A Weekend of Piping and Then Some

I wasn't listening to these fellas. I wasn't playing with them either. That's the old Cork Volunteers Pipe Band. The picture was taken in 1918. If they were alive now, they'd be dead. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Instead, as you may have noticed below we spent the weekend at the United Scottish Society's Highland Games. After two or three years in Pomona, the USS brought the the fair back to its old home at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. It was a beautiful, cool weekend in the '70s with the sound of the pipes all day, solos in the a.m. and bands in the p.m. There was even a grade I contest this year, L.A.Scots PB vs Triumph Street PB from British Columbia. (They split; L.A. Scots won the Saturday comp and Triumph St the Sunday.) Wonderful music both days.

I didn't compete this year. My playing was for a funeral on Sunday morning. On Memorial Day I played for a little ceremony the City of Rosemead put on. A very interesting service that last was. Rosemead apparently has a strong Vietnamese community. And if that little ceremony was anything to go by, they have a great deal more gratitude for the sacrifices of American soldiers and seamen than those of us with a longer family history in this country.