Beautiful day by the ocean in Moclips, Washington.
The sun was shining, but it wasn’t too hot.
Aaron got out his bagpipes and played to the sea. It’s not so loud when the pipes are competing with the surf…
There was quite a bit of wind stirring the dust and sand, and making for some interesting visual effects.
And of course we had the cutest little photobomber…
No, the house piper is not playing tonight; it’s been a long time since Aaron has had time (and a decent location) to do any serious practicing on his pipes.
We’ve been so busy lately, we completely forgot about Burns Night, and didn’t make any plans. But in honor of Robbie Burns birthday, I’ll leave you with a couple verses of his most well known song. The one that every one sings along with, but few actually know the words – or even what they mean. I’ve been told (by a very drunk man with a very thick accent, so I think this is what he meant) that this song is a toast to old times and old friends. Auld Lang Syne meaning “in the days of old,” or “in days gone by,” or even “once upon a time.”
Here’s to old friends, and the good old days.
Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syneCHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
and surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.We twa hae run about the braes,
and pu’d the gowans fine ;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin auld lang syne.CHORUS
We twa hae paidl’d i’ the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin auld lang syne.CHORUS
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
and gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.
As it turns out, I have a lot to learn about packing my daughter up to go anywhere more than 5 minutes away from home. This weekend was the PNW Highland Games in Enumclaw, Washington. We go every year. Every year we get sunburned, eat greasy food, and listen to really loud music – and complain about the unrelenting heat. This year was no different, except we brought along Uncle Timmy, and my daughter, and the stroller, and sunblock, and a cooler with ice packs to keep bottled water and her teething toys cool, and plenty of toys, and plenty of diapers, and several changes of clothes, and oh, good grief I don’t even remember what all we brought. But it wasn’t enough, even though most of the items we did bring were not used. What we should have brought were a bunch of chairs, a canopy, and a solar powered personal air conditioning device (has anyone even invented one of these yet? if not, get on it stat!).
By far the coolest thing that happened in that 100 degree weather was the discovery of a booth selling electric bagpipes. Electric! Bagpipes! Meaning they have volume control, or you can even plug in headphones and the old man can pipe away without making a peep. But that’s not the cool part. Aaron was trying out the pipes, rocking out on a song by the Wicked Tinkers when in walked Aaron Shaw with a huge smile on his face. “Great Job!” he said when my husband stopped playing. Who is Aaron Shaw? He’s the piper for the Wicked Tinkers and he wrote the song my husband was playing. How often does an artist get to perform a work (and perform it well) in front of the person that created it? My husband was riding that high for the rest of the day.
I don’t have much in the way of pictures from the games – nobody tells you how much harder it is to take photographs when you’re trying to keep tabs on a little one. I shouldn’t complain too much, I even had two helpers with me. But in lieu of photos, I will leave you with the Wicked Tinkers on Craig Ferguson. This performance focuses more on the drums for obvious reasons, but these guys are fun
Three years ago: Alibi Room
Part of the ritual of the Highland games is the massing of the bands.
At moment’s like these, it is not difficult to understand why the bagpipes were considered weapons of war.
The piper in the blue and green kilt below is Tyrone. He is the Pipe Major for the Elliot Bay Pipe Band and he played at our wedding. It was at our wedding that my husband decided to start playing the bagpipes and two weeks later he was well on his way in that endeavor. Tyrone was one of his teachers.
Once the bands march in field, they announce the winners of the days competitions and retire the colors
then the bands turn around and march their way back off the field
It’s a deafening, goosebumpy kind of experience.
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This weekend Mr. H, The Outlaw Baker (my little brother, Timmy), and I attended the PNW Highland Games. Mr. H was not competing this year so our presence at the games was entirely for the purpose of listening to some loud music
eating a lot of food (no haggis this year, we couldn’t handle the 40 minute wait)
and then engaging in the most cherished of Scottish traditions
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