Amber & Blue Cake Wishes

Happy Birthday to Nick!  Today is the very special anniversary of the day he joined us on this planet (well, some of us weren't here yet).  He's a very special person and is nice to kitties.  We should all be glad to have him among us.

Here is Nick with some French cousins, his nieces, sister, dad, and soon-to-be sister-in-law.

  Nick is, of course, the one with his face closest to the blue cake.

Happy Birthday Nick, from all of us at Amber &, and especially your buddy, Woody.

Amber & Heavy Metal

James has done it again.

Sometimes, when James seems movies that I am not going to see, usually because they are too scary, I ask James to tell me the movie. He recounts the basic plot, throwing in some analysis and notes about the direction and acting. It's the next best thing to seeing it myself, and even better when it's a scary movie. So, I asked James to tell us the story of the medal. He relates the following.

When I started competing this summer for the first time, I was hoping to maybe get a medal eventually in Grade IV, which is the entry level. The best would be to get an AGL, Above Grade Level, on my score sheet. If you get a bunch of these, it means you're playing well enough to be in Grade III.

So far this summer I won a Silver and a Bronze in Piobreachd. And nothing in the March competition, which I feel is my weaker skill.

Today was the last competition before my wedding. I played well in Piobreachd, but I didn't realize I mixed-up a bar in the tune, and so was disqualified from placing. Then I had an hour to go before my March competition. I was very nervous and played the March many times off in the woods. I didn't like how I was playing at all and was filled with despair over it. I finally decided I'd just play the tune slow and try to express it fully. In front of the judge, as I was playing, I thought it sounded well, and I had fun playing it.

After it was over, the judge chatted with me and gave me a lot of helpful feedback. He also told me he was going to give me an AGL, the only one he had given so far that day. Later, when I went to check the results, I found out I had won First Place in March. So with the summer almost over I have a Gold, Silver, Bronze and an AGL. Now I can retire from the bagpipes and take up competitive Glockenspieling.

Amber & Pride

This past weekend made me Proud-- not just of the diversity of people and their mating habits, but also of James and his bagpiping.


You may remember that, earlier this year, James won 2nd place in a Grade IV Piobaireachd competition. Well, he's done it again! As James explains...

"Did I tell you I won medal this weekend?

"I got 3rd in Piobreachd and 5th in March. Last time I got a silver for Piob and nothing for March because the drone shutoff, but this was better playing overall. I also found the judge's feedback more helpful. I've had the same judge for March both times -- the guy who was the original NYU instructor. I hope I keep having him, so if I get gold by summer's end (a big if) then he'd be there for it all."

Congratulations, Jimmy! I am so proud of you!

Amber & Award Winners

Congratulations to James for winning this smashing medal...
...for placing 2nd in Grade IV Piobaireachd! James has been playing bagpipes since freshman year of college, and has put alot of hard work and patience into it.

James had a nice day after winning his medal. In addition to winning a medal (I'm so proud of Jimmy!) James says, "We saw caber tossing, sheep herding, bands competing, and I ate a meat pie, a sausage roll, a steak sandwich, a frozen lemonade, a strawberry smoothy, and some sips of Irn Bru which is nasty."

And he had that fancy sporran, too.

All this, and now it's Kitty Eyebrows Day. What happy times!