A Place of Respite,and Some Regal Scots

I kept thinking I was done posting about our trip out East. However, it's hard to decide what to include, or exclude, so I will share a few more pics; at least I know you have the option of not reading it, so I won't feel bad about another post or two.

On our last full day of the trip, Brenda happened to come across this absolutely wonderful little park, in the middle of the small town of North Woodstock. The rest of us were "chillin' " at the condo so she came back to get us. She said it was definitely a 'must see' . Would she steer us wrong--never! It was a quiet, peaceful wooded area with a brook and was just absolutely restful.

Brenda and Rog actually walked on rocks over to the wooded area in this picture.

I was totally content just to put my toes in the water and sit and enjoy the sound of the brook going over the rocks and the light breeze in the trees. It was absolutely delightful and was a wonderful respite that afternoon.

We happened to be staying close to the town of Lincoln, where they just happened to be having the "Highland Games" that weekend, a Scottish festival. We spent most of the day there, and thoroughly enjoyed the activities. The above pic is of the "Red Hot Chili Pipers" (not Peppers), a musical group with bagpipes, guitars and drums.

We saw many girls doing the Highland dances, and some of them were really young. This group did a dance for opening ceremonies.

Part of what made this so interesting for me was to see all the scottish kilts and costumes. There was such a variety, some really lovely, some just kind of interesting!

Also very impressive: They had many many bands that performed for opening ceremonies. I don't know how many there were, but when they filled an area that was probably the size of a football field.

My brother-in-law, Bob, is actually Scottish so this was very interesting for him. Brenda has a very creative blog

about our vacation, complete with her original poetry, inspired by the song "Down by the Bay".