Family Jewels and Vegetables

Ah, the Scottish Games... the gathering of the clans... the tossing of the caber... the drone of the bagpipes... the men in kilts... It don't get much better'n that!

DH, Knitterliness, and I went to Pleasanton yesterday to attend the 144th Scottish Games, sponsored by the San Francisco Caledonian Club. They take over the entire Alameda County fairgrounds and are a feast for the senses. There are highland animals to see, sheep dog trials to watch, pipe and drum competitions to listen to, clan representatives to meet (and buy t-shirts from), country dancing and highland dancing to watch (yes, Virginia, there IS a difference!), and haggis to be eaten. There's soccer and shinty, fiddles and harps, cabers and heavy weights, birds of prey and living history demonstrations.

My maternal grandparents were from Scotland, coming over to the United States from Ayr. My grampa was a little older than my grandmother and was here first; my nana came over when she was 16 or 17. Growing up, there was always bagpipe music or old Scottish country songs playing, and we would go see the Tattoo whenever the show came around to Madison Square Garden (a Tattoo is a ceremonial form of evening entertainment performed by military musicians). I grew up accustomed to seeing men in kilts and hearing the drone of the bagpipe, loving both.

So when I moved out to California, I quickly found the Games (held in Santa Rosa when I first moved here, then held in Pleasanton after they outgrew the Santa Rosa venue), and when I need a real 'fix' of my heritage, I go there over Labor Day weekend. The pictures are from this weekend. The big finale of each day is when the massed bands - all the pipe and drum bands who are there to play or compete - assemble in front of the bandstand and play a few tunes. Together. At the same time. 600 bagpipers and drummers this year. And yes, I cry. They always play "Auld Lang Syne," "Scotland the Brave," and "Amazing Grace," but they could be playing just about any old Scottish song and I'll find myself welling up. The closer I am to the pipes, the stronger it is, too, so bear in mind that for the shots of the marching band, I am blubbering like a baby.

The other 2 pictures are the latest fruits of the garden. The watermelon is about baseball-sized now, and the eggplant is... well... it's still kinda small. But it's bigger than the last time we took a picture! At the rate we're going, we should have watermelon for Halloween and ratatouille by Christmas.