Robbie Burns Dinner 2011

It was another year for Robbie Burns.  A person of Scottish descent may go at most a year without haggis. More frequent haggis encounters is however better.  What is more important is the poetry of the great master. This is the writer of "My Love is Like a Red Red Rose" and many more of the world's greatest poems. Burns has been called that. His Ode to Haggis is a celebration of his sense of good fun.
Burns dinners are that.
Moray, Nairn and Banff Association holds an annual Robbie Burns Dinner at the end of January.  This year as last it ws in the Scottish Cultural Centre on Hudson.
The Scottish dancers are the best.  Always  the Ode to the Haggis is a rivetting experience.  This year it was almost a blessing.  The pipes were splendid.
And what party would be complete without the Mad Celts.  Not only great music but terrific entertainment with humor and the calling out of dances like the Gay Gordon.
It's one of the few times I can wear my complete Scottish regalia.  Having gained weight it was a stretch to   Lorne and Maria from Chilliwack joined Laura and me.  Lorne had just been on a tour of Scotland and regaled us with encounters  traditions ancient.  Too many years since I'd been.  Listening to him I returned to  my own encounter with Loch Lomond.  He'd actually been to Dumfries too. The Boyds were at our table and together we talked of family and clans over the dinner and later between dances.

What a marvellous night.  It's good to be of Scottish heritage!