Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Annual Scottish Highland Games in Enumclaw, Wa.


Welcome to the Scottish Highland Games of Enumclaw, Washington.

Kindly, click on the pictures to enlarge them.
In the picture above is my friend Josh, who owns a utility kilt business and is the hub for much of the Celtic happenings in the southern part of the State of Washington. He is a huge man and when he saw that I was going to take a picture of him, he asked for me to wait so he could suck in his stomach! ;-) I laughed and tapped my own as I prepared to take his picture. He's the fellow in the tent.



This is Steve and our good friend Hugh, who got away from his own clan tent to walk about with us through the fair grounds.

Here's a picture of "himself" with Steve, my partner.


Sorry, I couldn't remove the fence that was separating the athletes from the fans. If you look closely, you can see a caber being readied to be tossed. It is not unlike tossing a telephone pole only these weigh between 100 - 180 lbs. The person unfortunate enough to have to pick one of these things up, runs (or walks fast) with it and then, tosses it so it will land first, on the opposite end of the caber and fall over. How far one can toss it decides the winner.

Here is another picture of the caber being tossed.


North Channel Kilts was one of the many vendors at the fair grounds. They made the tartan I am wearing in a previous picture. Since there aren't many Irish tartans in stock, they had to look up my tartan and count how many threads go a certain direction and on and on until they have the pattern of the tartan. They follow the pattern and weave the material and the kilt is made from that. To have the correct pattern go around you, the kilt is pleated continuing the correct tartan pattern. Some of these kilts can be nine yards long if they were unpleated. I joked with the man taking my measurements when I had that one made and I said there was going to be a herd of sheep that were going to be really cold for awhile. ;-) I have two kilts, the one pictured is the O'Farrell Tartan, on my mother's side and the Tara tartan from on my father's side. ( not shown here )


This is our friend, Clain who was the person to have answer questions regarding the Buchanan Clan. You can see the clan tartan he is wearing.


During the Highland Games, there are other competitions happening in other areas of the fair grounds. We missed the harp competition, and the dancing competition, but were able to watch a bit of the pipe & drum band competitions. Here is a band marching up the way preparing to march on to the field for their try in the competition.


Here is another picture of them turning on to the competition field. There is nothing wrong with your eye sight, I have been trying to capture the proper colours of the tartans and the sky seems to be changing throughout the day. When taking a picture of a person who happens to be in one of those tents, the pictures come out too dark without a flash, so I have been tinkering with them. Your eyes are just fine. ;-)

Here we are with Hugh in the picture and he was the person to see if you wanted to know anything about the Gunn Clan. Their clan tent is in the background. There were many food vendors, some of them producing traditional Scottish and Irish dishes, from Haggis to Bangers, and all different types of spuds. There were many Celtic bands that played from the Tempest's to the Wicked Tinkers and the day stayed mostly cloudy with a temperature around 75 degrees F. ( approximately 25 degrees C. for my Canadian friends. ) with a light breeze. A beautiful day to meet with the different clans and enjoy the fun.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Time to Pick Up the Pieces and Move Onward.

Our circle is a wee bit smaller this week due to a most unfortunate scandal that Nicky Cooper never was a real person. ( at least the one we thought we knew ) We loved him for being that kind, single young gay father with two adopted boys, wise for his age, a wonderful outlook on life, nature, and the woods he used to take us to on his tramps in many of his entries. His wonderful prose was inspiring and would bring delight to most of us with every entry.

We know now that it was Kate who penned the beautiful prose from her own heart and much of her writing was about her own son, one of a twin, who died a short while after birth named Liam. Her writing was one way of making sense to what happened in her life and she was dealing with it through her writings. Unfortunately, the woman behind the character, "Nicky" plagiarized much of Kate's material as well as some of Kate's own pictures of her husband pulling their son through the snow on a sled. Just these no-no's would bring into question a person's untrustworthy behavior. Furthermore, was the issue that Nicky, as we knew him, was fictional. What was slowly unraveling started to spin revealing one layer after another of lies, and deception. It was bound to happen as the stories changed and more lies had to be told to maintain that deception.

As it turned out, the person who created the characters of Nicky and Joel, had been reaching out for friendship, compassion, to fit into the company of gays and befriend them and other things to compensate for a personality that had been looked down upon and discouraged. This person is a female but has always felt she is a male creating Nicky at the age of six years old. This info comes third hand through Father Tony's site who has substantiated this person's identity and that what she has said on his site is true at least as much as we can try and believe it. Many thanks to Father Tony for his part in trying to get to the bottom of this debacle as well as some comments from Joe of JMG, Al of Blue Alto for his informative thoughts on this and Greg of the Midnight Garden for starting the ball rolling in our blog circle.

As I mentioned on Al's site, what may have caused this problem to manifest was her struggle with transgender issues, being raised in an area of B.C. where she came to believe "s/he" was unique, and the only one like himself, suffering greatly carrying this burthen alone. With no other outlet, I can see inventing this persona of "Nicky" saved him throughout his growing years. Nicky had mentioned he had an invisible friend whilst he was very young and perhaps, Nicky was that friend. But, it was interesting that "Nicky" was going to remain the age 26 for the rest of his life and the iteration of a similar character named Joel, as it was pointed out in another person's comments. Joe also was 26 years old. Joel was dying of leukemia and was another manifestation of hers crying out for sympathy, love and compassion. After this person was found to be a fake, that site closed down and eventually, Cooper's Corridor became the focus and Nicky became her outlet, in my opinion. I, like many, were drawn to his magnetic, and kind personality. How was one not to like Nicky?

This need of hers may be explained as a variation of Munchhausen's syndrome. We have a fictional character taking care of two boys, one, healthy and the other, sickly, and in the familiar definition of this syndrome the mother or parent makes the child sick in order to get sympathy from others for that parent's sacrifices made to make the child well again. Many times a child needs to be brought in to the hospital where they become well amazingly fast under the care of professionals. In Nicky's case, one doesn't know if the children were ever sick or were ever made sick on purpose, but the basic premise is the same. "Look at all the sacrificing I am doing to take care of my sick child."

As well as others, I too, noticed fuzzy parts in his emails and entries and parts that he would change the next time around. I recall once, he had a dog named Molly and in an email I had asked what happened to her since I had never seen any pictures of her with the boys. I eventually, received an answer that Matteo had allergies that were caused by Molly and Nicky had to leave the dog with his best friend, the one who grew up with him. I accepted that answer until there was an entry mentioning the recent addition to the family named "Bud", the dog with Dario holding him in the picture. I wondered if Nicky had forgotten the first story he told about Molly. Another was Matteo's pneumonia and all that transpired, only to read a little later Nicky taking them out in the snow or pulling a sled with him in it. ( The infamous lifted picture of Kate's husband pulling their little boy on a sled) from Kate's site that was removed along with the visiting blogger's story at another blogger's site was an example of the pictures that were lifted. ) And still another of taking a grandmotherly type babysitter with him to take care of the boys in the Yukon whilst he worked. The last time his friend Michael and his wife took care of the boys. The stories were stretched to the point of unbelievability. There were quite a few more, but I, like many, wanted to believe in him and I ignored my own defense systems. When I was practicing medicine, I used to do H & Ps ( History & Physicals ) on every new patient I would see and one usually, can see when a patient is not telling the truth by asking a lot of questions especially in different ways. One would think I should have known better to be able to spot when there was a lie. I was duped along with many others by the shy charm and well articulated prose that would come out of his blog. Kate deserves the kudos for her material, her life and all that was lifted to make the Cooper blog what it was. I will continue to drop by her blog and would encourage anyone who reads my blog to visit hers. You have already read what her writing is like and it seems sensible to read it from the source.

I thought I knew Nicky and we emailed enough that I considered him a close blogging friend. I am corresponding with her presently, to have some questions answered so I can bring about some closure in my life to this unfortunate calamity. I am not angry, I am disappointed and I feel duped, and embarrassed that I could be taken in so easily. One thing I can say, that other's have said, is I have met some very nice and decent bloggers from reading Nicky's two sites and I hope we can all continue to trust each other and not reach the point where it hampers one's blogging bringing it all to a stop through fear. I do not want to feel that way, and if it happens again, I hope I am better prepared. Perhaps, trusting too much is the problem but I would rather continue trusting until proven otherwise. Nicky has apologized to me for deceiving me and I will take it that she really means it.

May the character "Nicky Cooper" rest in peace. He was truly loved and may his creator receive the counseling she truly needs, and the compassion and peace that hopefully, follows. It's time for me to close this chapter. Thank you all for your own comments on your own sites and on others, it has helped bring this into focus for me knowing that others are feeling the same way and only want what's best for all the party's closely involved in this.

Since, Patrick has come forward to write about something painfully personal, I want you to know you have my utmost respect and there is no need for humiliation, you were led on and duped into believing in this person as we were. Never forget, you do have friends, whether they are blogger friends you've never seen before or the ones you have found to be real. You are always welcome here at Butch's Banter, always my friend.

Thanks to all of you as well. Now, on with the blogs.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I didn't know this until yesterday and the answer, today.

An addendum to this mystery has been brought to you by two bloggers, Greg, from Midnight Garden and Anonymous who commented that it was all an hoax. Anonymous kindly produced the answer to this puzzle as to how it was accomplished. Please pardon the Cascade commercial before the information. Thanks, Greg and Anonymous for your input.
These cell phones turn out not to be more dangerous than we thought. Take a look at this video first to see what fooled me and an host of others.

Popcorn

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Farewell to a Good Friend and Neighbor



Our dear neighbor, after a valiant fight, passed away peacefully at her home with her loving husband at her side this afternoon. This wonderful person never uttered one complaint throughout her fighting this disease and worried more about how her husband was going to do whilst she had numerous surgeries, chemotherapy and many doctor's visits. Early on, we had assured her that she needn't worry, I usually cook enough food to feed an army and we would make sure he was fine. That was a relief for her and she could concentrate on fighting her cancer.



She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer already in its fourth stage. The prognosis was not good when the disease was found so late in the process. Nevertheless, she approached this battle with a determination to beat it and a grace about her to take every day in stride no matter what was handed to her. We visited her and her husband, John many times during her on going fight.




A while back, her husband John and his wife Fran, decided he needed to go shopping for what he planned to wear for her funeral. He was afraid to leave her without anyone there whilst he went shopping. This is where Steve and I decided to see if we could be of service. Steve took John to a store where we buy our suits etc., and I had a wonderful afternoon sitting with Fran talking about anything from politics, to cooking. She was very aware of her politics and even protested during the Vietnam Conflict. She told me she was never going to let "them" have her boys.




When she was convalescing, I used to cook for them and she would immediately call her sister in California and tell her what I had made and we all shared recipes back and forth. When I was sitting with her, she asked me if I would play the piano and sing for her, which I did. She was always so easy to please. Steve and John came back with some of the clothes he purchased whilst the pants would be altered and ready later. I can not imagine going shopping for the clothes I am to wear at my spouse's funeral. He did well, with Steve's help. He had come over and asked if we could go with him since he didn't think he knew enough about style etc, and I guess he thought us being gay, we would know all about that sort of thing. Little did he know. ;-)




Last night, John saw Steve watering the lawn and came over to talk. We have always been available for him to just vent and tell us how he is doing. One of our neighbors is a nurse and has been checking in on Fran along with the Hospice nurse so John was free to break away for a moment. We invited him in for a nice glass of Glen Livet scotch and sat and talked for quite awhile. I do not know if it was the scotch or the company ( or both ) but he did seem to feel better afterwards. I told him one of my bad Irish jokes, ( What's the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish wake? - - -One less person drinking. ) He enjoyed the bantering a bit. Our neighbor told him she thought Fran would be passing sometime during the night, so she stayed the night with her. As it turns out Fran made it through the night and passed away this afternoon.

It has been my privilege to know her and be friends with her and John. We will miss her smile, laughter, and kindness to us.

Rest In Peace, Fran and may you enjoy many, many sunrises and sunsets on your new journey.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Little Bit of This and That On a Wednesday

Happy belated Canada Day to all my Canadian friends!

After my eye surgery last week, I was given upon leaving the eye centre, a wee basket of red flowers. I thought it was such a nice gesture to do. The clinic, staff and physicians were super and made my visit as pleasant as could be under the circumstances. This basket was the icing on the cake for me.




A few weeks ago, I saw this urn at the local Costco and kept going back to it until my next trip to the store when I purchased it. It weighs in somewhere between 60 to 80 lbs. dry so I had a young, strong, and an eager gentleman who worked there, help place it in the basket and then another one who told me to just hold the cart whilst he did all the work of lifting it into our wee SUV. Gotta love that store. Here it is with some dirt from the "Faerie Hill" ( hope they didn't mind too much ) along with the recently transplanted Ficus tree. It seems to love its new urn.





I missed the blooming of theses wild roses in the yard by some days so these are at the end of their blooming cycle. Sorry. Next year I will watch for them and catch them just as they bloom.




Here are more of the wild roses intertwined with the berries. About five years ago, we cleaned out the berries which had taken over that area which allowed the roses to go into their growth. Slowly, they have returned. I like harvesting the berries and making pies and jams out of them but they can become over powering unless they are kept pruned back.




This last picture is of Steve and Seán helping him take a nap! Thought you would enjoy that one. He tries to help so much. ;-)