Well, with only the fiddle contest to concern myself with on Saturday, I managed to come in a good solid 4th out of 5. I don't feel that's all that bad - the competitors were truly fantastic. Andy Dodds and Melinda Crawford were 1st and 2nd (no surprise!), and I feel like that I would have been a close contender for 3rd had I had a steadier bow hand. I got a little nervous, and that led to weak and bouncy bowing, but other than that, and some slight intonation problems, I had no significant technical flubs. I did receive the "Best Set" prize, and Elke (the judge) mentioned that she felt that I picked particularly hard tunes. I'm not disappointed in my showing - considering the quality of the other competitors, and that this was only the first anniversary of my being in competition at all, I'd say I did quite well. The most noteworthy moments came after the competition, when all the other open competitors who had seen me play before came up to me and remarked (sometimes effusively) at how much I've improved over the last few months. That was a very high compliment, and I'm grateful for it.

I hung out with the Appins for much of the weekend, getting pictures of the lot of them. The fiddle club concert went fairly well, though I became increasingly distracted, mainly because my smallpipes weren't behaving. There was a sudden (and upward) shift in humidity not long before we started, and my chanters went very flat. I could have handled it a bit better, I think, but my inexperience kicked in. Oh well, there's always next time!