A Day Well Spent

This past Sunday Fallon and I accompanied my Dad to the 37th annual New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain, NH and it was an amazing time for all of us. Dad and I were particularly impressed with some of the athletic events such as the caber tossing. 300 plus pound guys throwing 17 foot long poles that weighed in at anywhere from 150 to 180 pounds each. These have to be thrown from an upright position, end over end or it doesn't count! I wouldn't want to have one of those guys mad at me!

We also heard and saw the massed bagpipe and drum bands and that can really gets the blood pounding. We loved every minute of it. As well, we ate our way through some of the best food on the planet - Scotch "goodies" such as fantastic Shepherd's Pie, Brunswick Stew and pasties (hand-held meat and vegetable pies) were available and were delicious. Needless to say, Hagis (stew made with sheep's intestines) and Scotch Eggs (hardboiled eggs thoroughly wrapped in sausage and deep-fat fryed) were items that we passed on. We could just hear our arteries snapping shut just at the mention of eating things like that! But the pastries are absolutely to die for and Fallon got a couple of recipes she intends to try out on me. I'm all for it!

Two events we were able to watch that were really neat to see were herding sheep with trained dogs and sheep shearing. I knew right off that being a farmer would never be my thing! Fallon felt pretty sorry for those poor sheep after they were completely shorn. She said they looked both chilly (it was around 70 out) and somewhat embarrassed at being totally "naked" and she thought it was almost inhumane. When we bought her a really beautiful hand-woven, wool blanket, she began to appreciate sheep shearing a bit more!

The day was gorgeous and the colors in the mountains were awesome. Loon Mountain, where the Games are held, is only about 40 odd miles from where Fallon and I live and so it's a super trip into the beautiful White Mountains through "God's Country".

Incidently, we came to the conclusion that most guys don't look all that good in a kilt.

Ian

That sounds like a glorious day, Ian!

I am half Scottish, but I have never been to the games. It's on my bucket list!

Did they have clan tartans for sale? Commonly sold as scarves, neckties, throws, etc. ?

Lee

Yes, Lee, they did have everything Scottish you could possibly imagine for sale - some things in the Heritage Village, a replica of what a Scottish town might have looked like back in the late 18th or early 19th centuries or in the Clan Village which was full of small tents - scores of them! Each tent was dedicated to one particular Clan and had all kinds of written history and the Clan tartan and so forth. I'd never known thee were so many Clans in Scotland! Each of the tartans are significantly different - some are beautiful, some boardering on garish - but all very individual. I had wanted to get a "bonnet" for myself but, although Scots are very thrifty, they also know exactly how to separate people from their money in large quantities and I wasn't about to spend $40 for one small Scots hat! Everything for sale was quite expensive but things like Fallon's wool blanket were massively expensive to the point where it was just about the only thing we could buy up there. But they had gorgeous Sporin clips and the pins for holding scarves and sashes and the jewelry was so beautiful.
We also had hoped to pick up some books on Scotish history but the library is free at home soooooooooooo.............if you so wished you could even purchase a kilt and stockings to match it - they had racks of various tartan kilts hanging outside all the Clan tents.

You should get a visit to the next Highland Games at the top of your to-do list and make a trip to Loon Mountain a priority in 2013! It's well worth the price of admission - just for the food and the bagpipers if nothing else.

Ian

The caber toss is always something where I am like, "yup, too much whiskey. Heyah, Boy, Seamus, figurin' ya can't take that pole there, and chuck it quite a bit, end over end like". . . . . "Oh don't be sheeeps bullocks, I'll toss that pole, nd furrrrrr-therrrr than You!"