A Joyous Feast of St. Andrew To You All!

Statue of St. Andrews by Duquesnoy

For a little history on St. Andrew and his connection to Scotland, please refer to my post from November of 2007 in this very blog.

I regret that I have not been able to plan an event to celebrate St. Andrew's Day this year as it has always been my pleasure to do so. Real life is a good thing, therefore, I shall not express any regret with how the complexities of schedules in that realm have interfered with making plans in SL. I must confess, however, to some disappointment when I cannot be as active as I like with you, my friends, in Second Life.

May you all feel the blessings of this day, and know that as individuals and a collective you are in my thoughts.

Slainte!


(a little something for your celebration of the day...)

Address To A Haggis
by Robert Burns.

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 wordy of 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 ye 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 strech an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent like drums;
Then 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 sconner,
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' bluidy 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!

The Latest in Winter Sports

It just doesn't get much sillier than this.

Last evening found me working on setting up a few more things for the St. Andrew's Day Celebration....well....I only actually got the Caber Toss set up near the Loch after I put a haggis on to boil in the outdoor cook pot. And then I noticed that there was someone in the Loch - two someones actually. I went over to greet my guests. The first person I found was Lady Kate Nicholas, who was working on a manuscript of some sort while watching Nellie swim through the water and ice flows. I said hello, but did not disturb her for much longer than that, save to mention that the Royal Society has been called upon to discuss the Time Acceleration Theory of Second Life.


As I flew up to the mountain, I found Colonel Hotspur O'Toole skiing. We chatted for a little while about his new skis and that I have been looking for a ski vendor for Loch Avie, as my typist is an avid skier in RL. He seemed quite satisfied with the skis that he had found and was good enough to pass the designer information to me.







I went back down to work a little more, when I found that Kate had pulled the haggis out of the pot and was kicking it about in the snow.

Haggis Footie!!

This soon only got sillier when Hotspur slid down our side of the mountain and began to push the haggis while on skis. Well, being the gentleman that he is, he could not let two ladies attempt to play a game of Haggis Field Hockey without skis. He was good enough to request that SLExchange send us each a pair of skis. There was no stopping us now!





He did at one point make the mistake of going AFK.....


but that only gave us another sport: Chicken and Haggis Jumping - it's the latest in Caledonian Xtreme Sports.

The Tandom Chicken-Haggis Jump

After Lady Kate retired to her offices, Hotspur and I decided to put the haggis and the chickens away and head back up the mountain.

The view from the highest point in Loch Avie

Hotspur skis with my Will-O-Wisp

Then the call for FREE DRAGONS came along....and poof....we were there. I have not yet tried mine on, but I think I am gonna like this.

I think St. Andrew would approve of our new winter sports...perhaps there may be a game of Haggis Footie or Field Hockey in our future at the revelry tomorrow night.