and my birthday week long celebration con~tin~ues!!!

First off let me say...........GOOD LUCK TO THE UCLA Bruins basketball as they play in the first round of the NCAA tournament aka March Madness........



Last nite we went to see The Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch AND the Band of the Welsh Guards. Welsh guards are the guys that guard the Queen yep of England. I know, I know your saying a bunch a rat – a – tat – tatters……and droning honking noises, but you would be wrong. What we saw was a group of young men and one woman (she is a member of the Welsh Guard) that are talented as well as very dedicated. The Black Watch continues to serve as a fully operational battalion in the modern British Army. We were fortunate enough to be able to speak with several members of the group. Prior to the performance. And ya know I don’t know a stranger so got many of there life histories. Last nite they performed in Sarasota. With only two more performances on this tour. So the boys were a bit weary as they have been all over the country since the beginning of the year. One thing that they shared in the conversation was their two tour of duties in Iraq. One young man was telling us about how they accompanied the US Marines in to Bagdad in 2003. They even piped some of the troops in. Can you imagine the astonishment of Saddam Hussein if he would have heard that.

Their next performance, after a day off in Clearwater which is loaded with spring breakers, is to be in Naples. They had a lot of questions about that area and what they could do there. Funny thing was one guy asked about where to eat~~~~~~~~~~~~go figure. So we sent them to Cracklin Jacks, the place I wrote about in our food blog .
And of course we had to have a meal prior to the performance so we found our way to a wonderful Mexican Market/ Taqueria..........nope no web site but terrific food.


So if you are interested in learning more about this wonderful group of young men clicky here >>>>>>>>> http://www.theblackwatch.co.uk/newsite/

and needless to say we purchased the CD, even got several of the members including the Pipe Major to autograph the cover. The combination of the two bands playing together on stage was something I will long remember.