My friend Anne’s son was scheduled to compete in the Highland Athletic Games at the Eighteenth Annual Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival held at Look Park today, so of course we had to attend. We arrived in Northampton around mid-morning and made our away over to where the festivities were in full swing.  The program provided a bit of background on the organization:  Glasgow Lands is a non-profit group whose mission is to donate funds to other non-profit organizations, provide scholarships for dancers and pipers, and promote the Scottish culture. The Festival itself was first held in Blandford, Mass in 1994 (the town’s original name was New Glasgow) and was so successful that it became an annual event.  It was held in Blandford through 1998, in Westfield from 1999 through 2003, and in Northampton since 2004.

We quickly found the animal exhibits, vendor booths, the Celtic Pub near the entertainment stage, and plenty of festival goers in full Highland dress. At 11:30 we happened to be near the Parade Field where the Opening Ceremonies were held. We listened to the national anthems of Canada and the United States and then witnessed the Calling of the Clans. I enjoyed hearing the bagpipes and watching some of the dancers perform the Highland Fling.

There wasn’t much for me to eat for lunch, as most of the Scottish specialties include meat, but even my omnivore friend wouldn’t try the haggis (good choice). I was content to partake of the French fries, and I’m also a big fan of shortbread. By noon it was quite hot, so we took our drinks and meandered back to the Athletics Field, the venue for the Highland Athletic Games, and searched for some shade in which to sit and watch the afternoon events.

The morning events included the Stone Throw, in which the athletes throw a 20 pound stone like a shot put, and the Weight for Distance, in which the 28 or 56 pound weight is thrown with one hand. After the lunch break, the athletes competed in the Caber Toss, in which a long, tapered pole is held vertically by the small end and tossed over end to end, and in the Weight Over Bar, in which a 42 or 56 pound weight is thrown from between the knees backward over a horizontal bar.  Women also participate in these events; they use lighter weights, such as 28 pounds for this last event.  These athletic contests date back to the fifteenth century: the strongest individuals won positions in the military or as bodyguards.  Today, the games are regulated by regional, national, and international bodies, though amateur athletes are certainly welcome at the local level.

I tried taking “action” photos of some of the athletic feats, but as you know, I’m not a good photographer, and my camera isn’t fast enough to capture motion very well.  Here are my best attempts, in gallery format.  You can click on each thumbnail to view a larger image; to view the next photo, use your browser “back” button.

Although the Weather Channel predicted that the high today would be around 15 degrees, the sun shone brightly in a cloudless blue sky all morning, and shortly after lunch, I felt compelled to venture outside.  So I stuffed my cross-country skis, poles, and boots into my car and drove a bit over a mile to Brookfield Orchards.  Many years ago, the Orchard groomed cross-country ski trails, and although they no longer cut tracks for skiers, I thought they might allow me to go out on their land.  I checked at the Country Store, and they said, “Sure, you’re welcome to ski here.”

Last week when this blizzard dumped almost two feet of snow on New England, I was shivering in South Texas and didn’t really have a sense of how much snow fell on my hometown.  Well, there is still a lot of the white stuff, perhaps because the temperatures haven’t risen enough to melt much of it.

I cut this track going downhill from the picnic area:

On the north side of Lincoln Street, I could see another skier’s tracks:

These look to me like snowshoe tracks:

This photo should indicate that I really am in an orchard.

My older sister and brother-in-law gave me these cross-country skis for Christmas in 1977, which means I’ve owned them for over thirty-three years.  They are Fisher fiberglass skis which need to be waxed.  Today I chose green, and half-way through my outing, I stopped to re-wax with blue under my boots.  I’m not sure those were the right colors, but I don’t think I did that badly, considering that I ski once every ten years or so.  And what a great time I had!

Now let us take a moment to remember the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr, in whose honor we are enjoying a holiday today.  On the CBS Evening News tonight, I watched an interesting segment describing Dr King’s two summers working in the tobacco fields of the Connecticut River Valley; I don’t think I even knew he was associated with Simsbury, Connecticut.