Today, there was a Scottish festival on the campus of my university. In the more than a decade that I've been here, I've never attended it, usually because I was committed to be somewhere else that day. Today I did not have that excuse, but I was nonetheless on the fence about going. Then I got an e-mail from Steveningen asking who could cover the Top Comments diary for tonight, and I thought, well, I can go to the festival, take some photos, and, presto, there's a diary!
So, fling yourself below the orange pasty for a taste of some Scottish culture.
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Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
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I arrived not long after noon, as the opening ceremonies were underway. There were several renditions of "Scotland the Brave" performed, but this pipe band made it sound most authentic.
Despite an occasional drizzle, it was time to start the Highland games, starting with the caber toss. Now I had always been under the impression that the caber was about the size of a telephone pole. Turns out, the caber isn't quite that large, but given the fact that a guy picks it up vertically, runs with it, and then throws it, with the objective of flipping it over, the caber toss is still an impressive feat of strength.
Here, one of the athletes picks up the caber:
And here's a toss! (I don't recall if this was one of the successful ones.)
Then came another event whose exact name I missed, but perhaps we could call it "Throwing a heavy object over a high bar." Here, the thrower gets ready to throw...
...but he missed.
There were a number of other competitions taking place on campus as well. Among them was a Highland dance competition. Because the competition took place indoors, the photo quality is not so great, but here's my shot of three young dancers doing the sword dance:
For lunch I had a forfar bridie, which is seasoned ground beef in puff pastry. Indeed, much of the Scottish food available at this festival was some sort of meat in puff pastry.
Elsewhere (also indoors), there were competitions for bagpipes, harp, and the National Scottish Fiddle Competition. I sat and listened to five or six of the competitors. They had to play one each of the following: a slow air, a march, a strathspey, and a reel. It seemed to me that, with the choices of their tunes, and the styles of their playing, each competitor was creating a particular world, inviting the listener to enter and experience.
Later in the afternoon, there was a jam featuring much less talented musicians (including myself). And I was not thrown out for attempting to play Celtic music on a ukulele. It afforded me a little time to hone my skills at trying to figure out chords for standard tunes. And then it was time to go home.
Not a bad way to spend the day. Perhaps I'll go next year as well.
Now on to the comments!
TOP MOJO
September 5, 2014
(excluding Tip Jars and first comments)
Got mik!
1) NYPD just harassed and arrested a woman by zenbassoon — 219
2) I don't think race made a difference, by Ishmaelbychoice — 213
3) Misogyny, yes, as evidenced by lgmcp — 159
4) That's one cop who needs to find a new job. n/t by Just Bob — 157
5) Yes officer, the Walgreens is right around by slowbutsure — 144
6) That's a cop who should never have been hired. by native — 143
7) Not Arrested or Assaulted. Maybe It Did Make a by Gooserock — 129
8) "Do you know of any drug dealers?" by RerumCognoscereCausas — 118
9) Hoo boy. by JBL55 — 115
10) Thank you for my "fix." by ChocolateChris — 102
11) That really made my SIL by weezilgirl — 98
12) Glad she reported it by Senor Unoball — 96
13) Snort!! Snort!! Snort!! by Gooserock — 93
14) I believe that she does, by nomandates — 91
15) While I can see the by twigg — 90
16) They need to update the pledge again... by reflectionsv37 — 87
17) What makes it worse by jayden — 87
18) given outsourcing and offshoring by Laurence Lewis — 85
19) I was speechless when she by weezilgirl — 84
20) We interrupt this broadcast about nude by divineorder — 82
21) wtf, maybe he had a hankering for MDMA by annieli — 82
22) Oh, snap. by Susan from 29 — 77
23) Agree, misogyny is the trigger by Ginny in CO — 75
24) This revelation proves she's the bravest by suesue — 75
25) There's no telling what by GenXangster — 75
26) Karma by skohayes — 74
27) WHY? by shakker — 69
28) The "force" probably had a good laugh by weezilgirl — 65
29) No doubt he does by lgmcp — 65
30) There is absolutely no by nocynicism — 61
31) My first grade granddaugher got locked out by crystal eyes — 61
32) Show her this video about not talking to police... by joeschmeaux — 61
33) Reminds me of a few years back, when a group of... by CPT Doom — 61
34) Tai is safe! by cjtjc — 61
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TOP PHOTOS
September 5, 2014
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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