Impromptu Scottish Games

[The F-H.C.A.G.]

PiperGeorge lost his home in this summer's fires. This past weekend, he and his beautiful wife, Gwen, threw a wake for their lost home.

Little did they know it was going to turn into an impromptu Scottish Games!

All was fairly normal (as normal as a wake for a house can be!) at first.

There was music:


From left to right, PiperGeorge, the pipe major of Santa Cruz Pipes and Drums, and another member of the band.




I'm pretty sure the drummer here is also a member of Santa Cruz Pipes and Drums.



Alan helped with some percussion as well:







Dancing (sorry, it's blurry, but that's what you get when Panache is behind the camera):







And singing. I'm sorry, I don't think I saved a lyric sheet, but there was a wonderful, well written song in memory of the lost house, written to the tune of "Amazing Grace" (of course). Believe me, it was memorable, and including much WAILING!

And, of course, at any good party, there must be cake.

The theme of this cake was fire (again, of course), but as you can see by this series of photos, the fire was hard to get started:











Finally, with help from many, we have flaming cake:



More to come....

Be well,

[The F-H.C.A.G.]

This party was thrown on an open hillside (didn't used to be as open before everything burnt down) and Alan H brought a collection of Scottish Games gear, "just in case".

Amazing how popular it all was!

Here, he expounds (as only Alan can do):



And then demonstrates (Hammer Toss):



Panache emulates:



And poses (as he does best):




Just to prove Alan can pose too:



Aren't they cute together?



I, of course, cannot pass up a challenge.

Hammer Toss:



Light Weight for Distance:



More sports (and dirty kids) to come...

Be well,

[The F-H.C.A.G.]

Can't have a Scottish Games without Caber Toss, now can you?


Alan and George went up onto the blasted hill and chose some promising timber, cut it to size and smoothed the ends. When they were done, they had one caber that was a pretty realistic length, but a little narrow (at least on one end) and another "kiddie caber" (that one was great, I even managed to turn it to 12:00, no pictures though).

Here, Alan demonstrates, again. First with the "kiddie caber":




Then, with the real one:





Then, we made an unexpected convert. Anyone coming to the Loch Lomond Games next weekend may see her, signing up and playing as a novice.





She turned that "baby caber" exactly at 12:00 consistently. Might be a new woman's champion in the making!

Although the occasion was a bit sad, a good time was had by all:



The kids had the most fun of all. Mind you, this place was a disaster area...literally. The hillside was mostly a very fine, dry and "poofy" sort of dirt/dust. The kids spent the whole time running in, rolling in, throwing into the air, and otherwise enjoying said dirt.

This is how they looked when it was time to go home. Can you imagine getting the dirt out of those nostrils!?



Be well,

[Mipi]

As you said; real Scottish Games. Very nice.

[Highlander31]

My condolences on the loss of the house. Great photos of friends helping to make a day even better. Thanks for sharing them.

[English Bloke]

What a great set of pictures. I'll bet the kids loved it.

Sorry to hear about the loss of the house.

[DTrain]

If one must suffer the loss of a home, what a way to deal with it! Great time! Thanks for sharing.

[Jock Scot]

Losing your house to a fire must be awful and I am so sorry to hear of it. The pictures of friends helping to make the best of a bad job are wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing them.

[CelticRanger66]

Great Pictures!!!

[Sionnach]

Good friends can sure help to share the burden! Great photos.