Caiplie House Goings On

I headed up to Pila on Sunday to play at The Burns night. 1807 m asl, my highest yet!

Earlier in the day Dad and I had headed into Aosta town for lunch (Trattoria Praetoria, very nice)

At the end of lunch a paraded started to pass the restaurant and we were treated to a fabulous display of folk groups, medieval groups, bands and dancers!

This was the warm up for Feria Sant’Orso taking place in town this weekend, celebrating evrything wooden! Oh and some vino caldo

Of course there is a clash with Aosta Burns night!!

The Quo to play Bogbain

As denim clad teenagers Status Quo blared out from our cassette decks. Now my mate Bruce is to host The Quo in his back yard!
1st of May 2010 at Bogbain Farm

We can hardly believe it and of course are all offering our services back stage!

I had a group of twelve German guests staying the other night, I was not sure what to make of them as some were kilted and some sported Tam O’Shanters, were they taking the piss or getting close with the natives? It became apparent during dinner that they were very knowledgable about Scotland and had spent a lot of time in Scotland as many German people have.

It turns out they are a folk/rock band called Anduril who formed their band on Skye and see the island as the spiritual home of their music…..still reading? OK cool they are actually pretty good!

The guys gave me a copy of the soon to be released album St Nowhere In fact they were off to shoot the album cover on leaving Crail. It is classic folk/rock with some proper heavy metal guitar solos tucked away in there mixed with some great folkie lyrics!

Go to the web site and see where you can next catch them in concert and listen to a couple of preview tracks

Here is news of a great blog that was mentioned in Saturdays Herald ; Voyage of The Vampire. This is the diary of the adventurer George Henry Scott-Douglas,  known simply as Douglas.

Sir George Henry Scott-Douglas (1825-1885) an officer in the 34^th Regiment of Foot (The Border Regiment).  His Journals describe him being posted to Corfu, during which time he bought a boat called the Vampire, in which he sailed round the Greek islands; seeing a slave market in Constantinople and visiting the Holy Land.

These diaries are being blogged in real time starting today 1st April…….1846

I am intrigued to follow this wealthy Scottish Adventurer around these exotic destinations! I am interested to see if he has the pleasure of meeting another Victorian adventurer whose diaries I have read, cavalry officer Harry Flashman!

Flashman was three years older than Douglas and also spent large parts of his life adventuring rather than soldiering. Flashman and Douglas shared similar family backgrounds, Flashman being not being quite as privileged,he was schooled at Rugby rather than Harrow. However he still managed to buy a commission as a cavalry officer and became a hero but reading his diaries it is clear he was a bit of a cad and a scoundrel!

There is actually a gap in the  Flashman papers in 1846 so any meeting is not documented by Flashman…..we will have to wait and see

A small band of Scots decided to start off our Homecoming celebrations a long way from home this winter.

Afrter a couple of years of dithering we finally got ourselves sorted to arrange a Burns Supper in Aosta, Italy this winter.

Motivated by the 250th anniversary of the birth of Burns and the Homecoming year in Scotland we got our fingers out…. our pipes and our dancing shoes!

We placed a big emphasis on showcasing what is good about Scotland and being Scottish; good food and drink, good fun and passionate friendship.

We were delighted that everyone got into the swing of things and a great ceilidh followed the dinner.

As is the Interski way the outfits were outstanding with some impressive English knights turning up in chainmale. However pur dancers showed them what we thought of their weapons with an outstanding broadsword dance!

Now back in Scotland..

I feel like I am in a position to welcome people home myself! I have emailed the foreign relatives and chased the long lost friends and flung open my door.

In the meantime as I await the stampede I am helping organise a golf event entitled The Auld Alliance

A team event played between a Scottish and  French team on an annual basis. However the Scottish hosts are planning a special event this May, bringing the event home to The Home of Golf!

As the year unfolds in ahead of us I don’t want to look forward to St Andrew’s night too soon or list a great string of events but I am looking forward to May with having the Auld Alliance here and also entering into the spirit with my own Whisky Month

Whisky Month of May

I plan to use our most famous export in my cooking in May, not just in desserts but in main courses , starters and of course offer a range of good malts, clasic blends. Who knows I may even open The Old English

For more events at Caiplie House please keep checking back or visit the special offers page

I have travelled back in time this week with the arrival of a new AC/DC album

I have not been this excited about an album since buying Back in Black on vinyl in the early 1980s!

I have had the CD in the car for the last few days and have been looking for excuses to drive. It just seems to work really really well, really really loud, in the car!

So if you have seen more than the usual finger tapping on steering wheels this week you know what is going on. Red lights, great! More traffic great I will get to hear the end of this track!!

My personal afvourite is track four. Anything Goes Closely followed by Rock ‘N’ Roll Dream Classics but every one of the 15 tracks are top quality Rock and Roll from the best rockers ever! No messin no effects no gimmicks, well actually there is a slide guitar on one track. Apart from that the engineering choices come down to which speaker Angus’s guitar emerges from! Thats all it takes!!

Rock on!