Sunday of Memorial Day weekend we went to Scots Fest. Another family was also going so we met up to swap kids. The two younger ones and the dad (from near Glasgow) rode with Alec and me. Calder and Jef went in the other car with the Japanese mom. The little girls hummed and sang songs in Japanese the whole way.
I realized that although I went to many Highland games in my childhood, I had never really been able to see all of the things that were going on. I was always busy with the dancing and could only see little bits and pieces of the other activities. So this was really fun.
First, was the role call of the clans. We are Tennants, which is a subset of a more well known group. Unfortunately, I can never remember what it is.
Mary, Queen of Scots welcomed us.
Pipers piped. Each pipe band seemed to stand around in a circle playing all day. The leader walked around the group tuning each pipe.
Drummers drummed.
The pipe majors posed when they weren't practicing flinging their wand high into the air.
Dancers danced. Actually this group was waiting for the awarding of medals.
The little tiny one second from the left was the best.
The cabers were tossed. This was the event that Alec really wanted to see.
Believe it or not, they had a professional class! Scottish athletics seem to be quite basic - not a lot of equipment or rules. The Farmer's walk is carrying 150 pound weights in each hand and seeing who can walk the farthest. Heaving the sheaf (which I kept hearing as heaving the sheep) consisted of tossing a bale of wheat with a pitchfork up in the air over a crossbar much like a pole vault bar. A new world's record of 34 feet was achieved.
The little girls had their hair braided with a thong. This looked like a fabulous way of containing Branwen's hair and looked really easy. Turns out - not as easy as it looked when the lady was doing it.
Calder and his friend Mia bought shields.
At the end, we saw the massed bands.
During the day I ate a Scottish meat pie, others had fish and chips and the kids had hot dogs. The guys both enjoyed the fabulous choices of beers and we all enjoyed looking at the vendor's booths.
We stopped for dinner at Sonic on the way home. At sonic all orders are placed through the loud speaker ordering system, even if you are eating on the patio. Then the skaters bring it to your car/table. We placed our order to show how it was done. Then Chris, the scot, tried to place theirs. After a few seconds someone came out to do it in person, because he was impossible to understand. (Siri on the iPhone cannot recognize the accent either.)
I have moved on to my next house. This is a condo near Westwood with a swimming pool. The kids came swimming yesterday.
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