I’m going to be first to the stone.

There, out the window, you’ll see the shoulder-high stone wall that goes around St George’s churchyard and burial ground. You can also see Alastair Ballantine’s headstone standing off by itself, a good 10 yards outside the wall. He chose the spot himself and wrote the epitaph too: “On Judgment Day, with naught to climb, I’m going to be first to the stone.” He thinks he has a plan will do him good on Judgment Day.

THE BORDER STONE BY ANDY FREW 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 23

After the risings of 1715 in support of King James, Alexander Ranald Ballantine, a tall thin man, and Gray Logan, short and quick, retired here to the Black Isle. Soldiering together through many a battle made them fast friends. The friendship of soldiers runs powerful and deep, and they decided they would work together, side by side, to carve their farms out of the Millbuie Forest. They pulled the last stump together, appraised the work they had done, and judged they had cleared enough land for two farms. On that day…