I then passed the camera to Amanda and told her to snap a picture
of him - hoo dee hoo! He laughed and wished us luck, and we were on our way.
Once in Canada we passed lots of antique shops, but we didn't stop as that was not
part of our plan. We also passed an inordinate amount of donut shops - donut eating
appears to be a national obsession with our northern neighbors!!! Bob and Doug Mackenzie
didn't exaggerate!!! There was a Tim Horton Donut Shop on every block - some intersections
had more than one donut shop!!! We went into a Tim Horton Donut Shop because I wanted
to know who the heck this man with the ubiquitous name was - the girl working the
cash register did not know!!! One of the other customers was able to tell me, though
- it seems he was a big deal hockey player with a thing for donuts!!! His donut shops
are as prevalent in Canada as McDonald'ses are here in the States. It is bizarre!
I must say, though, that I was not particularly impressed with the donuts there -
just regular donuts, nothing to crave, as far as I am concerned - and they hardly
put any cream cheese on the bagels!!!
We found our B&B in Guelph (next to Fergus) with little difficulty. Rusty had
set up the reservations with a bit of research on the internet and various phone
calls north. The London House B&B turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL historic home
with lots of quaint gingerbread trim, lovely antiques, and charming Victorian decor.
The grounds are covered in gorgeous flora - bushes, clambering vines, trellises,
riotous flower beds, etc. The owners are a very nice family - the parents, a cute
couple, Melanie and Andy McLennan, are both 'pipers. Carlyn and Rusty and I had a
conversation with Andy the night we got there - Carlyn takes bagpipe lessons, so
she was asking him about how long he had been playing. Melanie told us later that
Andy had told her that I *looked* like I'd make a great highland dancer (this was
before he knew I was one of the guests who was in Fergus to compete) as I had the
right figure for it - I was very flattered! Our stay there was wonderful - we were
very comfortable, the host and hostess were lovely, friendly people - as were all
the Canadians we met - and the breakfasts were delicious - homemade banana bread,
French toast sprinkled in cornflakes, eggs, toast, jam, fresh fruit salad, etc. It
was also reasonably priced - $60 Canadian per room per night. I HIGHLY recommend
it! It was about 20 minutes from the games in Fergus. Their phone number is 519/824-6874,
for those of you ever planning a trip to Fergus!
Friday night we went to the tattoo to check it out. It was still light out when we
got there, so we walked around the grounds to check it out. The Fergus Games are
EXTREMELY well laid out - very logical and organized. They had a Cape Breton, Nova
Scotia tent with all kinds of great info on Cape Breton, the only living Gaelic community
in North America. I REALLY want to go visit there. It is incredible the amount of
talent that comes out of such a small place - Cape Breton is bursting with musicians
and step dancers - in fact, most of the musicians play several instruments AND step
dance!!! And some of them play music and dance at the SAME time!!! You know that
has got to be an awesome place to go to a ceilidh - no sitting down allowed!!! I
recently learned that Nova Scotia had wanted to join the American colonies in their
rebellion against England, but - unfortunately - there were too many British soldiers
garrisoned in Nova Scotia for them to be able to make the break, which is why Nova
Scotia is still part of the British Dominion of Canada. That is such a shame - America's
loss, certainly.
They had a variety of 'pipe bands and Scottish country dancers and marching bands
performing at the tattoo. At the end they had a really neat thing called "The
Lighting" - you could buy these candles in commemorative holders, and at the
end people in the crowd lit each other's candles while representatives from the various
clans marched with candles on the field around a bonfire symbolizing our connection
to Scotland. They had a solo 'piper playing "Amazing Grace", and then all
the other 'pipers joined in. The whole audience was lit up just by candle light.
It was really cool.
The dance competition began bright and early Saturday morning. It was sponsored by
Schneider's, a huge meat company up there. They treated the dancers well up there,
let me tell you - like princesses. It was awesome! Schneider's sponsored a big breakfast
for all the dancers and their families, and they gave all the dancers free Fergus
Highland Games tote bags - pretty cool! Plus they paid for a professional photographer
(he was cute!) to take individual pix of ALL the dancers which they then gave us
for FREE framed in a tartan Fergus Highland Games mat - is that not killer?! Let
me tell you - I have NEVER seen anything like that done at a Scottish festival here
in the States!!! Schneider's hot dogs and hamburgers are REALLY good, too, by the
way! And I am NOT just saying that because they were so nice to the dancers - they
really are yummy!
My morning started off very traumatically - as I was getting dressed to compete,
I realized I did not have my dance bloomers anywhere with me - you put those on over
your knickers so you don't flash anyone when your kilt flips as you dance - you know,
like cheerleaders wear under their skirts. I was freaking out - I was about to die
- I was contemplaiting not competing, even!!! All the judges were female, and I knew
they wouldn't appreciate the view!!! Plus my sense of modesty was outraged - there
was no way I was going to dance without bloomers in front of an audience!!! But I
was !@#$%^&* if I was going to drive all the way to Canada and NOT compete. It
was too early for any sports shops to be open, and Carlyn didn't have any spare bloomers.
Lord! This was such a quintessential Lynnette predicament with such a typical Lynnette
resolution!!! I told one of the ladies in charge of the dancers about my emergency.
She started laughing and said that one of the vendors catered to the dancers and
would surely have some. So then Amanda and I went on a mission to track that vendor
down. We stopped at every vendor with a woman working and I asked about dance bloomers
- we were over halfway through the vendors with no luck at all, so I got over my
dignity and started asking the men, too!!! Half of them thought I meant I didn't
have any underwear with me - talk about embarrassing! I must have been the talk of
the vending lane!!! Well, I asked at every vendor, and NO ONE carried them. I was
dejected and in a panic. We walked back to the dancing area, and I noticed a crowd
around a tent. Lots of the dancers and dance schools bring their own tents, so I
didn't get my hopes up too much, but I still had this urge to check JUST IN CASE
it was a vendor. IT WAS!!! But when I asked for bloomers all she said she had were
panties and trunks. My hopes plummeted again. But I asked to see what she meant just
in case - the panties were underwear, but lo and behold the trunks were bloomers!!!
I was SO happy!!! I started jumping up and down and practically kissed the lady!
So all's well that ends well!!!
I competed in 3 highland dances Saturday, but, unfortunately, did not place in any
of them - very disappointing. Against my teacher's advice, I decided to do a more
difficult step in the Highland Fling than the simple ones that I know like the back
of my hand. I should have listened to her, because I usually place well in the Fling,
and this time I didn't, even though Amanda and Rusty said it looked killer. See,
judges don't give you bonus points for more difficult steps, and they don't count
off for simple steps. Everyone starts with a hundred points, and the judges take
off as they see mistakes. So you are better off doing a perfect job with simple steps
than being non-perfect at fancier steps. Oh, well! I touched my sword in the Sword
Dance, and I was wobbly in the Sean Triubhs. Carlyn did well - she got a third and
a sixth out of a large group. They gave BIG medals for 1st - 3rd. That was her best
performance all summer, so I was happy for her.
I noticed a camera guy walking around - as in movie camera - with his equipment checking
out all the dancers. After I finished competing I was heading to get some juice when
I saw him out of the corner of my eye heading my way. He asked me if I would be interested
in being filmed for a TV show!!! Vanity conquered shyness, so I said, "Sure!"
He took me over to a clear area, and he and his assistant filmed me posing and dancing.
It was for a children's show called GO FIGURE! They show people in various costumes
and uniforms, and the kids are supposed to guess from the clues what the people are.
So I may not have pleased the judges that day, but I was the only one of the 500
dancers there that got filmed for TV, so I don't feel so badly! I also found out
later that I had been photographed competing for the cover of the local newpaper,
which was totally cool as well!
The rest of the day we hung out in the pub tent - where they served nothing but horrible
Molson beer - and met a lot of nice people and had fun watching our friends/acquaintances
Seven Nations and Hadrian's Wall play. That night we came back for a concert in the
pub tent with the same two excellent Celtic rock bands. It was a lot of fun - people
were getting rowdy and dancing, and Amanda and I got up and did some Irish step dancing,
despite all the rocks. I had to dance barefoot, as I was in flip flops, so it was
an exercise in masochism for me to keep jumping up and down on those rocks, but the
desire to dance was stronger than the desire to avoid pain!!! Those Canadians really
cut loose, let me tell you - they were a lot of fun to party with - some of them
were really crazy, dancing like lunatics and lifting *their own* kilts and what not!!!
Especially this wild man named "Rooster", presumably for his red hair -
too funny!
We had dance competition bright and early again Sunday morning. I got a fourth in
the Scottish Lilt, the only dance I did that day, so I was content. Carlyn got another
third. Schneider's very thoughtfully provided quite a hottie - he really did justice
to his kilt, let me tell ya!!! - to hand out the awards. Amanda dared me to wink
at him when I accepted my award, but I totally zoned - lost opportunity - oh, well!!!
Then we went to the Celtic rock concert on the main field. It was FANTASTIC!!! Best
concert I have ever been to at ANY festival. We saw Jennifer Roland, a fiddler/step
dancer from Cape Breton - she was great! Then Hadrian's Wall played - they are a
lot of fun, and we had a blast getting our friend Scott to do goofy dances with us
while he was on stage playing! Next we saw a group called Slainte Mhath - they were
OUTSTANDING!!! They are a group of youngins (2 girls, 3 boys) from Cape Breton who
are incredibly talented - they had all kinds of instruments going, and, at the end,
the girls and two of the boys got out there and step danced while the 3rd boy played
'pipes. It was EXCELLENT!!! They were so good - I loved them! I got their cd, but
it is an ep, and only 4 of the 5 kids are on it - hopefully they will have a full
length cd with all of them on it coming out soon. And the boy playing fiddle was
quite a looker - too bad he is under age!!! Anyhow, after them the Barra McNeils
(older siblings of some of the kids in Slainte Mhath) played - they were very good.
Next up was Scruj Macdhuk - I was a bit apprehensive about them due to not only their
name but also their fashion sense - the fiddler looked like a dead head hippie type,
and 2 of the other guys were dressed in a way I cannot even put words to. Well, they
were fantastic - the fiddler was great, and the girl in the group had a beautiful
voice. I really liked them. At this point, disaster struck - the sky opened up and
poured down on us. Keep in mind that all weekend long we had been getting sunburned
in sweltering heat. Now we were caught in a downpour. I was soaking wet and freezing
in my sundress and had to buy a sweatshirt to cover me up. It ruined the concert
- Seven Nations and the other band that was supposed to go on did not play. Some
of the performers had some sing along thing instead for those of us left, which was
VERY nice of them...it just wasn't my cup of tea.
At this point we put our soggy selves in the car and headed to a pub called the Highlander
in Fergus. I had it on good authority that they served Guinness there, so we were
up for dinner and a pint...or two!!! The town of Fergus was really cool -I loved
how the entire town participated in the Scottish festival with parades, tartan pancake
breakfasts, rampant lion flags all down main street, and tartan banners swagged across
the bridge in town. We easily found the Highlander. Rusty and I got ourselves some
cool t-shirts (been there, done that!), and then we ordered dinner - the Shepherd's
Pie was great! The Guinness was lovely - they know how to pull a pint properly there,
I must say! And the owners - the McLaughlin siblings - were EXTREMELY nice and friendly.
We had a great time talking with them over pints. There are also rooms at the Highlander,
but they were booked when Rusty was looking for accomodations - I guess you have
to make your arangements fairly early. But it would also be a great place to stay
- or to eat and/or drink - for anyone visiting Fergus. The number there is 519/843-3115.
They have group rates.
Even with the downpour cutting things short, I must say that the Fergus Highland
Games are THE BEST games I have EVER been to - and I go to TONS of Games up and down
the east coast here in the States. They treat their participants very well, they
are organized, they are friendly, and they have an incredible slate of performers
- the Cape Bretoners alone made the trip worthwhile! In addition to the tattoo and
the concerts and the competitions and clans that you would expect from a Highland
Games, they also had a lot of neat additions - drama, rugby, author appearances,
workshops, women's athletics, and even a "battle of the clans" golf tournament!!!
My only suggestion of things to change is to get some darker beers there - if not
Guinness then at least McEwans. Just because Molson is a sponsor doesn't mean they
should have a monopoly on the beer sales. Schneiders wasn't the only meat product
food vendor there, after all. If I could only go to one Scottish festival a year
(boo hoo!), I would choose the Fergus Games hands down. In fact, I am VERY seriously
considering flying to Canada from Dublin next August to go again - hopefully, some
of my family and friends will be able to meet me there...
Well, that is about it for our trip. On the way out of Guelph, we stopped at a cool
mock Tudor pub called the Shakespeare Arms. They had great food, and the waitresses
were super nice to us - even gave us brand new bar towels with the pub name on it
for free. The number there is 519/767-6003...if you are ever in the area! After that
we drove 16 hours straight through - via Niagara Falls for a little sightseeing out
the window! - to arrive home at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning - whew! ROAD TRIP! My first
trip to Canada was excellent - I had a GREAT time! Canada is really cool, and so
are all the Canadians we met. But it is time for me to take off, eh! I have a MILLION
things to do - next weekend we are moving my furniture into storage - so ciao for
now!