23 July 2007

Touch Not the Cat But a Glove

Mackintosh is the family name and Scottish Highland were the Games.

Saturday, I went to the Scottish Highland Games with the whole family. It was fun to break out in our best Scottish brogue. Mine tends to go Irish on me but it was funny hearing the kids try. Our flickr.com pictures are here.

There was a wonderful ceilidh (pronounced KAY-LEE) with a dance competition, we ate bangers and mash (sausage and potatoes to us Yanks) and watched a sheep dog competition. There were also athletics: a caber toss, running, the Scottish hammer and last, the Braemar stone throw. It was great to see men in their kilts showing off their knees with wild abandon. I especially liked this bloke below, puffing the sweetest smelling tobacco on his pipe, meandering along so casual and unassuming.

Mr. Coffee got into the spirit and donned his noggin with a balmoral and the family name crest. We even saw a vender selling knives and I thought of Doozie Stabalot.

Everything there was a little spendy but we did purchase matching spinning celtic knot rings. Mine is smaller than his ring and I find myself absentmindedly spinning it around and around my finger. Mr. Coffee doesn't wear much jewelry, so I was happy that he wanted one.

The kids were so tired after several hours of walking around, so we sat down on the fiberglass bleachers and drank lemonade. Whatever compelled someone to create fiberglass bleachers is beyond me.

Much to our dismay our four year old started whining and crying, flailing her arms wildly while scratching her fiberglass covered arms. The kids were itchy, pooping out, and beating each other with their wooden sword souvenirs so we called it a day by mid-afternoon.

I think we will go again next year and stay away from the next episode of "When Bleachers Attack".

As for the title of the post, "Touch Not the Cat But a Glove" is the Mackintosh family crest. My 3x grandmother would be so proud.

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