Tag Archives: Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies

An Intriguing Call Today …

October 21, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

I received a call today that proved to be … INTRIGUING!

out of the blue Spring of 2012 I produced a custom solo album for a friend. I planned the music, I ran my gear, I played for it, and I handled all the audio post-production. The project was made under a time-crunch — I recorded and made the CD in about 24 hours, then rush-mailed it across the country to her. This collection of music was brief but with a very specific purpose.

The crazy thing here is that I want NOTHING MORE but to say what this was about, but there’s a reason why I can’t give those details away. Read on, you’ll find out why…

There was only ever one CD made of this album. Today I received a phone call from my friend and she asked if I could make a back-up copy for her. I’m not one to lose data — there have been some mistakes, and I had an only-partially backed-up hard drive crash once, but for the most part I have everything I’ve ever made or gathered. So — YEAH — I still have the audio and everything from the custom album I made.

Back when I produced this work I wrestled with a thought… I considered making a similar album and put it on the market. The mental wrestle came from considering the good and bad reasons for going public with a CD of this nature. I mentioned this to my friend when we spoke today. She thinks it’s a great idea! For me … it’s intriguing! Her suggestion was that I use the same title as I gave her CD, and if I can re-use the same audio even. She thought she might even be able to make the artwork . Hmm … INSTANT ALBUM!

Now I’m playing around with the ‘intriguing’ idea again. While I’d love to talk about it, I can’t say really anything more. When it comes to my album and track ideas, I always play it close to the vest — I want to protect my ideas so they don’t get stolen by someone else. So … consider this blog post what may be the first announcement of a future album. This could be the first of a number of albums I’ve thought to make — or with some of my work, finish — and get on the market along with my recipe book. Cross promotion is a beautiful thing!

Uncategorized

BACK TO WORK – BILL MILLIN AND D-DAY

September 18, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

(Re-posted from WhidbeyIslandBaking.com)

Bill Millin plays bagpipes for soldiers, 1944 — Bill Millin plays his pipes for fellow soldiers in 1944.

This past summer got BUSY … and interesting! As many of you know I had a few adventures as a professional SCUBA diver, working at various locations around western Washington. While it was great to get back in the water and blow bubbles, it also required me to shift my priorities. Big among those priorities was the completion of my second book. As many of you ALSO know this project is a Highland bagpipe sheet music & tune history book I am writing as a fundraiser for a veteran’s organization I am a member of. There are a few chunky tasks remaining before publication. The most challenging of these is writing about Bill Millin, a bagpiper who played on D-Day.

The legend of Bill Millin is well-known in the Highland bagpipe community. The short story that everyone knows is that “Piper Bill” went ashore on Sword Beach* — he carried no firearm, wore a kilt, played bagpipes, and never got shot by German forces because they thought he had gone insane. While all of this is true and I already knew from lore, I have been formally researching the whole story and it is far more detailed.
(*Queen Red, the furthest east section of the invasion)

Bill Millin, Highland bagpipes, landing, Queen Red, Sword Beach. — Bill Millin with his bagpipes landing on the Queen Red section of Sword Beach.

It is an honor to be writing about this man’s role in the June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion and it is important to me that I get it right. I have reached out for every information source I can locate. Presently I have a considerable stack of library books on D-Day, audiobooks and e-books, media on order, one film, along with articles and interviews I’ve found online. Something I am particularly excited about is that I have made contact with Bill Millin’s son and grandson online and they have agreed to review my work once complete. Also, it seems that each time I stop by the library to pick up another piece of media I’ve ordered, I find and buy a D-Day or WWII book from their used book rack. Apparently I’m building my own D-Day/WWII library $3 at a time!

The bronze life-size statue of Piper Bill Millin unveiled on 8 June 2013 at Colleville-Montgomery, near Sword, in France.

As I review these history sources I have found some problems in the information. Generally speaking I have books written by historians and articles written by journalists. Some of the errors I have identified due to my Highland bagpipe playing career. Some of the errors seem to be words and concepts the previous writers did not fully understand. The biggest problem I have been finding is historical inconsistencies. Generally the greater collection of errors come from the journalists — these individuals tend to work at a faster pace with less study than historians. Usually I can sift through the historical inconsistencies by applying information from military documents along with identifying the details that are consistent in history books and interviews from Bill Millin himself.

As said it is an honor to be writing about this man. It is an honor as a bagpiper and as the grandson of WWII veterans. My aim is to help clean up some of the history mistakes that have developed and promote the greater story of Bill Millin’s role in D-Day among my piping peers along with my non-piping readers. I am sure that you too will be impressed by this one aspect of The Greatest Generation and the greatest invasion in the history of the world.

Books and Other Media

The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Day by Cornelius Ryan – This is the seminal D-Day history book behind the film. I am presently about half way through it and it is nothing short of AMAZING! The cast-of-thousands film by Darryl F. Zanuck is really only a brief representation of the book although still well worth viewing.
D-Day / June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of WWII by Stephen E. Ambrose – To his great credit Mr. Ambrose seems to be making a good portion of his career on D-Day/WWII books, and to our benefit! I have listened to his Pegasus Bridge book, largely built using interviews, and found it invaluable. I am looking forward to one of his Eisenhower books along with others.
D-Day / The Air and Sea Invasion of Normandy in Photos by Nicholas A. Veronico – This bran-new 2019 publication may well be the best recent work on the subject. In addition to concise writing it is packed with photos and data — not to mention a bibliography that can’t be beat.
D-Day by Peter Benoit, D-Day / The Invasion of Normandy 1944 by Rick Atkinson, and D-Day by Charlie Samuels – D-Day books for various age youths. Straightforward photos and facts to introduce the next generation to the history and significance of this important day to remember.
D-Day / The WWII Invasion That Changed History by Deborah Hopkinson – I’m frankly disappointed by this book. Picking it up it appears to be on-par with the work of Cornelius Ryan and Stephen Ambrose (ETC) — the book is large and thick — but that is a first impression only. Upon closer inspection, as an author I can tell you there are a few tricks that have been used to make the book appear more impressive. The two main tricks is that the book is not single-spaced and it is loaded with pictures; take out the photos, make it single spaced, and it is half the length at best. This 2018 publication does not appear to present anything new on the topic and is possibly written in such a manner as to not ‘offend’ the Politically Correct (ETC) crowd &/or to spoon-feed D-Day to the delicate middle-grade blue-ribbon crowd. The good thing I can say about the book is that it is worth it for accessing the D-Day related pictures … other than that, other books are in my opinion better information sources whereas this one is comparatively watered-down. And for my uses … no apparent mention of Bill Millin on Sword Beach or at Pegasus Bridge.

If you would like to support my writing endeavours today, please find my book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” on Amazon, Smashwords and their affiliates. 4 Free Recipes are available if you would like to try before you buy.

Announcement, Performance

St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – NO GO

February 17, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

Ouch! … So … Here’s the news …

St. Patrick's Day is broken

Last night the wheels fell off of St. Patrick’s Day 2019 — Nae Regrets, my Celtic-rock band, will not be playing. NR usually has 2 annual gigs, –they are a BLAST to play and the folks hosting us always take good care of us. In and around these gigs — if we can — we try to wedge in a few other performances.

You were the chosen one! — Obi-Wan is disappointed

With St. Pat’s on a Sunday this year my aim for Nae Regrets was to play Friday evening, pull off some gigs Saturday along with busking Emerald City Comic Con, and then do our beloved Sunday gigs then go home and be back at it like normal people come Monday morning. The closer we’ve gotten to St. Pat’s 2019 the more things have fallen apart. Nae Regrets has been on on/off hiatus for a long time, but we have ALWAYS pulled it together and played St. Patrick’s Day. Not playing this year could mean the longest stretch that we haven’t played. I am disappointed to say the least.

When something isn’t happening, don’t force it — it’s time to take a step back.

NFWL big audience for Nae Regrets — I’m Thane — did someone say my name?!?

Rolling with the punches, over the next year’s time I want to work with Thane on the music we’ve been talking about. I’ve always loved what NR does — especially when playing live — however I have wanted to take the music to where I have always imagined it. There are two other musicians I have wanted to bring on as core players and an amazing collection of other gifted artists I would like to have contribute. For some time now Nae Regrets has had 2 albums planned out on paper with more material to follow — but time and logistics have kept things from happening. 2019 will be the year to re-group!

Bummer about St. Pat’s 2019 — in addition to Nae Regrets’ albums, I wanted to bring copies of my book! “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“ is available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book forms. WIBC

Things I Will Not Have To Put Up With Not Playing St. Patrick’s Day 2019

The 3-leaf Shamrock is Irish whereas 4-leaf clovers are Los Vegas

Plastic Paddys
Drunks
Green beer (#cheap, #domestic)
Bad bars
Unappreciative audience members
Over-appreciative audience members
Audience members who won’t GTFO my stage
Four leaf clovers
Drunks
Plastic Paddys
People who think it’s okay to be “Irish for a day” and that means getting drunk and hitting someone
People who think it’s okay to impugn Irish heritage because it’s white people
People who don’t know the first thing about St. Patrick
People who think St. Patrick was only good and fail to also see that he also destroyed a culture and heritage that was perfectly fine on it’s own
People who fail to understand that I am playing Scottish pipes and wearing a Scottish kilt and that the heritages of Scotland and Ireland are not interchangeable … but I’m out there playing because it’s a gig and I need the money

Adventures In Truckdom

AIT Comedy Of Errors

February 10, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

What was it I said yesterday about my truck repairs???

That I needed to… snow

Reinstall the front bumper stuff and grill along with a jerry-rig fix on the grill.
Reinstall a few interior bits.
Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on.
Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, rebuild it and install it Sunday.

What’s happened since???

I worked for 3 hours in the snow, with and sometimes without warm gloves. I got the bumper, bits, and grill on but didn’t have time to get to the jerry-rig. Last night I returned the sandbags to the truck bed, today I put the tailgate back on.

New Age Yuppie Camping — My bumper did not have it nearly this nice

My approach to today was to paint the bumper and then install the interior pieces. The bumper painting went well all things considering. It snowed over night and it was still cold today, including in the garage. I painted the bumper using a product specially made for painting bumpers — which was a trick — because the directions indicate it is to be used between 60 & 90F and the garage was … well, much colder. I pulled off the painting by making a small tent over the bumper using a drop cloth and two sawhorses and then heating the area using a cubicle heater. snow

After that things got interesting …

Hiilarious! The wrap up on my truck repairs produced a comedy of errors. I went to my truck — now parked outside — to install the face-plate that goes over the gauges. To get the space needed to put this in you have to put the vehicle in gear — to put it in gear you have to insert your key into the ignition and turn it part of the way. Since the truck started rough last night I thought I would run it a bit now to charge the battery. It cranked some and then konked out — dead battery, no surprise. Back to the face-plate… snow

I needed to reattach the headlight switch to the face-plate, which is held in by 4 little screws. While putting the first screw in the plastic receptacle broke … so, no face-plate installation today. I’ll glue the broken plastic bit tonight and install it tomorrow. On to the battery … snow

a shit-ton of tools — I had less than this … no really

When I went to pull the battery I put the few tools I had on the passenger seat for easier access to the battery. I popped the hood, got out the drivers side, and went to open the passenger door. I found it is frozen shut. Back to the drivers side to get the tools and pull the battery. Long story short, I need to loosen 3 bolts and the tools I had would only work for one of these. Inside the garage for another tool. Battery out, now for my battery charger. snow

snowy road lonely barn — Kinda like this but not really

I went to my storage space to get my battery charger. It revealed itself quickly, so back to the house to get the charger going on the battery. When I got back to the house I found I locked my keys inside of my storage area. There is a spare key, but right now it is half way across the state and won’t be back for about 24hrs … hopefully. So, my storage key is secure. My truck keys are secure. My house key is secure. All my keys are secure for the next day.

Fantastic.

Fortunately, I can look at this and laugh along with saying “Sometimes this happens.” Good thing I can laugh about it or I might still be outside kicking snow drifts.

PS — something else I said yesterday…

Did you have a frustrating day? I have a remedy for that — make cookies! Yes, make cookies and eat some. It will feel good. What will feel even better is to share your cookies. My book guides you through easy pan cookies, biscotti which is a joy to make, and other assorted cookies (along with some beverages and main courses you’re going to enjoy, but let’s focus on cookies). “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book forms — give a copy to a friend and add one to your collection at home. snow

Adventures In Truckdom

Back On The Snowy Sidewalks

February 8, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

And now, a snowy episode of …

ADVENTURES IN TRUCKDOM!

Jingle Trucks — Not quite this fancy, but you get the idea….

I’ve had my truck off the road during the past number of weeks to complete a few work items on my repair & improve list. There have been a number of delays due to schedule and a major appliance going out at home, and yet my dad & I have chipped away at the work when and where we can. Last night my truck reached a point where it’s ready to go back on the road for a while. This accomplishments with this round of work feels good — it looks like I’m starting to get on top of my to-do list.

Frosty weather, snowy weather, when the wind blows we all go together ... Today I plan to get the front bumper back on my truck — to get my truck in our garage I had to start with taking off both bumpers. Lately our temperatures have been as low as the upper teens and as high as the mid-30s — and we (finally) had our first round of snow. Right now we’re getting our second round of snow. For the next few days it looks like we’re supposed to get more of the teen temps to lower-30s and snow. Snow began to fall again this morning, and so far it’s sticking however it is our warmer wet-snow … and now I’m going outside to work on my truck.

Did someone put their truck in a ditch ... in the snow? — Not actually my truck … same brand and product line however

At this juncture I will skip how our western Washington snow IS in fact different than many other parts of the country, how we DO know how to drive in the snow VRS the southern transplants to Washington State that have no freakin’ clue (including how to drive in snow, rain, sun, etc), and how our wet-cement snow turns to ice along with being on hills that have more or less the same slope as parts of San Francisco.

SO — the remaining work to get my truck back on the sidewalks …. er, I mean, back on the road…

Reinstall the front bumper and other MANLY metal bits along with the grill. There is also a jerry-rig repair I want to finally complete on the grill.
Reinstall a few interior bits now that that the defrost and dash-board lights are operating again.
Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on — minor things, but necessary nonetheless.
Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, get the paint adequately dry, rebuild the bumper (license plate lights and etc-bits), and bolt the bumper back on Sunday.

Yeah, I think that’s it. The first step though is to get my winter clothing located following my move this past summer. I’m and old-school Pacific Northwest boy — up to a point I tend to shake off the rain and snow … but over and around this weekend we’re supposed to get hit with enough snow and cold AND since I’ll be laying on the ground to get bumpers back on … yeah, something a little more serious in the way of clothing is called for.

Oh … PS!

the snowmobile's red haired step child — When I grow up I wanna be a snowmobile!

This time last year my truck was off the road, in a garage, with my dad and I doing work on it. The winter before that I didn’t drive it because I didn’t need to. This is the first time in snow that I might actually get to drive my truck and see how it handles, how I do with it. I was starting to wonder if it was going to notoriously be ‘off the road‘ every winter and I was never going to drive it in the snow. I’ve been all ready for this year — sandbags in the back along with snow tires!

P-PS!

When it comes to inclement weather are you an in-door person? Do you prefer to curl up at home on the couch in a blanket, sipping a favourite hot beverage with a book? If so, grab your preferred online device and order a book — and not just any book but my book — “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book. Over 50 proven recipes including cookies, biscotti, coffee, coffee cake and apple sauce, along with a number of main-course comfort foods you and your friends are sure to enjoy!

Did that sound like an advertisement? If so, good — because I need to sell these things!

Book, E-Book, Performance

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2019 and My Book!

February 6, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

Do you know about Gung Haggis Fat Choy in Seattle?

Do you know about my recipe book on Amazon?

Imagine them together — because
IT’S HAPPENING!

Every year I look forward to the Gung Haggis Fat Choy event in Seattle. I’ve been the ‘Official Piper’ for our state’s version of this Chinese-Scottish cross-cultural dinner-show since it started in this former logging town — it’s a BLAST!

This time a year ago as I was once again preparing for the fun and frivolity of the night, I received an interesting request…. My friend, Bill MacFadden — who’s also the Seattle GHFC host — invited me to present my upcoming recipe book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“. There was just one problem ….

I hadn’t finished it yet!

My book published on Amazon this past fall — 26Oct2018 to be exact! Last year Bill offered for me to include a copy of my book with a plate of my cookies in the pot-luck dessert auction — I couldn’t do it last year so I’m doing it this year 🙂

When I thought about it though, I asked myself “How does my book tie in to this Scottish-Chinese event?!?” The answer to that is simple! In my book I feature how to make traditional Scottish Shortbread along with the history of its importance with Hogmanay (part of Scottish New Years). Also, three of my own bagpipe compositions are featured at the end of the book …

Beag air Bheag (“Little by Little” in Scots Gaelic)

Lullaby For Zoë

Brother Emmett’s Waltz

Debuting my book has been a joy and I’m EXCITED to be bringing it to Gung Haggis Fat Choy in Seattle 2019 — February 24th at China Harbor — see the Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy website for tickets!

Here’s a video of me playing for a Lion at the 2011 event — while the sound-quality leaves a few things to be desired, this performance is one of my biggest memories of playing the Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

Don P. Scobie