Highland Games

So we decided that of all the things we must do while we were in Scotland, one of them must be the highland games. The games were in Braemar, which is about 2 hours away from our place. We carpooled with our close friends the Eilers and the Merricks, and had an all around good time.

What is great about the highland games, other than the throwing of large logs, is that while the games are pretty big (20,000 in attendance) it is still really laid back. It kind of has the feel of a really large and well run family reunion.

So the first pic here is of the large pipe band that came in at the end of the games. There were 11 pipe bands at the games, and they would periodically march in. There was also highland dancers non-stop...all highland dancing, all the time.

Here is the caber toss. What can you say about this event other than that it is completely awesome?


There was also some pretty serious tug of war. These guys had it down to a science...pretty impressive actually.
Ah yes, and here is the queen. That's right, the queen showed up the highland games in her sweet Bentley (interesting that she went German instead of say...oh, I don't know, Land Rover or something). When she came in some guy sang the national anthem "God Save the Queen" which has to be odd to hear if you are, in fact, the queen.
So, all in all it was a very fun day. The queen won the Caber Toss and I was voted best highland dancer...who knew?

This week was beautiful!

Scotland ohh Scotland

We may have been slacking a bit about this whole blog thing, but I am back on track. Considering my flourish of dissertation writing as of late, I think I need to be cut a little slack. I am 60 pages into my chapter and only half way through...now that's scholarship. The key is to bore your readers to such a high degree that they lose the ability to think critically.

What should not be terribly surprising, is that the weather here has been really hit or miss. One day it will be beautiful and sunny, as you will see below, and others will be horrible and rainy. Some days, as of late, it will be sunny and rainy, which feels really odd.

After coming back to Scotland we needed some time to re-acclimate - to the weather, the oddities, lifestyle, etc., and that is what this blog is about. It didn't take long before our bodies remembered walking everywhere we go. What struck me as a bit more odd was walking to my office at 9 in the morning (key word is "morning") and walking by too older gentleman walking down the street sipping on large cans of beer...mmmmmm, who needs coffee? That is either a really late night or a really early afternoon.

But on one of the nice days, Kelli and I decided to take a walk down towards the beach. Here is a pic from the hill overlooking the golf course I play from time to time.


And as Kelli and I were traipsing over the hill we caught a glimpse of a local cricket game. I love that they were still rocking the gap-look....well played!
As is clear from the picture below, the white team is about to hit a perfect turkey...or is possibly going to hit a touchdown before tea...ok, it isn't that clear.
Something that you get used to in Aberdeen is the wildlife...and by wildlife I mean pesky, dirty, loud, and annoying seagulls. What is most impressive about the seagulls here is their sheer moxie. Not only are they known to go into stores and steal things, but you will often see them flying around with a half-eaten fish and chip boxes. Here is one, totally unconcerned with us, shopping (I suppose).
Lastly, and this can't even begin to be understood until you hear it for yourselves. In the stairway outside of my office they were holding a Summer camp for pipers. This is a 3 story stairwell made from stone. Just allow that to sink in a bit. There were about 6 pipers, piping their little hearts out - and the noise could have possibly taken 19 years off of my life.


Don't get me wrong, I like the bag pipes. But in an enclosed environment, they are downright dangerous. The noise felt as though it were trying to birth a skyscraper in my brain; as though a little piper on steroids was born in my head, and made it his life goal to be the loudest piper ever (note the piper holding her own ears!).
It is up in the air if this was a camp for the fun of it or some sort of new weapon. I was going to make a short video but when I tried to turn the camera on, it looked at me and said, "Don't even think about it." So, in light of that, I didn't.