Sunny Saturday, Winston Games

Today was the first full day of the Southern Oregon Highland Games, and a hot one it was! Not sure how hot it was today, but we have been seeing temperatures in the upper 90s on a regular basis up here and it has apparently been like that for the last month or so. Which reminds me of that wise old Lancashire saying “If your sunscreen you do spurn, all day long like hell you’ll burn” - we Lancastrians have some experience with the sun you know, but I digress!


Started out the day in fine style with breakfast at the White Horse Coffee Shop in Sutherlin, owned by our good friend David Macdonald. If you’re ever in this part of Oregon, be sure to stop in his coffee shop, the coffee is great and the food is wonderful. Just drive down the main street and watch out for the amazing sculptures of white horses. We will be playing an acoustic set there on Sunday evening after the games.

The games organizers had thoughtfully arranged for an RV complete with air conditioning to be available as a retreat for the performers. We’re seriously thinking of renting one for the weekend of the Pleasanton Games. Hell, I bet we could charge a couple of bucks for people to spend a few minutes in it and get the cost back that way!

Got the sound going nicely this morning thanks to the resident sound engineer, Sean. We’re beginning to realize just how important it is to have a sound engineer who is familiar with our music when we’re not using our own rig. Maybe one day we’ll be famous enough to have our own traveling sound engineer, but until then, we’ll just grin and keep saying “turn the bouzouki down”!


David turned up today in his very smart kilt attire but wearing the ugliest pair of white tennis shoes I have ever seen, as you can see from the accompanying photograph - I think a band fine may very well result from this faux pas!

Spotted a lady with a couple of dogs just like ours at home, a spaniel and a collie. Couldn’t resist going over and stroking them as surrogates for Charlie and Sally.




Bethany danced her heart out today and ended up with a couple of sore big toes. As you can see in the photograph, our good friend David Macdonald is not only a connoisseur of fine coffees but also a doctor of some skill, as he tended to Bethany’s injuries.



Went to Carlos’ Restaurant for some great Mexican food after the games. There were a lot of people from the games eating there. Is it me, or is there something slightly weird about a bunch of people in kilts eating in a Mexican Restaurant?!? The most satisfying part of the evening was leaving Bethany’s Jetta in the Murano’s dust on the way back to the hotel. Iceberg indeed!

So, one more day of the games to go, then 1 day off, followed by a hectic schedule of gigs in Woodburn, Eugene, McMinnville, Corvallis, Albany, and Oregon.

Pete, the loud bouzouki player