The Keebler Elf and the Unicorn Princess. |
Last weekend, the Princess of Unicorns and her father, the Keebler Elf, arrived in Austin to join us at the Celtic Festival, and a weekend of hilarity, cupcakes, and Irish accents ensued.
Yes, the Unicorn Princess runs on cupcakes. I had no idea. Okay, I had some idea, but didn't realise how serious it was until she got out of the car and immediately asked for the nearest cupcakes. Good news: We found some. And they were fabulous.
This past weekend was one of those that strikes every city from time to time: There were so many events crammed into two days, you'd think we were never getting another weekend. I can only suppose this was because there was no home game on Saturday, so downtown was free for other stuff? Anyway, Chad's job had a bazaar in the morning, which he and our mythical guests went to, and I was volunteering for UT, because I screwed up the date in my planner when I signed up. Oops!
Yes, I took this pic of Scotland flags outside of Scotland with much joy and gladness. |
I took this pic because of their kilts; it turned out that this couple was in the highland games. Yes, both of them. |
I enjoyed the vendor tents as much as anything else: Some brilliant stuff turns up at these events. There was one tent with bumper stickers (England Forever. Scotland just a bit longer.) and t-shirts ("If you can read this, I found your ring" in the Mordor font) and other things that I wanted to purchase, but I refrained.
I believe the owner said these are Irish Wolf Hounds. They would be bigger than me on their hind legs, as you can plainly see. |
I talked a couple of little boys into trying some haggis at the Scottish food booth. I saw this t-shirt a few times: "It's a kilt. If I were wearing anything under it, then it would be a skirt." Hee hee hee. I was (unfortunately) in a position to notice during the highland games that all of the gentlemen participating were wearing something under their kilts. I'm guessing this was to satisfy some sort of local ordinance; however much Austin may be like Glasgow, it is not, in fact, Glasgow.
Fun merchandise. |
So, the Highland Games! Because of timing issues, the only part we saw was the caber toss, although that was pretty darned exciting by itself. The video is of a successful toss; I recorded multiple unsuccessful attempts before this one, and then of course there was a succession of perfect tosses after I stopped recording. But you get the picture. The caber must go end-over-end; for it to be perfect, it must be in the "12 o'clock" position when it is upright. One man managed three 12 o'clocks, and there was a three-way tie for second place; those three men each had two 12 o'clocks and one that was either 11:50 or 12:10. So, they brought out a larger caber for the tiebreak.
The larger caber. He had lost control of it and basically dropped it. |
Another unsuccessful toss, but this time without the fence blocking your view. |
At the Gypsy festival. |
Told you the crowds were crazy. |
We didn't stick around long enough to see them light up the glowy things. |
At the end of the weekend, the Keebler elf and the Princess of Unicorns had to return to Lubbock, alas. It was such fun having them here, and I am totally plotting our glorious return to the Celtic festival in 2011!
3 comments:
Fascinating post! I would have loved to have been there.
What a glorious time you had. Loved reading about it. Good pics to go also..:)
It was glorious! :) This is another one I wish we could have more often... Austin needs to just alternate months with book festivals and Celtic festivals. Of course, I'd never get anything done...
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