{"id":35,"date":"2009-07-28T21:04:38","date_gmt":"2009-07-29T04:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/?p=35"},"modified":"2009-07-28T21:04:38","modified_gmt":"2009-07-29T04:04:38","slug":"the-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/the-games\/","title":{"rendered":"The Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The call of the pipes and drums truly calls to my soul. To some, it’s just noise. To me, it’s the sound of Scotland.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Caber Toss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is this fascination I have with a country over\u00a0thousands of \u00a0miles away? This land of magic and mystery. This land\u00a0of possibilities. A land that has seen too much blood shed for a people who only wanted a land to call their own to raise their families on.<\/p>\n

It’s everything. I can listen to the music and be swept away onto a grassy moor, among the swaying green grass, watching the waves beat against the rocky shore. I can walk into a house and be touched by a ghost.\u00a0 I can\u00a0enjoy the best french fries in the world in practically every pub. Scotland is my warm blanket, my chicken soup, my smile on a rainy day.<\/p>\n

Of course, I’m not completely naive. Scotland has it’s troubles just like every country. Joblessness, mortgage problems, health care reform. But under all of that, there is a spirit that calls to everyone. This spirit makes one whip out their tartan and proudly claim their clan name at the highland games.<\/p>\n

Last weekend was the Pacific Northwest Highland Games and Clan Gathering. It is my Christmas. The one time of year that I don’t hesitate to plunk down $20 in lemonade and purchase clothing that I will only wear at the next year’s games, or a renaissance festival. It’s a time and place where everyone<\/em> is Scottish and goodwill flows like a beer from a tap.<\/p>\n

Last year I had the chance to travel to Scotland and explore<\/p>\n

\"Need
Need Fire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0the belt.\u00a0The games are\u00a0my chance to regain some of that feeling of excitement and wonder that I felt when I was there. It is not even remotely the same, however, it is the closest I will get in my little corner of the world. I take my pleasure where I can find it, and until I can get back to the real thing, the games\u00a0will do.<\/p>\n

So until next year, I will grab a pint of Magner’s, plug in my Wicked Tinker’s CD and count the days until I can travel again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why I enjoy the highland games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-scotland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39eCR-z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annaalexander.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}