Saturday, May 9, 2009

Scottish fair

Let's just start the post with a picture of my beautiful Scottish niece. Isn't she so cute? The Scottish people in the family are the ones who inspired this trip to the fair today. Without them I would not know what a caber is and I would never have seen my brothers in kilts.
Did you know that every year there is a Scottish Fair about 20minutes from our house? Today was our second year going to this event. It is a fun place to learn about all things that are Scottish. Today we started at the Caber toss. That is the Scottish sport of throwing heavy telephone poles up into the air and trying to get them to flip around. All while wearing a kilt.
Here are some fun facts for you. The caber is a tree trunk that has been trimmed so that one end is slightly wider than the other. They vary in length from 16-22 feet and weigh between 100 and 180 pounds.
A perfect toss lands in a twelve o'clock position from the tosser.
This picture just makes me laugh for many reasons..thank goodness he seems to be wearing something under the kilt for the games.
They had an area for the kids to give the caber toss a try.
The funny thing was the kid's caber toss was in the same small area as the kids golfing. Those two sports were not meant to be played in the same area.
They did a good job. Ry might even be ready for a solid one.
I think Emily's toss was a perfect 12 o'clock toss.
Andrew had some balancing issues with this big caber.

Another fun thing to do at the fair is watch the dogs work the animals. They do a good job of keeping track of their herd.
As a mother of more than one child I can appreciate this talent.
The dogs are beautiful and focused.

Throughout the entire day there are bag pipe bands playing.
The music is cool and it is fun to watch them march around in their kilts.
The music really helped set the theme of the fair.
Not to mention all the random people in kilts..this guy was funny to me. Long hair, leather biker jacket and a kilt is a funny combination.
We ended our time at the fair with a visit to the "hee-land coos." Here is one more fact for you.
"Hee-land coos" are one of the oldest known cattle breeds. Records of the breed date back as far as the 12th Century and there is archaeological evidence of them from the 6th century. Give me a brochure and look what happens : )

4 comments:

Louise said...

Awesome post!! I love that picture of the guy with his kilt stuck in the caber! I'm just going to write something brief and send my family over here for this one... you totally win! ;-)

Scrappycook said...

I had no idea - we'll have to try and go next year. It looks like fun!

Diane said...

That looks fun. I work with a woman from Scotland. She might like to know about this. Where is it located?

Cathy said...

Diane...It is held at the Dakota County Fair grounds. It is really a fun place to go...I am sure she would enjoy this fair!