The Pipes, The Pipes Are Callin'

Yesterday morning was a great finale to my two years as the Regional Welfare Specialist. Although I have not received a formal released, a letter from the First Presidency to all priesthood leaders went out last month indicating that all those in my calling will be released and welfare regions will cease to be. It has been a great calling, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to have so served. So yesterday morning was the final welfare leader training seminar in Gridley for the 3 southern stakes. I think it went well, but ask Uncle Peter if you want a second opinion - he gave the keynote address and did superbly.

Yesterday afternoon we took Emily & her friend Whitney to the Scottish Games in Woodland. I told Addison Reid I would go in his stead while he is in Argentina. I have never gone in the past, but was very impressed. It is a really big event with the games (caber turning, hammer throwing, & weight tossing) going on constantly in four corners of a large field. I have a bunch of video clips that I need to find out how to string together for presentation here. When I have edited all of the clips I got of this event, and post them, you will be able to see what the announcer is talking about in the video below. The other caber was metal and really giving the participants fits.

You can't see it very well, but this is the women's hammer-throw. The woman shown here threw it a lot further than anyone else. Later we saw her do the caber-turn and she did great there also.

Adjacent to that venue the bagpipe competition was going on continuously. With that, and the other bands practicing, it was non-stop bagpipe music everywhere you went. I have a couple of fairly lengthy videos that I thought to include here, but am having difficulty.

There was also a place where they were playing harp music in an ensemble setting. I have never seen harps played like this, and it was very nice. They also had a dance competition, but we were too late for that - the trophies I saw being hauled out were enormous, however - one girl had hers strapped to one of those luggage carriers on wheels. And of course, lots of vendors of food, knives/swords, tartans, UK food (HP sauce for example), and other craft-kind of stuff. Lots of people selling kilts, or taking orders to have them made in Scotland. Also a whole area of booths devoted to family history, and another devoted entirely to explaining the history of Scotland and ancient living there. Pretty cool. These two guys had a whole bunch of weapons there and were explaining how they were used in combat.
There was lots of armor and swords, etc.
And there were cooking demonstrations - did I mention that there was food?

And here's a little guy we saw wandering around by the kettle corn booth (oh yes, there was lots of food!)

Here's a video of some dancers. That little girl in the middle was a lot of fun to watch.

And did you notice the corn dog stand in the back? With cheese on a stick? Did I mention the food?