My very first Scottish Highland Games and Festival was today.
Oh Wow! So much to see and listen to. Too many choices to choose from to eat and buy doodads and swords and music and charms and yet ... not enough.
Lines for the food were ridiculously long and I missed trying haggis! I am SO crushed. By the time we got back around, they'd sold out! *pouts*
I missed the bagpipe parade **double pout** because my youngin's wanted airbrushed tattoos! With three boards of 58 items to choose from, you can imagine the chaos; "This one! No , wait, That one!" Then the artist made the mistake of , "Which color do you want?".
*sigh*
I did get a chance to try British Fish N' Chips and if I'm not mistaken, they are never eaten with Tartar Sauce like we know it, but a Malted Vineger. If so, YUM! In fact, I think I prefer eating them with the malt from now on! What tickled my funny bone was this other lady, going up and down the table going,
"Where's the tartar sauce? Don't they have tartar sauce? HOW can I eat this without tartar sauce?"
I'm internally rollin' - it says in BIG letters, Authentic British Fish N' Chips. That means you eat it differently, their way. I'm all for trying something new, aren't you?
Unfortunately, I don't have a variety of pictures. The dance contests were too far for me to get a good shot although I took a video with my camera just to get the hauntingly beautiful bagpipe tune of Merry's Wedding. I adore that song. I wish I could upload the music here. *sigh*
I was totally enamored of the caper or log throwing contest. YUMMY and Amazing!
The white haired guy is a local man who is 61 years old!!!
There he was, surrounded by all these 20+ young bucks and he held his own.
The comeraderie was wonderful to see and hear. What a great athletic community they are!
I was spellbound by the process. Bending down so low, balancing the caper between their shoulder and neck only to lift it from such a precarious position ...
Then to lift, balance the tilt, run forward and HEAVE it forward and up. What power, strength and short-shot endurance!
Absolutely incredible. I downloaded these pictures at full size, so if you click on them you'll get greater detail.
Enjoy!
This mommy cow and her calf were so adorable that I had to share this. The calf is only TWO WEEKS OLD!
When we arrived, mother cow was nuzzling and sweetly licking her little calf. I managed to get a shot in before she became distracted by someone.
The calf's fur was soft looking and gently curled making it seem like a pleasure to touch. But - there was no touching. LOL
The ironic part about the BIG sign that advertised Scottish Animals is that what you see here is what you got. I was like, " What?! No Sheep???"
Nope.
Just this beautiful bovine and her young charge. There was another stall with a different kind of cow and it entertained my youngest by doing what cows do: producing rather large cow chips. All I can do is shake my head. There's no telling what will entertain a child, and watching a cow poop isn't on my list.
*grin*
They've already set the date for next year and I'm all fired up. I'll be going and next time, I'll have the haggis and the parade and I will get the tattoos. :-)
P.S. Can anyone tell me how the point system works with caper tossing?
8 comments:
Yanno... I really should get to these one day, seeing as I'm half Scottish... LOL.
Looks like you had a wonderful time, and the weather was perfect.
OH, Marianne! Yes! They have booths with all the clans represented. Over 20 clans! I had no idea there were that many.
You could find history about your Scottish half.. they were so orgainized.
And yes, the weather was sunny with low humidity. I couldn't have planned it better!
Thanks for visiting!
Don't get mad at me for correcting you, but it's CABAR tossing. Did they throw the weights as well? I LOVE going to Scottish festivals, Chris likes the pasties and meat pies. *g* No Scottish wolfhounds? (Think BIG dog with wirey hair.) Did you try and trace your clan? Thats always fun. It sounds as though you had a fantastic time! YAY for you!
Have a relaxing sunday!
Sounds like you had a fun day.
I was happy until I got to the cow. It was shooo cute the mommy and her baby and now somebody is going to eat them. :-(
But I did like the rest of the post a lot. I wish we had that sort of festival down here! Great pics. :-)
That looks like SO MUCH FUN! My mouth watered at the mention of fish and chips. Mmmm!
Glad you had fun!
I haven't been to one of those in years - thanks for sharing the photos and comments! They're a blast, aren't they?!
Caber tossing is judged on the style used while trying to place the narrow end of the caber pointing exactly toward a 12 o'clock position. FYI the average weight is 68 kgs or 150 lbs.
A caber toss begins with an imaginary clock-face on the ground in front of the thrower, he faces 12 o'clock. Then he runs, reaching the desired speed he will stop abruptly at what is the 6 o' clock position and heave the caber up so that its heavy end lands in the middle of the clock and the whole caber turns right over, ending up with the narrow end pointing exactly towards the 12 o'clock position.
So glad you enjoyed the Scottish Games and malt vinegar on your chips...did they have mushy peas, too?
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