On a hot and sunny Saturday earlier in the month, BowlingWidow and I headed north to Mount Vernon to meet some friends, Jim, Stephanie and their toddler daughter Katie at the annual Scottish Highland Games Festival. Being that (a) I’ve never been to anything like that and (b) my last name of Clark is the fourteenth most common surname in Scotland, it was clearly time to make an appearance.
Stephanie, born a MacAlister, is an experienced veteran at these kinds of things so we followed her around as she basked in her ancestral glory and got her credit card out to shop for all things Scottish.
The first thing we did was to make our way to the tent to look up the Clark tartan. I like the blue pattern. It worked for me and I didn’t need to take it a step further to the MacPherson and Cameron clan tartans which are in some way related to the Clarks.
Stephanie, born a MacAlister, is an experienced veteran at these kinds of things so we followed her around as she basked in her ancestral glory and got her credit card out to shop for all things Scottish.
The first thing we did was to make our way to the tent to look up the Clark tartan. I like the blue pattern. It worked for me and I didn’t need to take it a step further to the MacPherson and Cameron clan tartans which are in some way related to the Clarks.
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The Clark Tartan: Looks Even Better After a McEwan's Ale
There was a lot of music going on at this place. Harps, fiddles and of course bagpipes. Lots of bagpipes. If you’re the kind of person who gets annoyed by just a couple of bagpipes you’d want to steer clear of the groups of twenty of them and go get a traditional Scottish meat pie. Which were quite good, by the way.
The “games” mentioned in the name of this event including piping, drumming, dancing and athletics. You’ve probably at some point seen pictures or videos of some muscle-bound Scot in a kilt tossing a large telephone pole-like object. That’s called the caber toss and they were doing that, too.
The highlight of the day for Katie was the inflatable wading pool filled with soapy water that one can use with a bubble wand to float some impressive bubbles. She elected to be a human bubble wand, however, requiring a complete change of clothes prior to exiting the grounds.
There was a lot of music going on at this place. Harps, fiddles and of course bagpipes. Lots of bagpipes. If you’re the kind of person who gets annoyed by just a couple of bagpipes you’d want to steer clear of the groups of twenty of them and go get a traditional Scottish meat pie. Which were quite good, by the way.
The “games” mentioned in the name of this event including piping, drumming, dancing and athletics. You’ve probably at some point seen pictures or videos of some muscle-bound Scot in a kilt tossing a large telephone pole-like object. That’s called the caber toss and they were doing that, too.
The highlight of the day for Katie was the inflatable wading pool filled with soapy water that one can use with a bubble wand to float some impressive bubbles. She elected to be a human bubble wand, however, requiring a complete change of clothes prior to exiting the grounds.
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Stephanie, Jim, and Katie at The Highland Games
As we walked back to the car, I realized that I never was able to answer the most important question of all: do they actually wear anything underneath those kilts?
Come to think of it, I’ll let the experts try and answer that one.
As we walked back to the car, I realized that I never was able to answer the most important question of all: do they actually wear anything underneath those kilts?
Come to think of it, I’ll let the experts try and answer that one.
When I worked the Scott's bookstore booth at the Games a few years ago, we took care to stock up on tartan histories, Scotland tour guides, coffee table books about the gaelic world -- and what we actually sold were paperbacks like "My Wicked Highlander" (we called them 'tartan-rippers' instead of 'bodice-rippers').
ReplyDeleteI suppose that Willie, the school janitor on "The Simpsons" would be a tartan ripper. He does have those six-pack abs that he reveals every now and again.
ReplyDeleteThe only bookstore booth at the games this year (that we saw anyway) was Michael's from Grand Avenue in Bellingham. I chatted with him (Michael, I presume) for a couple of minutes. He seemed to have a pretty good assortment of relevant used books there.
BowlingJoe, I was really getting worried as I saw the Clark Tartan, and was sure you were going to say you bought a kilt -- a thought only slightly less scary than you in a thong.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you didn't stop with the meat pie though and went straight for the haggis, tatties, and neeps. Mmm Mmm good! ...and a wee dram of the water of life...and a little Robbie Burns bringin' a tear to your eye, with an ode to a wee sleekest timorous beastie -- or some such!
cvow, they didn't sell any "Clark" kilts (or thongs for that matter) there, so society dodged that bullet. Didn't find any haggis either, although we probably could have if we looked harder.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing: please refrain in the future from using the phrase "tatties and neeps". This is a family blog, after all.
Great pictures and a fun blog to read! Will miss you at the Enumclaw games, but promise to eat a meat pie and raise a glass of McEwan's to you and the wife.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to find the Clark clan and stop by their table for you.
Thanks, StephMcBoo. As I type this I'm sure that you and your family are preparing for a hot day at the big festival. And remember, if you find a Clark tartan thong for sale you have my expressed permission to buy it, and I'll gladly reimburse you.
ReplyDeleteBowlingJoe