Had a great weekend - music in the park with friends on Friday night, down the mountain for shopping and an impromptu pool party with family on Saturday and then the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games today. In a related story, we are all bushed. (Even moreso after putting some finishing touches on vacation planning tonight after all that.)
I got a Flip camera and have been playing with it in preparation for our next adventure, a booked-at-the-last-minute vacation that starts on Wednesday. So far I'm impressed with it, and also struggling a bit with how unbelievably easy it is to use. I usually look for the solution I'm used to with it, then simplify that back about 2 steps. For portability, quickness of startup, and overall ease, I have not met its equal. I was going to post a Flip video of Pookie singing "Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me," but just realized that Typepad doesn't support video upload. Bummmmer.
I've been meaning to go to the Highland Games for years and years, and finally made it this year, in the lamest, most touristy way possible. No kilts or tartans, just us, the kid, a stroller and my camera. I'd been meaning to go in a professional capacity to shoot Scythian, but I got my wires crossed somewhere along the way with their manager and finally just said the hell with it and went as a gawker. I shot some bagpipers, ate a bridie, chatted with my clansmen (who could use me in a professional capacity to produce their newsletter, as their most recent edition came out in 2005), showed Pooks some sheep and herding dogs, and enjoyed lots of good music.
Of the music we saw my favorite was Albannach, a Scottish drum band. All I knew going in was that there is a Facebook group dedicated to getting this band kicked out of the Highland games because of the "rowdy" crowd they draw. Let me tell you something: they kicked all kinds of ass, and from what I understand of history, Scots are known to get a bit rowdy.
I snapped a few shots of them and would love to shoot them more, but a quick perusal of their website shows that they are across the pond until November or so. Oh well, I'll keep them in mind next year.
(Since we're talking Scottish music, I'm also quite entertained by the Red Hot Chili Pipers, and not just because I love a good play on words. But also because of that.)
I can see myself getting really into the whole heritage festival thing; I even almost bought Pooks a tartan kilt today. And we made an attempt to track down DJ's family history, but apparently his people didn't really have a clan. No worries, though, as we also discovered that my family's bloodline travels largely matrilineally, so he became part of my clan when we were marrit. Verrah good, indeed.
A post about Scotland also allows me to put up my very favorite photo I ever found on the internet, ever. FREEDOM!*
* - I love Scotland, and all things Scottish, and admittedly read way too much of a certain series of fictional adventurings of some Scots. However, I have never seen Braveheart.
