Pleasanton Games 2009

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The weekend was sunny but not nearly as hot as last year for the Caledonian Club of San Francisco's 144th Scottish Highland Gathering and Games.

Here's where the X-Markers gathered.



The U.S. Marine Band from San Diego was on hand.



As were the Scots Guards.



Their combined performances were a real treat.

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Here's an unusual conglomeration of people waiting for...



breakfast!



There were wee dancers...



wee coos...



And lots of harp players.

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The Gregors came prepared for hot weather with their clan "swamp cooler."



There were scores of kilt sellers..



and short kilts...



and Officer Laurence of the Pleasanton Police who is always the best dressed on the force.

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For the first time in ages, one of our favorite vendors was offering Scotch Eggs.

(8.00 a.m. Sunday Morning)



Yum!



But you had to get there early.



This tartan was blinding when viewed in the sunlight.

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My clan was there.



Here's a picture of the Cunningham tent for Alex:



They have bunnies!



Had a nice chat with Kelly Cunningham and other members of the clan. Everyone seemed very excited about Alex's forthcoming visit.

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X-Marks tartan and plant badge - this must be the place.




There's a familiar tartan!



It's The F-H.C.A.G. and Panache



St. Amish arrived and was presented with a dandelion by Jamie.

[SFCRick]

very nice pics, never seen such a large herd of harpists

[cessna152towser]

Fabulous pictures, Kerr.
What a co-incidence, you were meeting the Cunninghams in Pleasanton on the very day I met the Chieftain of your clan, the Earl of Annandale and Hartfell, at Langholm. Didn't manage a photo of him but I did manage this pic of the Johnstone table:-

[Sionnach]

Great photos! How I miss Pleasanton.

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

Pleasanton was indeed pleasant this year. I think it may have been the first time in recorded history that the temperatures on Labor Day weekend were less than 90-100 degrees! The high on Sunday was about 80. Marvelous!

I think Kent covered most of the games. I haven't got a lot to add, but I will anyway!

Here are some dancers.


First, one of our local classes during the adjudication.





A performance by a group (I've forgotten the name, I think it was "Spirit of Scotland", but I'm probably getting confused with the tartan), one of the members of which is a classmate of ours. Here he performs a beautiful waltz.







Athletics.

Here, Alan H expresses his opinion of his performance over the weekend. Unfortunately, it wasn't good.






The Incredible Bethany shows her stuff with an effortless weight for height.





Clan tent land.





Here's Clan Macleod. Now, I want you all to pay close attention to the people in the tent in this picture. Note the guy in the muted Loud Macleod (now, that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one!). I think I can interpret that expression pretty well. It says, "Who the heck is this (bimbo/tramp/fill in the blank with your favorite derogatory label) posing in front of our tent?!" Turns out he's the President of the Macleod Clan Society here in the States. When we went into the tent, and the usual host introduced us, he shook Jamie's hand with very little hesitation, but then put his hand back down and almost didn't shake mine at all. I started to pull mine back too, but then decided to hold it out there until he shook it, or until somebody noticed the snub. He did eventually shake my hand. Wonder if he was afraid that my wardrobe choices were contagious?



People like that really shouldn't bother me, but sometimes it gets to me. Still, if you're going to dress and act as blatently as I do, I guess you have to deal with that sort of thing from time to time. The rest of the games were a great deal of fun and meeting new folks was a blast.

I have a few more pics, but may not get to them right away.

Be well,

Star