Portland Highland Games - pictures

close up of tent arrangement

Kate helping someone at the tent

 

 

Tammy Soto

Kate taking a break

Portland Highland Games

 

The Portland Games were awesome this year! The day went by so fast...with so many old and new folks dropping by our tent. The morning started off rather damp and cold and ended sunny and very warm.

Thank you to all who stopped by, if you signed our sheet your formal thank you letters will find their way to you this week. We signed up 2 new members yesterday and have quite a few that are interested in membership that got more information from us. You are the ones that make this a joy to participate in. We also had a former member or two stop in, who are interested in rejoining! We are looking forward to serving you again.

A big shout out goes to Tammy Soto and her family that helped in the tent, we really appreciate the help! It gets tough trying to handle it all ourselves, so ALL help is worth its weight in gold. Corbin Bingham, Tammy's son-in-law, and Ivan MacKillip, our new State Chaplain, and I had a delightful conversation when we found out we were all book & movie geeks and Joss Whedon fans...you can imagine that conversation! I found out that Ivan is a Sean Bean fan...those who know me, know that he is my favorite actor and Ivan and I had an enjoyable discussion about our shared joy in the Sharp series, among other favorites. Ivan also gave me some information about the only kilted regiment in the civil war...the 79th NY State Militia...which I will be doing research on...and reporting back to you about.

Tammy's niece's fiance, Justin Jefferson, discovered that he is also a Donald and is looking forward to becoming a member...he would have joined yesterday...but he spent his money on a Donald kilt...money well spent, we think! He is also talking about getting the clan crest as his next tattoo...love it!

The only downside to the day was that we forgot our camera...so we do not have a bunch of pictures to share...we did manage to get a few with my cell phone though...I will post them tomorrow, but I am not sure of the quality of them yet.

We had a nice turn out for marching in the Parade of Clans, lifetime member Alan Bonny carried the Commissioners flag, Ivan carried the Clan name, plus we had Frank Cross and his daughter, Morgan...who has recently become engaged, with us. Also with us was new member, David McDaniel, who did the kilted run after the parade...I didn't get to hear how that went for him...hope he did well!

We could hear the athletics announcer from our tent although we couldn't see the actual events...someone broke the world record by 15 feet...not sure for which event...but the announcer was over the moon! And congrats to whoever did the deed!

All of this is just the highlights that I can remember...
Thank you again to all who participated and to all those to came by the tent!

Kate

Athena - more pictures

Clan MacGregor

Clan Hope

Clan Donald - with our new banner

Clan Anderson

Clan row

                          The most beautiful park ever!

Athena - pictures

                                          Roughing it

The High school Pipe band and dancers

Keep your eye on the middle one - she'll put you in a novel!

Wally McDonald- former Oregon Commissioner

Dan McDonald and family

Rick and Linda - Clan McBean

Duncan and Mary with kid - Clan Anderson

Clan Turnbull

 

 

Athena - Caledonian Games

We just love Athena! Alas, we did not make it out there last year, so we tried doubly hard this year to make it. Even though I was exhausted with getting the last issue of the Signal out the door, and making jam plus all the usual duties with our Adult Foster Care home.

We had a very enjoyable time visiting with the locals, who are extremely friendly. The park is a real beauty and the weather was very comfortable. The pool in the park we learned was built in 1914 and only costs a dollar a day to swim...it's where I would be daily if I lived there!

This event may be the longest running Games in Oregon...begun in the 1890's it ran yearly until the 1940's when it stopped due to World War 2. It was restarted in 1976 and has been a going concern ever since.

We made lots of new friends and most important, got to catch up with old ones. Clan Anderson is always grand to be around...I hope we got pictures of the 3 week old kid (baby goat) they had with them. Rick and Linda of Clan McBean, you guys are awesome! Thanks again for the metal coffee pot! Dan McDonald and family dropped by and captivated us with their tales surrounding their trip to Scotland and getting to meet Lord Godfrey MacDonald on Skye. We are hoping they will share their story and pictures for us to pass on to all of the clan.

We camped in the park this year and I am getting too old to sleep with out a air mattress...I hurt! I will post pictures and (fingers crossed) videos over the next few days...right now, I am going to get some well deserved rest...

Kate

Oregon's oldest convener

Meet Edna McDonald, who is halfway to her 101st birthday this coming December!

Edna is a convener for the Redmond, OR area, which is home to the High Desert Highland Games. She is a convener from November thru April for us, pretty good for 100 years old!

We are looking forward to spending time with her at the Games this year.

Kate