The Cowal Games

[mairead]

This weekend, 25/26th August sees the annual Cowal Highland Games at Dunoon.
Sadly, due to family commitments which are taking me elsewhere, I will miss both the Cowal Games and the celebration of the Raising of the Standard in 1745 at Glenfinnan, which also takes place this coming weekend.

[mairead]

Well the weather is just rotten for the games. It's very wet today. Rain moved in last night but according to the forecast it should brighten up later. I hope so, because it is a very big event at Dunoon. The entire place is heaving with people.

[Mike]

I hope it has cleared off in Dunoon. It's been pouring rain here. We're on the southern edge of the storms that have passed through Chicago and Detroit, but we've getting absolutely soaked.

I still think Dunoon in the rain would be better than being here in the sunshine. <sigh>

[mairead]

Mike,
You sometimes sound more Scottish than American. Is it the call of your ancestors perhaps?. I read through your posts the great love that you have for this land of ours.
I find it intriguing that so many people who were born in distant places find a desire for all things Scottish, yet so many who are born and raised here over many generations, coulldn't give a stuff about their homeland and their heritage.
Strange indeed are the ways of man.

[Mike]

Mairead, I cannot explain it. Scotland just feels right, when I am there.

I've said it before and I will say it again. If given the opportunity to live anywhere I wanted to live, Dunoon would just manage to edge out Dollar. And I think if I were given another chance to visit Callander, it would end up figuring in there somewhere too.

And it's not like I've never been away from where I stay. I've seen the beauty of the Rockie Mountains, the Smokie Mountains, central Pennsylvania and Northern California. I've seen the lights of Las Vegas and the 'wildlife' that inhabits Los Angeles. I've watched the fog roll in on the San Francisco Bay. To drive from the deserts of Arizona up to the incredible cool greenery of Flagstaff is impressive. I'm lucky to have been able to visit these places.

But Dunoon? Ahhhh, there's nothing like Dunoon. You know how that old pair of slippers, the ones that fit you like a dream, make you feel totally comfortable? That pleasant feeling you get when you put them on? That is how Dunoon feels to me. I swear I was being drawn to Dunoon. When we boarded the ferry at Gourock, I felt like there was a magnetic draw pulling me across the Firth of Clyde. I made the comment that had the ferry's engine given up, we still would have arrived on time, because something was pulling me to Dunoon. And without trying to come out looking the softie, I was kept pretty busy wiping tears from my eyes on the ferry ride.

We visited Dollar, the second time I was across. Dollar 'felt' the same way.

And it's odd, because I cannot pick out any one, particular feature about either place that attracted me. It just 'felt' comfortable there.

On my first trip, my last full day across was spent in Lanark at the Wallace Homecoming. (What a historic opportunity, eh?) Hearing Ted Christopher perform I'm Coming Home pierced my heart. The Spirit of Wallace was finally come home, but I knew the next morning I was going to be leaving. And it felt as if I was leaving home, not coming home. That day had a lot of emotions in it, as well.

[mairead]

Morning Mike,
There must be something about Dunoon then, because when the US Navy pulled out of the Holy Loch many of the sailors returned to Dunoon after they left the navy.
American accents are commonplace here and we have a delightful American bus driver. There is also an eating place called the 51st state.
I love living here in the forest of Glenbranter, about 15 miles out of Dunoon, but then I loved everywhere in Scotland that I have lived.
I have travelled across America and Canada and seen some really magnificent sights but Scotland always calls be back home. I guess I was never meant to live anywhere else.