Saturday, May 5, 2012

Sons and Daughters of Scotland

My wife and I went out to the North Texas Scottish Festival today, at the University of Texas - Arlington.  We spent about 3 hours out there before the heat began to take its toll.  It runs through 6pm Sunday the 6th and I highly recommend checking it out.  There is a great combination of bands, dancing, shopping, eating and my favorite, the Highland Games. 

 I don't care what people say.  I think bagpipes sound great.  The combination of the pipes and drums can not be beaten.  I also think that there is nothing more Scottish than this sound.

What I was looking for in the picture below was to show the movement of the mallets of the drummer in the foreground.  The movement was amazing.  He is very good at his craft.


The picture at the left of the fiddler is a band that came on stage as we were watching some of the games.  The fiddler was quite good and really got into the show.  We really enjoyed the couple of songs that we heard them play.









There was a lot of good food there.  I personally had a meat pie, which is about 3 1/2 inches in diameter and is similar to a chicken pot pie.  It is stuffed with spiced ground meat and some onions.  It is very light and very delicious.  My wife had shepherds pie, which is similar to what I had, but hers was topped with mashed potatoes.  There was also Scottish and Irish Stew and lots of Scottish inspired beers.


The Highland Games are what I really wanted to see.  These consisted of the Hammer Throw, the Caber Toss, a Kettle Bell Toss and an event similar to the shot put, but with a large stone.  Throughout the weekend, there were going to be competitions for all age groups and this is very fun to watch.  The big photographic element here is a fast shutter speed to freeze the action.  Luckily, it was bright and sunny out, so I could almost max out my shutter speed.







So that's it for today.  A fun day over all.  I got to see some culture, see some sport, eat some good food and of course, pull my camera out and shoot.  I hope you get to take some pictures of the "super moon" tonight (5/5/12).  It is supposed to be 14% larger than usual tonight.  Here is my shot.



Until next time...

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