Glenn McDavid

Sunday morning the big event in our camp was mia_mcdavid's demonstration of waulking wool that she had woven. This went extraordinarily well, fascinating all who came to watch. I have never seen anything like. 3stitches has since pointed out a visitor's account of this, with great pictures, at http://cpthegreat.blogspot.com/2006/10/big-island-continued.html, starting a little more than 1/2 way down.

We gave our only dance presentation in the afternoon. It was interrupted by a period "Minister of the Kirk" (me, wearing a cassock borrowed from our church), delivering a period rant about the evils of dancing from the The Anatomie of Abuses, by Philip Stubbs (1583). Dancing is one of many evils denounced in that book. Stubbs seems to perfectly embody H.L. Mencken's definition of puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. The Scottish Kirk's attitude was very similar.

After this rant the "Minister" was rushed by the women of our group. They hugged and kissed him, stripped him of his cassock (under which he was wearing Highland dress) and dragged him into the dance. Great fun.

We started breaking camp a little before 4 PM. Mia, James, and I, in our two cars, left about 6 PM, travelling north in convoy. We got home about about 8 PM after an uneventful trip. It was quite a shock the next morning to hear what had happened to 3stitches and twolodge later in the evening.