Burns Night Draws Nigh

We celebrate Burns Night this Saturday, a celebration of the birthday of our beloved Scottish bard (on the 25th).

In our house, we'll celebrate with our fourth annual Burns Dinner, complete with wine, whisky, lamb, neaps and tatties, and of course, a lovely haggis. (This year, in fact, I aim to get a fresh-made haggis from a local butcher!)

The Burns Dinner is my personal highlight in January. I simply cannot wait!!

Wi' merry sangs, an' friendly cracks,
I wat they did na weary;
And unco tales, an' funnie jokes,
Their sports were cheap an' cheary:
Till buttr'd So'ns, wi' fragrant lunt,
Set a' their gabs a steerin;
Syne, wi' a social glass o' strunt,
They parted aff careerin
Fu' blythe that night.

Translation:

With merry songs, and friendly cracks,
I wonder they did not weary;
And uncommon tales, and funny jokes,
Their sports were cheap and cheery:
Til buttered scones with fragrant steam,
Set all their talk a steering;
Since, with a social glass of spirits,
They partied off careering
Full of vigor that night.

When Shepherds Get Bored...

Britain is a dark and cold place in the winter months... best to find something to keep you busy!

Virginia Scottish Games 2009

We had a spectacularly sunny day today for the Virginia Scottish Games. This year, the games moved east to Great Meadows in The Plains, Virginia. This proved a more accessible venue, being conveniently located just off I-66. There seemed to be more vendors and more selection of foods at the games, which is always a good thing.

We got in free this year by volunteering to help with the children's highland games. Not only was it fun to lead the kids in the bale toss, the brick toss, the caber toss, and the discus throw, but we only had to work an hour to get the entire day free.

Luke and Eddie enjoyed helping the littlest children by showing them what to do and passing out ribbons. I let Eddie do most of the photography during these events, and he did a great job capturing the events.

We also finally convinced Eddie to purchase a kilt of his own--the Royal Stuart tartan. I think the new tartan suits him very handsomely!

We had a great time this year! Here are a few photos and videos of our day.

Sizing up the caber before a toss.

Me and my boys.

One of Eddie's pictures, a caber, mid toss.

Instructing the wee lads and lassies.

Luke let's the littlest competitors choose their own ribbons.

At the sheep dog trials.

A tightly bunched herd.

A handsome highland laddie in his Royal Stuart tartan.

Enjoying the day at the games.

The British car show is also a big hit--especially the 1962 Aston Martin.

Each boy enjoyed a moment in the driver's seat.

Luke is ready to hit the road! (Over my dead body!)

As the day started, the pipe bands strutted out to Scotland the Brave. I just love the sound of the massive pipe bands.


The competitors will toss a heavy weight for distance. I've tried it, and it is impossibly hard. I couldn't even get the weight above my belt.


When it comes to tossing the caber, the object is to get the caber to toss once over and then to land straight. If you imagine a clock face, and the thrower is at the six o'clock position, the object is to get the caber at twelve o'clock--that's a perfect throw. Ninety percent of all throws never even flip over, and are thus unsuccessful or disqualifying throws. This is one of those unsuccessful throws.


Here is a very good caber toss. It successfully flips end over end and lands in the one thirty position, a pretty good throw. This could very easily have been the best throw of the day.


Luke tried his hand at the caber, and amazed me with a perfect toss! It lands perfectly at twelve o'clock. Very nicely done, indeed!

Automatic Panoramas with Hugin

This is my night for playing with open source photo editing and post processing software. There's a lot of really neat software out there that doesn't cost a dime!

Playing a little with Hugin, I stitched together the following two photos of Holyrood in Edinburgh. This was a perfect set of photos to experiment with, because this panoramic shot is not available without paying the £20 admission to get inside the gates of Holyrood. Being cheap, I satisfied myself with taking two shots between the slats of the outer gates before they ran me off.

Hugin has a great many options to control lens types (normal, fisheye, wide angle, etc.) which I still need to experiment with, but the program was pretty easy to use and produced a reasonably well done panorama without much effort. The final image has some strange barrel and fish eye effects, but I'm sure if I played with it (and read the Hugin help pages), I would be able to figure it out. For comparison, the following composite was done by Hugin in about two minutes.


And this one, I did by hand using Gimp, and it took well over an hour to produce. Of course it looks better, but it was a lot of work. Plus, Hugin can operate on any number of images in any arbitrary orientation.


I'm sure once I figure out how to use Hugin, it will be superior.

Burns Supper 2009

Today marks the 250th anniversary of the birthday of Robert Burns. The national poet of Scotland is honored this time each year, at home and abroad, with the great tradition of the Burns Supper. This was our third year hosting the supper, and we were grateful to have our usual circle of Celtic (and Celtic-loving) friends to help us celebrate.

Becky once again came through with a delicious dinner of roasted lamb, neeps and tatties, with a fresh green salad, and haggis, of course!

I was responsible for making the haggis, and in trying to keep it warm in the oven, I chose a poorly-sized dish underneath it. The dish was much too small, and the spurting grease from the haggis caused a small fire in the oven. Becky was outraged until I stooped down to blow out the fire (and flashed Sharon from under my kilt). The smoke from the fire filled the house with smoke, and I lamely explained that I was trying to simulate a real peat fire for the effect.

It was going to be a fun night! Not even thirty minutes into the party, and we'd already had a fire and flashing.



We toasted our new president with a rousing chorus of "There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama". Sure, what's Ireland got to do with Scotland, you say? We take a few liberties in our Burns celebration, reaching across the Irish Sea occasionally for inspiration.

Then it was the standard toast to the Haggis and the toast to the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns. Upon this latter toast, I was to read from his song, "The Campbells are Coming!" But, not knowing the tune, we all discovered to our great delight, that pretty much any Burns song can be easily sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island. (Try it, you'll see!)

After these, we gentlelads lamely toasted our lassies. Honestly, none of us men had anything prepared, which speaks ill of us, since our ladies usually write original poetry for the night. Undaunted by this, both Sharon and Leslie provided their original Toasts to the Laddies:

Leslie's Toast to the Laddies
© Copyright 2009, Leslie Emery. All Rights Reserved!

The third time's the charm,
A toast to the laddies -- no cause for alarm.

Looking back o'er the year,
Our laddies were steadfast and stable, and so full of good cheer.

The election of 2008 sure captured our minds and attention,
Whether we supported Ron Paul or Obama or even Hillary Clinton.

We talk politics and religion among friends,
Over dinners and campfires with this close-knit group and one telephoto lens.

Our men know when to dive in and when to seek help
Whether with plumbing or car repair before their wives yelp.

Our men are supportive of their ladies' pursuits,
Ere running or cycling or swimming while they're off in their suits.

We are all lucky women and daily count all our blessings,
How we adore our laddies, so we treat them like kings.

To the Laddies!

And Sharon's:

Sharon's Toast to the Laddies
© Copyright 2009, Sharon Whelan. All Rights Reserved! (Or Sharon will hunt you down!)

To the men that I toast, I dare not to roast them about their many attributes.
In '08 I vacationed with you all, saw your contributions both great and small and grew to appreciate how unique each one of you are.

There is Ol' What's His Name?... Phil's far from a pill. He really loves his wife, though work keeps him absent from her life. Smiling, patient and kind, he continues to remind us,
That the turtle eventually beat the hare.

Scott Emery, though not here, is adventurous but still full of fear. Sliding down slopes and climbing up ropes. His wife never sheds a tear at his mountains of gear, 'cause he knows that she's the best gear that he's got.

Scott Harris, my brother, from a conservative FoxTV loving mother. Truly inspired and always too tired. He is ready for any trip or adventure, being thirty-something is our strength with these old folks we outrank, our youth and exuberance inspire them. Scott is early to bed and early to rise, Wifi his tool informing the wise. Nothing's too trivial to report. Though he missed my New Years party, I did not think him too foolhardy, his claims to be too tired were completely uninspired. I know that truth be told he is OK to be on the outside of gold and silver is he.

Then there's Desi, sweet Desi, who has taught us to cope for a whole week without soap. Relaxed and refined, he mumbles and he cleans, keeping us relaxed and at ease.

To the Laddies!

After these brilliant toasts, we moved into poems, jokes, and songs. Pam told us a nice poem on the nature of friendship, which strikes right to the heart of these parties.

And this year, unlike years' past, many of the older kids wished to participate in some way (with the younger ones content to act as hooligans in the basement). Gabrielle read to us from her portfolio of original poetry, and I especially liked this one:

A True Patriot
by Gabrielle Wolfe
© Copyright 2009, Gabrielle Wolfe. All Rights Reserved. (You know the routine.)

One, two
One, two
Forward march!
I can hear my heart in my ears
THUD, THUD
I know what will happen
BANG!
I was right
The commander is down
Ragged, I run
I'm furious
My rage showing
Tears clouding my eyes
I may not come back
But that's a risk I'm willing to take

For my country!
BANG!
Missed
For my brother!
BANG!
Missed
For everything I believe in!
BANG!
Hit
I'm down
Go on without me

One last time
For my country!
BANG!
Hit
This time not on me

As the light fades,
March on
For freedom,
For justice,
For me, my son
You can do...
SWOOSH
TINK

The battle done,
We have won
Time to rest in peace, Dad
For freedom,
For justice,
For me, my dad,
Your courage lives on


(Did I mention that the author is only eleven years old? Incredible.)

Maura shared quite a few jokes, but my favorite was the following:

Two men are at the bar drinking, when one man says to the other, "You know, I grew up in this town?"

"Really?!" exclaimed the other man, "I grew up here too!"

So they toast each other and drink.

Then the first man says, "Yup, I was born here, in 1964."

"No kidding?" says the other, "Me too! What a coincidence!" And they toast each other and drink.

"I went to St. Mary's school on that hill over there. Graduated in 1979."

"You have got to be joking!" says the second man. "Me too! What a small world!"

And they toast each other and drink.

At this point, the bartender grabs a waiter and says, "You see, the MacDonald twins are drunk again."

And I cannot forget this one:

MacDonald was poor in health. He asked his friend MacDougal if he would pour a bottle of scotch over his grave if he should die one of these days. MacDougal said, "Sure'n I'll be glad, laddie, but would you mind if I passed it through my kidneys first?"

Desi and Sharon provided a Scotland Quiz this year, which proved in a very entertaining way how little we knew of Auld Alba. The quiz was in two parts, the first part being trivia regarding Scotland, and the second being translations of Scottish words:

1. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and which other three countries?
a) Slovakia, Greece and Czech Republic
b) Norway, Greece and Latvia
c) Romania, Greece and Russia

Answer - c

2. What is the name of Scotland's national poet?
a) George Mackay Brown
b) Robert Burns
c) Robert Louis Stevenson

Answer - b (If anybody missed that one, they were asked to leave the party.)

3. What is the name of the Scottish flag?
a) The Lion Rampant
b) The Saltire
c) The Salt and Sauce

Answer - b (Though 'c' was compelling!)

4. How many Scottish islands are there?
a) 800
b) 30
c) 15

Answer - a

5. What connects Sherlock Holmes to Scotland?
a) The author Arthur Conan Doyle was Scottish
b) Sherlock Holmes was Scottish
c) Both Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle were Scottish

Answer - a

6. What are the three officially recognized languages of Scotland?
a) English, Scots and Gaelic
b) English, British and Gaelic
c) English, Gaelic and Glaswegian

Answer - a (But if you've ever been to Glasgow, you may argue for 'c'.)

7. What is the population of Scotland?
a) 6.8 million
b) 5.1 million
c) 5.8 million

Answer - b

8. How many people worldwide call Scotland their ancestral home?
a) Between 5 and 10 million
b) Between 10 and 20 million
c) Between 30 and 40 million

Answer - c (It appears I'm in good company.)

9. Which Scottish location did Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' make even more famous?
a) Fyvie Castle
b) Roslyn Chapel
c) Abbotsford House

Answer - b

10. On which Scottish island did George Orwell write his novel '1984'?
a) Jura
b) Islay
c) Iona

Answer - a

For the following, match the Scots word with the definition:

Word 1: Sleekit
a) sensuous
b) soporific
c) sly

Answer - c

Word 2: Dreich
a) dry and bright
b) smart and fit
c) dull, wet and dreary

Answer - c

Word 3: Sonsie
a) attractively plump, comely
b) repulsively unattractive
c) off the wall, crazy

Answer - a (My love is as sonsie as my haggis!)

Word 4: Gowk
a) a babe
b) an idiot
c) a lad

Answer - b (My love just called me a gowk for comparing her to my haggis.)

Word 5: Jalouse
a) suggest, propose
b) surmise, suspect
c) provoke jealousy

Answer - b

Word 6: Hairst
a) Spring
b) Harvest
c) Winter

Answer - b

Word 7: Mingin
a) sweet sounding, mellifluous
b) funky, groovy, in the zone
c) smelly, rank, inebriated

Answer - c (We were all a little mingin before the night was through.)

Word 8: Wersht
a) cheery, happy
b) timid, shy
c) bitter, sour, uninspiring

Answer - c

Word 9: Haver
a) brood in silence
b) talk profoundly
c) talk nonsense

Answer - c

Word 10: Totie
a) huge, momentous
b) heavy, serious
c) wee, tiny

Answer - c

Both Olivia and Madeline recited some Robert Frost poetry from memory--they were very pretty reciting the lines together, like only twins could do.



And then, there was much music. Desi brought his guitar, and he and Sharon serenaded us with "Sally Gardens" and "Falling Slowly" (from the movie Once).

I tried "Danny Boy" on my clarinet and vocally. (I think I pulled off the vocals, though the clarinet sounded like I was taking liberties with a goose.) Eoin played a couple of jigs on his fiddle, and Eddie played a couple of his pieces on the piano. We sang and sang and sang some more. We sang the "Wild Colonial Boy" and a few other tunes.




Summing up, it was a magnificent evening. Thank you to all my friends for such a fun time.

Third Annual Burns Party

It is almost that time again! As the dark days of January seek to oppress us, we burst from our cocoons with song, poetry, and revelry, celebrating the great Scot poet, Robert Burns.

This will be our third year hosting the Burns party at our home. I hope the party is as much fun as in years past.

Here is a review of previous parties, and a taste of what's to come!

Scottish Quilts for Christmas

All summer and fall, it's not just Santa that's been busy in his workshop. Nana too has been slaving away trying to get done with the boys' big gifts for Christmas--Scottish tartan quilts for their beds.

I've only seen the quilts in photos, but just going by the photos, they are really gorgeous, with elegant embroidery and even a thistle or two. These quilts should last the boys a lifetime, and will be wonderful keepsakes from their Nana.

Really beautiful job, Mom. I can't wait to see them in person!

Virginia Scottish Games 2008

After Luke's soccer game, we headed over to Sky Meadows State Park for this year's Scottish festival and highland games.

The Virginia Scottish Games are always excellent! Plenty of food, drink, games, shopping, piping, and dancing. Plus, it's a great excuse to wear the kilt!

This year was special in that I got pulled in to be a volunteer for the caber toss. Yes, I can actually say that I was part of the event and handled the caber very well. Of course, I was the caber toss equivalent of the water boy. My job, along with two others, was to go and fetch the caber and bring it back each time it was thrown. This sounds rather trivial, but the caber weighed in at 275 pounds (almost 20 stone!), and we had to bring it back over eighteen times! It was hard work, but it earned us a great t-shirt and the privilege of getting front row seats to the event. We only had to make sure we stayed at least 23 feet back. As the man told us, "You bring the caber in, walk it up with your hands so the athlete can grab it, and then, GET THE HELL AWAY!"

The festival was super fun, and the athletics were really enjoyable. The only complaint was the stifling heat and humidity of the day. It was over 85 degrees and oppressively humid. After spending a couple of hours at the park, we headed back home to cool off and rest for the remainder of the day.

Here are my best and some of Becky's best photos from the day: