Saturday, April 13

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to the Scottish Festival. We wanted to be there around 9 a.m., so we'd have plenty of time for judging the clans.

We arrived at the college shortly after 9 a.m., and were allowed to drive the van close to the festival site, which is handicap accessible. She and I began touring the festival, while Hubbie parked the van in the patron parking lot, which is also close to the festival site, but has steps, and no wheelchair ramp, up to the grounds.

Hubbie's and my job was to observe and judge the eighteen exhibit booths and vendors for attire, decorations, hospitality, participation, passport (how they related to children), handouts, creativity, and sign-up sheets. We gave the top award to a vendor who made it a point to come out of his booth to talk to us. He had a pair of friendly cairn terriers, and he knelt down beside Mother's wheelchair, so she could pet them. For this kind act, we gave him bonus points. The booth received other high marks for authentic attire, how well the booth was decorated, etc.

Another high-point booth scored for how well they related to children. Everytime we passed the booth, there was a group of children happily involved in an activity the vendors provided. The booth was also well decorated, and was creative in using large framed clan list, maps, flags, etc.

We took our time judging the booths, and when we were done, we went to the library to tally the points, and relax for a few minutes, since we'd been on our feet for a couple of hours.

Once we'd discharged our duty, we were free to enjoy the festival that included a quintathlon, a part of which involved a foot race...teams of three (two males and a female, or two females and a male) had to race with one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them. I had to laugh when the judge for this event said that a young girl, the lead for her team, complained that their team lost because the two boys behind her held her back.

There were also Highland dance demonstrations, a dog show (which we missed), a dance team from a local school, a parade of bands and clans, and bagpipe competitions (missed this, too). There was also sheepdog demonstrations earlier this morning that we missed, but it's scheduled again for tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Maybe we can go to that one.

A local school dance team performed, and they were cute. There were lots of exhibit booths offering everything from Scottish baked goods (we bought a couple of cakes here...one dark chocolate, and one rum and lemon (neither containing food dyes), to Scottish weaponry, to kilts and other attire, to t-shirts, and other clothing. At one booth, a Peruvian woman sold Alpaca wool garments, including beautiful capes. Hubbie bought one for me.

There was also a British car show, and musical performances, as well as a children's area with bounce houses and activities tables. Naturally, there was no shortage of food booths, and since we were still there at noon, we went in search of a bite.

Hubbie decided that we should forgo the high price food vendors in favor of visiting the student union cafeteria across campus. Turned out, it was closed, so we went downstairs to the bistro. Didn't see anything we wanted there, so after availing ourselves of the restrooms, we trekked back to the food vendors.

Hubbie stayed with Mother, while I purused the available food. We thought we might sample the Scottish pot pies, but when I saw the $7 price, I passed on those and returned to where Hubbie and Mother were. We decided that Mother, who was getting really hungry by now, would like a corn dog, and Hubbie went to fetch it. He had to stand in line endlessly, and when he returned, he had a regular hot dog on a dry bun...no condiments. I asked why he had bought that, when we specifically ordered a corn dog? Well, the corn dogs were huge, and he figured she'd rather have the small hot dog. No, that's not what she wanted. So he had to go stand in line again.

While Mother enjoyed her corn dog, Hubbie went to another vendor to buy hamburgers for us. While he was gone, I went to the baked goods booth and bought a small apple pie for him, and a large shortbread cookie with fudge center for Mother and me.

If we attend the festival again next year, I'm going to pack a picnic lunch for us. It'd not only save money, but it'd also save a lot of time.

After lunch, we toured the grounds again, visiting booths we hadn't seen this morning, and I snapped photos of whatever appealed to me...folks in colorful attire, signs, dogs, etc. There were a number of Scottish dog breeds at the show (some of which wore clan tartans), including Skye Terriers, Cairn Terriers, and Scottish Terriers, as well as a couple of beautiful Irish Wolfhounds.

We were plenty tuckered out by 3 p.m., and ready to come home. Except for the few minutes we spent in the library, Hubbie and I had been on our feet for six hours. At home, we relaxed, of course, until time for me to put supper on the table. Supper was potato soup, and a choice of egg salad/tuna salad sandwiches. Mother, who hadn't been able to eat all of her corndog at lunch, decided to finish that for supper.

Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward, and then he and I watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Re: weather today...it changed several times in the course of a few hours. Started out quite chilly, but then the sun came out and it warmed nicely. Then it got cloudy, windy, and chilly again, and it began sprinkling rain. Then the sun came out again, and the temperature rose rapidly. Obviously, we are not only having spring, then winter, then spring, then winter in a single month, but we're having it in a single day, now!