Pictures of us wearing lots of purple plaid

Here are some very late pictures of us at the highland games! This was over a month ago.

Mom and Dad. He's shaved his beard off since then.

"I'm not wearing that hat, Suzi."

Length of time hat stayed on after picture: about two seconds.

But we fixed her.

A parting glance.

Ceilidh and the highland games in Greenville

Friday night. We were having a good time in our front-and-center seats at the ceilidh. Even Ivey was enjoying the fresh air and goldfish crackers.

Until people started hollering when the bands got ready to play.

What did I do?

Why's everybody yellin at meeee?

Once the music began, she had a good time jumping up and down in Daddy's lap.

We'd never seen Albannach before, and we liked them. Their set emphasized high-energy drumming and was fun to watch.

But Grandma and Grandpa preferred Coyote Run, I think.

Suzi loved this because it looked to her like he was playing a big stick. The girl loves sticks.

And we were having a great time enjoying the music. But, alas...

We ignored it for a while.

Suzi and Jordan danced through a couple of songs.

And Ivey snuggled up to Grandpa. But then it became obvious we weren't getting out of this one. The announcement was made, equipment was covered, we ran back to the van and I got two eyefuls of pollen and dirt from the wind. The drive home was fun.

Thunder.

Lightning.

Then we went to the games today and Suzi got her face painted in the Wee Scotland area. She wanted it painted Braveheart-style blue but I talked her into a blue butterfly.

She explained how the lady painted the butterfly on her.

The Montgomery clan in the next tent brought bubbles to share!

Prince Edward was there, it's true, but he was pretty much constantly surrounded by a big crowd of people. Suzi didn't care though. She was much more interested in meeting the gorgeous fairy lady.

She's holding her little hand out like that because the fairy gave her some fairy dust. I'm pretty sure this fairy spent 98% of her day talking to kids and posing for pictures.

Then Suzi rubbed the fairy dust on her cheeks so she sparkled.

We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, packed up the stroller, and headed for the van. (It was a long walk.)

By the time we got home, we had a sleepy blue butterfly girl.

And now I realize I didn't get any pictures at all of anything important, like the prince or the parades or the competitions, did I? Nope. No I didn't. Oh well.

On hurling the haggis

One thing I never thought I'd be doing: actually competing in the games portion of a Highland Games event. But in Hendersonville on Saturday, the VP came around asking women to sign up. "It's just fun, and a way for us to be a part of the games, rather than just watching," she assured me. So I signed up. I think if you can do something, you should do it. Otherwise you might miss out.

The first event was hurling the haggis. This is based on the custom of Scottish women throwing their husbands a meal, tied up in a sheep's stomach, across a stream where the men were working. The man would have to catch it. I'm so glad I don't have to do that, because Jordan would probably starve to death, poor thing. We didn't really hurl haggis, though; it was a 2.5 pound beanbag. We first had to curtsy to the judge and then yell something, it didn't matter what, as we released the haggis. We were supposed to stand on a barrel to do this but it basically dissolved right before the competition, so we stood on a bale of hay instead. If you fell off, the throw didn't count. I fared better than I expected; I managed not to fall on my butt like some of the women did, and didn't end up hurling the haggis back over the heads of the audience. We didn't use the proper form, but I might look it up for next time.

Then we tossed the broom. This was based on the idea that the woman would throw the broom at her husband because he made her mad. I did okay, but not great. The next event was the Welly Toss, based on what you would do with your husband's muddy boots if he put them on your clean floor. Well, we only got to throw once for this one, and you can see how I did...

It landed about two yards from my feet! Embarrassing. "But it bounced up pretty high!" Jordan pointed out.

But that wasn't all. We still had the Mead Relay to go! In this one we filled shot glasses with mead (okay, it was actually root beer) and ran across a field to pour it into a mug. The team to fill their mug first wins! Here I am filling up my glass (second person from the left).


And here you see me running back to hand the glass to my teammate. Please notice and duly appreciate how I am nearly at a 45-degree angle with the ground. That hasn't happened since college, for sure. That second mug is ours, and we were doing pretty good!


My team won third place, and I got a ribbon! Yay! It makes me glad I didn't dress up for these games.


This is right after they handed the ribbons out (Suzi missed me). The lady behind me in the dark dress and apron was on my team for the relay.


I think I am going to get a boot, a broom and a beanbag and train in the backyard for next year.

Built for a Kilt

We just came home from three days of Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina! On the field, cabers were tossed and hammers were thrown. Sheep were herded, dancers danced, and there was even a marathon. Then there was the parade which required us all to wear matchy-matchy hats, and which lends new meaning to the matchy.

The Maya Wrap Ring Sling was my best friend and got many oohs and ahhs. Equally wonderful for carrying Suzi in the parade, or...

Breastfeeding so no one will notice!

This is the face of a good sport.

But off the field we discovered an edginess we didn't know existed in Scottish festivals. After seeing lots of guys going casual by pairing their kilts with t-shirts, Jordan decided he wanted to do the same. We bought him this one so everyone will know he is "built for a kilt!" (He is, too. His legs were the first thing I noticed when we met! Well. Besides his personality.)

We headed down to Grove #2 to hear Coyote Run and ended up discovering Barleyjuice and Mother Grove, bands in a genre nicknamed "kilt rock." They play bagpipes and fiddles as well as electric guitars and drums. We left with three CD's and a Mother Grove tank top (for me). If you still doubt kilts can be edgy, watch this. At the end of Barleyjuice's set Saturday, the fans started shouting "potatoes, POTATOES!" Potatoes? Listen to a sample of what they wanted here. I am loving my Barleyjuice CD, which features other gems such as "What's Up Yours?" and "Whiskey in the Jar," but unfortunately not my favorite, a love song entitled "Tartan is the Color of My True Love's Hair." They have graciously made it possible to download just one song for 99 cents, so I did.

Mother Grove performed in the Grove Saturday. It was hard to get a clear picture of the fiddler because she was all over the place dancing! She played that fiddle like it was an electric guitar.

Above is a tiny fraction of the crowd at the Celtic Jam Saturday night. They were probably out there until midnight but we left at 10:00 because Suzi was ready to go. To the left of the stage was a mob of dancing fans--dancing well, dancing poorly, dancing any way they could.

This whole thing began with my dad doing a little research. Then buying a hat. A kilt. A piece of tartan for my mom. I got in on it and began dressing Jordan up. Now Jordy is saying he wants a pair of boots to go with his kilt (so of course I want some too). The boots look sexy and make a good place to stick your sgain dubh if knee socks aren't your thing. I am also hoping to get a mini-kilt in our tartan, maybe for Christmas. I love my long dress and skirt, but a mini-kilt would be a nice change during a three-day festival!

Wardlaws at the Highland Games

Here we are at the Highland Games! This was taken Saturday afternoon, when we finally arrived (I had to work until 2:00). That was okay though, because it was hot! We only stayed about an hour and were ready to go when the awards ceremony ended. As we walked to the tent there were still a few people tossing the caber, and the fencing people from the parade were teaching people to throw battle axes.

The parade on Friday was fun but sadly we have no pictures, except ones taken with a cell phone. My mom and I forgot our cameras! There were all kinds of people, tartans, and attire. My favorite was Braveheart. I don't need to explain, do I? This guy went all out and I bet no one ever asks him if he's wearing a skirt. Suzi pointed at him and asked, "Dat?" ("That's Braveheart, honey.") We'll have to show her the movie when she gets much, much older. The streets were lined with people--two or three deep, in some places. I was not expecting it to be so crowded! Lots of people commented on the beauty of our purple tartan, as well as the cuteness of our one-year-old in her little tartan hat. (I am kicking myself right now for not having pictures. I really am.)


This was taken in our front yard when we got home; I asked Jordan to run inside and get the camera. I didn't get all laced into that bodice to not have a picture taken!

We went shopping Saturday at the vendor tent and I bought these: a Celtic knot tote bag (it matches my bodice!) and a pin. I had to safety pin my tartan on and this will look much better. It wasn't my first choice of pin though. I saw an amazing one-of-a-kind sterling silver Celtic knot with I think amethyst in the center and it was handcrafted by a silversmith in Scotland. It was big, beautiful, and 350 bucks. So I backed off. My mom's pin fell off and she nearly lost it Friday, so I never would've spent that much even if I'd had it! That's just setting yourself up for a panic attack.



And one more thing. We had a few people ask us "is that the Montgomerie tartan?" Theirs also has a lot of purple in it. I found a picture of the Montgomerie and want to show how different they are. Here's the Wardlaw...


And here's the Montgomerie:


Our tartan is relatively new, designed in 2005 by Diane Wardlaw with help from the House of Tartan. Of course, I think it's the most beautiful tartan there is! The tartan is new, but the lineage is not. There is a history page on the Clan Wardlaw site but I can't link directly to it.

Note: This post was made possible by two sleeping angels.


P.S. It's a good thing the little sleeping angel didn't have a dirty diaper.
P.P.S. I hope the big sleeping angel doesn't mind me posting yet another picture of him sleeping.