June 20th: Enjoying the Scottish Festival and Orillia

Saturday arrived with a very pretty day for the Scottish Festival. However, as the morning moved on, it kept getting hotter and hotter. We headed out early to the street for the parade to find seats in the shade. None of us had any Scottish plaids to wear but Linda was ready with her Scottish Festival button on her visor.




By the time the parade started, the temperatures were in the high 80's. Fortunately, we were able to find a spot in the shade.

Steve, Peter and Cheryl

There were numerous Fife and Drum bands (Bagpipe bands as we know them) as well as the usual parade politicians. The bands were each a little different and entertaining.


The Men in Kilts Window Cleaning truck got some laughs. Note the "No Peeking," on the front fender. It is a real company!

The highlight of the festival takes place in the large open area in the park. All of the bands played together for an amazing sound. That's a lot of bagpipes and drums!

The park also features a small train that people can ride on for a small fee. We all enjoyed the festival despite the heat. Cheryl and Peter headed home and we went back to our air conditioned boat.


On the way to our dock I noticed that a water lily had opened up. They are fun to see although they are an invasive species.


Very close to our slip is a gazebo that has a piano open for the public to play. Often, it is little kids pounding on the keys, (future pianists hopefully). But every so often, someone comes by and plays who is very enjoyable to listen to. We have been in this close slip a number of times and have heard a person about our age, play a lot of Beatles Music and other songs from our era. I had hoped he would come by this year and was not disappointed.

He has always been kind of quiet and humble, plays a while and then leaves. This year I went over to the piano and introduced myself. Found out his name is Larry, his father was a classical music pianist but Larry never learned to read notes. He plays by ear! I started asking him to play songs and he could play every one. Not only did he play the song but he could tell me everything about the artist and history of the songs. He has thousands of 45 records in his collection at home. We invited him to the boat and really enjoyed learning a lot about the groups of the 60's and 70's. I told him I wished my brother-in-law Scott could join us. Scott is a music fanatic and I'm certain they would have gone on all night. (Maybe it was good he wasn't here!)

We were still in Orillia Monday so I decided to take a walk up the main street in town. I found the results of the Orillia Downtown bike sculpture competition. There were a lot of creative and fun sculptures. I've included a variety for you.

Orillia City Library

Orillia Library Gardens

I walked by the library that was built a few years ago. It is a wonderful facility. I took the time to walk around the gardens outside and the very open and inviting inside.

That pretty well ended our time in Orillia. We did manage to get one more lunch in at the Chinese Restaurant. We'll be heading into a less populated area so there won't be any Chinese restaurants for a while.