Ohio Scottish Games

Yesterday, we traveled to Wellington, Ohio to the county fairgrounds to see the Ohio Scottish Games.

The main reason we went was because my blog friend, Laura, who is from Canada, had let me know that she and her daughter were going to be there so that her daughter could participate in the Highland Dance Competitions.

Laura, her daughter Mae, and me

This is Mae at the tents where they kept their gear stored while the competitions were going on.

Mae is in the back row in this photo waiting her turn to dance.

Mae on the left in blue.

Mae doing the dance of the swords.

This is one of the men who played the bagpipes for the dancers.

These are some of the dancers lined up after the competition during the awards ceremony.  Mae is #415 in the middle.  She received three medals at the morning competitions and three more at the afternoon competitions. She did a fantastic job!  


There were other events at the games too.  There were border collies herding sheep and ducks in competition.  Some beautiful Clydesdale horses were there.  Several Scottish bands and musicians were there.  Men playing bagpipes and wearing traditional Scottish kilts and such were everywhere!  


While I watched the dancing, my husband went to watch some of the field games that the men participated in.  He watched the men throwing heavy weights over a high bar (set up kind of like a pole vault) which I think was called the sheaf toss, but I'm not sure.  There were also men throwing big logs end to end in what is called the caber toss.  This picture shows some of the logs used for that.

He brought me back scones with strawberries and cream when he returned.  Yum!

Some of the other sights to see of the day included the following:

a falconer,

a flower flag

swords on display

I'm not sure what these are.  We thought that perhaps they were target dummies to use swords against that are made to look like the English, but we weren't sure.  I thought they were kind of amusing, whatever they are.

We watched the parade of the clansmen, where each clan sported their tartan plaids and colors.

This burly Scotsman was part of a group that does historical re-enactments.  He looked pretty intimidating, but he was kind enough to pose for a picture with me.

Close to the end of the day we saw the Goodyear Blimp float by overhead.

It was great fun, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet fellow blogger, Laura, and her daughter.

Stepping Off at Six O' Clock

In a small town on a Saturday night,
Who knew?
That so many would think
that the very best thing to do 
would be sitting and watching
the parade go by
from left to right.
We watched but never questioned why.
Riding in chairs on a truck-- 
there goes the city band!
Oh and don't forget
the Spangler's candy tanker 
and the trolley
that came along 
with the Dum-dum sucker man.


Who would have guessed
there are so many kinds of Shriner?
Those riding little cars and little bikes
(One bike lost a chain in front of the diner).


Big men wearing tasseled fez caps,  
and some dressed like clowns
going round and round in twos,
and those on flying carpets
wearing gold hats 
and pointed shoes,
(Well, you know, there's nothing finer!)

Happy Father's Day!

I found this photo of my Dad as a young boy.

I look at this picture and see my younger son's eyes  in my Dad's eyes.  The red hair and freckles seem to have been handed down, as well. This is a photo of my younger son when he was little.

Here are a few more pictures of my Dad and also of my Dad with my Mom.

Happy Father's Day, everyone!

Morning Moment

Morning Moment

Outside in the treetops, the blackbirds chatter--

clacking and clicking like stones striking stones.

Leaf-filtered sunlight slips through the curtains,

dancing on my eyelids-- in flickering tones.

I'm tempted to rise, but resist.  

My bare shoulders are cold.

I pull up the covers and snuggle back under.

I'm saving this moment 

to remember when I'm old.

If You Build It, They Will Come

Some of you who have been reading my blog a while will remember when I posted last September about part of our children's park, the Imagination Station, being burned down by arsonists.  

I'm happy to say that the park is being rebuilt this week and the workers are scheduled to finish the job tomorrow.  Here are some pictures I took last night of the progress that has been made.

I took more pictures tonight after another day's labor was done.  You can see that it is really taking shape now.  They accomplished a lot today.  Much more wood has been added, as well as the green slides.

I'm not sure what this part is going to be yet, but if they finish tomorrow as is planned, I will find out soon enough.  I am so happy to see this being rebuilt.  There are so many children who play on this playground who were upset by the damage done to it.  I'm glad the people of my town care enough about the next generation to know that it was important to make this right again.

*   *   *   *   *

Earlier this week we had some near record breaking high temperatures.  On my walk that evening, I noticed a few of the park buzzards sitting on the ground... 

 instead of up in their tree.

I thought that perhaps it was cooler down on the grass than up in the top of the tree.

I tried to get closer, but I wasn't very successful.  The three were quickly down to just one.

And then in the next instant, it too flew away back to the treetops.