Buddhist Flower Festival 2014 at Peace Pagoda.

 Great Smoky Mountain Peace Pagoda, Newport, Tennessee, USA, 2014.0419Sa.  We drove over in rain and arrived in rain.  We parked on a road in the forest and were driven to the top where the temple is by a Buddhist angel named Christian in her 4-wheel drive Subaru.

Greeted warmly by Utsumi and Denise.  Beautiful temple, Buddhist service, then payed tribute to Lord Buddha on his birthday by pouring three ladles of sweet tea over a statute of him standing with one finger of his left hand pointed toward earth and a finger of his right hand pointed toward heaven.  

Everybody who attended brought food which was spread out on a table as a magnificent, organic, vegetarian and delicious buffet.  Some of the produce was grown in the Peace Pagoda garden right under the deck on the south side of the mountain.

Talked to  Utsumi briefly about my book and particularly the question of where did the gods come from.  He had ideas that will be present in that book soon to be seen. 

Later we walked through the emerging skeleton of the Peace Pagoda-to-be.  It’s going to be big.

Then a ride down the mountain side by Denise in her 4-wheel drive Subaru, and on to our car, then two and a half hours back home where our doggies were patiently waiting on a cool rainy day.  Our pet-sitter, Pat, had come to let them outside to romp and stomp.  When we arrived home later, they were waiting for us in ecstatic Buddhist nature.

Scottish Heritage Games.

An hour's drive out of Hickory will take you to Rural Hill, the North Carolina Center of Scottish Heritage, just outside of Huntersville, NC, to see and take part in the Scottish Festival & Loch Norman Highland Games.  We went on April 17 and enjoyed  the 2014 event.

We heard lots of good music, and very different music, saw lots of tartans and Scottish clothing for sale,  witnessed Border Collie's at work, and saw Scottish athletic exercises. The great march of the clans circled a huge parade field in front of the stands.  The march alone took 25 minutes to complete.  I didn’t count the clans but they were 25 minutes worth.  

Lots of kiosks with lots of Scottish stuff for sale,  best part were the people behind the tables.  We talked with perhaps 20 or so, and found them to be VERY knowledgable of the items they were selling .  There was a lot of research-on-the-spot as large collections of Tartans and books of clans were available, and very knowledgable people were present to help you locate some of your Scottish ancestors.

Many of the people who staffed the kiosks were from other places in the United States – many were obviously from Scotland, and they spend much of their summers traveling from show to show across the country.  LOTS of Scottish brogue!  Drumming, piping, and the constant skreering of bagpipes.

This is a yearly event, just a little over an hour from Hickory.  Get your fill of Scottish food.  There is “Scottish Bar-B-Q”, lots of Haggis and plenty of Shepherd’s Pie.  You can get Scotch Eggs, Meat Bridies, and Pies, and Homemade Shortbread. You can even try the old North Carolina pork barbecue, but this one is  cooked over a Peat Fire!   Yo ho, me laddies!

http://ruralhillscottishfestivals.net