I Spy.......

I’m preparing for a weekend of weak knees and lots of drool. No, I’m not getting a root canal first thing Saturday morning. No siree, ladies, I’m getting ready to be the first in line at the gates of the fairgrounds for the Annual Scottish Highland Games and Celtic Festival. My mouth is watering just thinking about all of those men in the kilt. Never been to a festival such as this before? Well let me share a thought or two so that you can judge for yourself whether or not this is the thing for you.

A few hundred men dressed in the kilt indicating their clan or sett by their tartan or “colors”. Now heed me well, a kilt is NOT a skirt. A kilt is a manly-man form of outwear with not much underwear included. A kilt actually comes in different forms such as a great kilt or a pleated kilt. Does it really matter which one a man wears so well as he wears it well? (Who needs Dr. Seuss?) What was I saying? Oh yes, a man and his kilt is a beautiful thing, especially on a windy day. But alas, my friends, we don’t need a “stiff” breeze to brighten our day; we just need to sit our happy bottoms on a blanket in the grass that surrounds the field of athletic competition.

For those that have never had the privilege of experiencing the athleticism of our Celtic men, here are a few of the events taking place this Saturday:

The Tossing of the Caber – A caber is a 16 – 20 foot long log tossed end over end. Yes ladies, the bonny lads bend down to grasp the end of their post, balance it for leverage and heave that pole of theirs with the hopes of it landing perfectly aligned at “twelve o’clock”.

The Hammer Throw – Metal ball attached to a pole weighing 16 pounds or 22 pounds depending on whether or not they’re a heavyweight or light-man. They will start off s-l-o-w-l-y, spinning faster and faster to gain momentum then TOSS that hammer with everything they got.

We also have The Weight for Height Toss, The Weight for Distance Toss, and The Sheaf Toss – all of these events involve swinging and swaying to gather force and ending with the release of their piece of equipment throwing with all of their might be it straight up or straight out; who cares?!?!


What is a sheaf, you ask? Really girls, who cares when this is the view we get? With all of the bending down and spinning around you will soon become an expert on how a kilt is “properly” worn. Thank goodness they serve up cold beverages early ‘cause it’s gonna take a lot to cool my ass down! Those cold beverages one consumes are also helpful when one wants to take a guilt-free stroll through the vendors and artisans. I tend to buy A LOT of hand-crafted jewelry this time of year.



(A sheaf is a burlap bag filled with hay that weighs 16 – 20 pounds and is tossed over a bar with a pitchfork. The highest toss wins.)