in the festival buildings and the outside stages but also even at our hotel. In the lobby area and the bar of the Sheraton, three Celtic bands harped, drummed, fiddled, and sung into the wee hours of the night.