Sunday, October 18, 2009

It's been a while ... (blame hockey)

It’s been a while since my last blog entry … sorry about that.

After our return from Nauvoo we sort of got absorbed in hockey and piping became a secondary thing. Hockey in August you ask?! Well, yeah it does sound a bit ridiculous, but that’s the way youth sports is becoming.

Teagan got an invitation to try out for a couple of very good teams this year. Chadders AAA Bantam and Jr Grizzlies AA Bantam. Both teams are tier level travel teams and neither of them is really affordable so we weren’t sure how this would work out if he made one of them. He made both teams.

They both offered him a scholarship to play. These scholarships were good, but to play for Chadders still would have been far too expensive. The other was much more affordable, so we decided to let Teagan play with the Jr. Grizzlies this year. I applied for a position as Asst. Coach and was accepted.

I also agreed to coach a Squirts team with the county and so a lot of my time has been focused on hockey lately.

Regardless, there have still been bagpipe and drum competitions and other events, so I haven’t completely ignored my piping.

In August we went to Jackson Hole, WY for the Jackson Scottish Festival. The band did very well there placing 1st and 2nd in the two competitions. I competed solo as did Teagan. Teag took third place in his competition and I got a second place in my slow march. It was a fun trip and I will have a video of the band competitions posted on my video blog soon.

After Jackson I was asked by my niece to pipe at her wedding reception in St. George in October. I agreed only to find out later that the band was going to Ventura CA to compete in the Seaside Games. I had already committed to my niece, but Teagan didn’t have a commitment, so he went with the band. We found out in September that his hockey team would be going to Boise ID for a tournament that weekend, but he had already committed to the band, so he missed the tournament.

Unfortunately the band didn’t do very well in Ventura. It’s too bad, because they had done so well at the other competitions. Teagan said he still had a fun time.

I had a wonderful time playing at my nieces reception. I didn’t find out until I got down there what the plans were. She was married in the LDS Temple in St. George, but since her parents and a few relatives were unable to go into the Temple she decided to have a ring ceremony before the reception.

That is the first ring ceremony I’ve attended.

Shanay (my niece) asked if I would play for the bridal procession. I played Highland Cathedral and it worked out very well.

She then asked if I would play as people arrived for the reception, so I went outside and played a few sets while folks arrived. I then played again inside after the bridal dance and one last time as the couple left the reception.

Shanay and Spencer were both very pleased with the piping and I was happy to be able to provide it. Spencer is a metal sculptor and gave me one of his metal roses after. It was a beautiful gift.

Shanay’s sister is thinking of getting married next year and asked if I would be interested in piping at her wedding – of course I agreed.