Highland Mist

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Highland Mist is the name of a cheap brand of scotch sold in the US. If you have more than a wee dram, you may see visions like the one above if you drive through Forest Park on a chill autumn evening.

Just more stuff from the Friday night prelude to the Scottish Games. Below, a couple more strutting clan leaders. (I think they are called tribes everywhere else). The gentleman in the bottom picture was one of their number. There's nothing like a bagpipe to aid digestion and promote inner peace. I didn't get his name but his daughter standing with him is Shannon. Not very Scottish, since that's a beautiful, winding river in Ireland. He taught her to play the bagpipes. Was it a paternal curse or blessing?

Scotland The Brave

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Every year about this time a group of local Caledonians sponsors the Scottish Games in Forest Park. Friday night is ceremony and music. Saturday brings out the burly guys tossing the caber, flinging giant stones from chains, tossing bales of hay over a high jump bar with a pitchfork and whatever else one does if you have 18 inch biceps and wear a kilt.

The show on Friday night is the calling of the clans. A representative of each of the clans of Scotland emerges from the mists holding a torch, shouts something fierce about how they stood side-by-side with Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Ballykaboom, kicked proud King Edward of England in the ass and otherwise should not be messed with. Then they stride forward, place their torches in a frame, form a circle and do something that an Irishman like me cannot interpret. It's fun.

Unfortunately, I wont be able to return for the athletic feats today. Got to go to the office for a while and then shoot Dancing In The Street. Then dinner and theater with my wife and daughter. And Taste of St. Louis is going on this weekend. And it's season opening weekend at the St. Louis Symphony, on our calendar for tomorrow afternoon. Whew!

What's A Caber?

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Well, you can toss it, but not like a Frisbee or your cookies. Wikipedia tells us that:

The caber toss is a traditional Scottish athletic event practised at the Scottish Highland Games involving the tossing of a large wooden pole called a caber. It is said to have developed from the need to toss logs across narrow chasms to cross them. In Scotland the caber is usually made from a Larch pine tree. A caber typically is 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) tall and weighs 175 pounds (79 kg).

There were plenty of bulky competitors for this event at the Scottish Games last weekend. The strongman shown here was one of the best. The top picture shows him at the moment of release, the bottom two just before and after. (Thank heavens for burst mode). Ideally, the top of the pole should hit the ground first and the part the contestant was holding should fall forward and away from him. Can't be good for the spine and shoulders but he pulled it off.

Apologies in advance - I'll be leaving few or no comments today and tomorrow. Our hometown heroes, the baseball Cardinals, made the playoffs on the last day of the season. The first series with mighty Philadelphia is tied one game each as play moves to St. Louis. There are games late this afternoon and tomorrow. I plan to attend both and will have little extra time. It will all come back.

This Way Lies Madness

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There is something about bagpipes that can breed insanity: bwaaah BWAAAHHH . . . They curdle the brain with dreams of haggis and dying goats, filling the ears with their mocking, nasal tone. Look at the faces of the people above - his crazed leer, her numbness. And the young man below - well, what more need I say.

That's how they affect me, anyway. (Being of Irish ancestry might have something to do with it.) Public opinion was quite different at the Scottish Games And Cultural Festival in Forest Park last weekend. You could often have two or three groups of them going at the same time (have mercy!). The crowd went wild.

And Now, A Scotsman On A Horse

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I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist the Monty Python reference. There wasn't a horse in sight at the Scottish Games and Festival yesterday. There were knight and warrior wanna-bes, a parade of the clans, the odd bagpiper (they all are) and ancient physical contests in which burly men tossed various heavy objects as far as they could. I believe I heard the armored man in the top and bottom picture scream out Ni! at least once.

Holy &^$@!, There's A Lot To Shoot Around Here

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Some people on the coasts think this is dullsville, flyover country. 'Taint so. There is so much to shoot between now and next weekend I don't know how I'll manage. Taste of St. Louis and the St. Louis Scottish Games started last night. Late Sunday afternoon is the annual blessing of the animals at Christ Church Cathedral. Tuesday night is the How Sweet The Sound church choir competition where I've got a backstage pass. Next Friday Night and Saturday is the Pedal For A Cure, a long, long bike ride to raise funds for cancer research. I'm the volunteer photographer. And next weekend is our small but very enthusiastic Oktoberfest. I should remember this in January when the city is in a frozen sleep.

Some early images: Above, someone representing Hank's Cheese Cake, light as angel's wings, at the Taste, next to a vendor at the Scottish Festival.

Below, ladies dispensing STL's favorite beverage at the Taste. The woman on the right reminds me of Manet's Bar at the Folies Bergères.

Bottom, the Calling of the Clans at the Scottish Games. The speeches were all something like We fought with Robert the Bruce at the battle of somethingorother and carried his heart home in sadness but Scotsmen and women will never submit to tyrrany so love us if you will and hate us if you must but the Mac Gregors are here! Or words to that effect.

Lots more to come.