Thursday, October 24, 2013

Address to a Haggis - by Robert Burns

 

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

All Clans Fall Banquet - Photos by Bob Boudreau

A view of the Silent Auction tables

Blue Cloud Celtic - Awesome band!

Armadale Cake

The singing of the Anthems and Toasts

Bonny Knee Judges

C Fred MacDonald having his knees judged

The lovely table set up

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

All Clans Fall Banquet - Blurb

I just uploaded photos from this year's All Clans Fall Banquet, hope you enjoy them! I will be posting some photos that were sent to me by Bob Bourdeau, the Regional Membership Chair...I heard that he even got video of Larry Hollums doing Robert Burn's Address to the Haggis. Maybe I can cage a copy for posting here...Larry does an awesome job! I did get one rather dark photo of him during the address, I will post it along with the poem in a day or so.

Kate

All Clans Fall Banquet

Mary MacDonald, NPR Regional Commissioner
Den Jenkins & Erik Martin manning the sign in table
Christmas table with ornaments for sale
The silent auction tables
Beautiful table settings
Such a grand hall
June Thompson, C. Fred MacDonald & Mary MacDonald

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

New State Chaplain



Meet our new State Chaplain, Ivan MacKillip. Ivan has been a Eugene Convener for us for several years and a member on Clan Donald for even longer. We are quite pleased that he has accepted this new role with the clan. Look for an occasional post from him here on the blog...he has a lot of clan knowledge and is an all around great guy. If you would like to contact him, you can find his contact information on the Officers page here on the blog and in the 'Signal'.