Clan MacFarlane Worldwide, Inc.

Happy Halloween!  

Steve and I are living in an "adults only" community of RVs, so unfortunately, I will not be able to enjoy the little kids in costumes this year.  I won't get to hear the doorbell ring, and I won't get to hand out candy to kids holding onto their plastic pumpkin basket.  But, I can remember my own Halloween runs at the neighbohood for the haul of candy that would last several weeks as my mother doled it out slowly.

My favorites were, of course, Baby Ruth, Mr. Goodbar, Butterfinger, and bubble gum.  Although I am well past my 50's, those were the candies of choice for me many moons ago. There are other candies, of course.  Someone just posted something to facebook about the little wax bottle of coca cola.  There were fizzy straws, Necco's, Mary Jane candy, Milk Duds, Bonamo taffy, and suckers with safety handles (not sure what made them any safer than any other lollipop or sucker, but that was what they were called). There were Popcorn balls and chiclets.  I would collect little rolls of lifesavers and Sweetarts along with rootbeer barrels, lots and lots of Tootsie rolls in a variety of sizes, little boxes of raisinettes and goobers, candy corn in little clear packets, and jaw breakers.  I broke my jaw as a 4-year-old from my dare devil days on a tricycle, so I have always been a bit leery of jawbreakers...

And the list could go on.  Long before Willy Wonka candy appeared, the variety of what we collected from the neighborhood was always such a joy.  I think I actully learned simple addition and subtraction with. my Halloween haul.  "If I have 4 Tootsie rools, and I steal 2 more from my sister, Martha, won't I now have 6?!"

I have lived overseas and I know that the candy from country to country is not the same.  So what about the old favorites of children in Scotland?  I found a great website that not only describes all the candy for children, but provides nice photos of each one:  "11 Sweets You'll Remember if You Grew up in Scotland" provides a very nice list of the candies I've never heard of:

1.  Wham Bar

2.  Highland Toffee Bar

3.  Creamola Foam (like our fizzy sticks - filled with a powder you dropped in water to make a fizzy drink)

4.  Cola Cubes (hard candy)

5.  Irn Bru Bar

6.  Sherbert Fountain (comes with a licorice stick to allow the child to suck the contents out of the bag that looks very much like a stick of dynamite)

7.  Chocolate Cigarettes (Oh!  We had these.  My parents forbid me from having these... I suppose they thought I would pick up a nasty habit.  I also think ours had a ton of powdered surgar enclosed so that you could blow smoke out of your mouth after you sucked into your mouth whatever was in it.)

8.  Soor Plooms

9.  Love Hearts (We have these at Valentine time.  You know the ones with sweet little sayings on them.)

10.  Bon Bons

11.  Pop Rocks - Ummm... the article shows something called "Fizz Wiz" that is supposed to be sweet and produce very loud noises.  I have never experienced anything like this.  But there was that one time (not in band camp), my sister, Vashti, and I were commuting to law school.  Vashti was driving her car, and I spied a tin can of bubble gum in the back seat.  Obviously, this was her kids' gum, but I thought we should share her kids' gum for entertainment, so Vashti took a green gum ball, and I took a blue one.  It was yummy!  The gum lasted almost the entire 40-minute drive to class.  Then in an effort to tidy my not-so-tidy hair, I used the mirror and discovered my lips were blue.  My teeth were blue.  My tongue was certainly blue.  I checked with Vashti, and she was a mirror image of me, but in the color green.  We had a great laugh at how ridiculous we looked, and then realized we were scheduled to speak in one of our classes.... perhaps NOT a great time to explore with her kids' gum balls from a tin can!

Well, no matter the haul of candy the kids will get this season, I know that children everywhere are just waiting for the sun to lower today so they can "hit the road" with their plastic pumpkin. As for me and the other adults in my little neighborhood, I was warned that there is some goofy woman travels in her personal golf cart, going door-to-door asking for a "touch" of something for her highball glass.  Geesh... I haven't heard the term "highball" in a very long time.  

I'm certainly getting older.  I guess I better find a bottle of Whisky for later tonight... or just leave our light off.  

Happy Halloween!

Kilts and Cowboy Boots

Gathering of the Clans 

Can you hear it?  The battle cry of your clansmen? The call for help defending their honor? The weeping? Can you hear the Call?

If you attend the San Antonio Highland Games in April 2020, you will hear the Call! There will be a historic battle to the last tartan pleat. Clans Colquhoun, MacFarlane, MacGregor, and Scott will be combatants against each other. Professional athletes will retire while Clan teams battle for bragging rights on the field in tug-of-war, backward sheaf toss, rustling of the “coos” competitions.  Come and support your Clan claim the championship maug. Click to register (opens October 14th)

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Clan drinks reception with Participant Clans and Clan Chiefs

Clan Scottish Heritage Quiz Competition
Tales of Our Heritage by Guest Speakers
San Antonio  Highland Games including *Clan Battle with Clan MacGregor, Clan Scott and Clan MacFarlane on the games field.

*Hand to hand combat, tug-o-war, wheat sheaf hurling.

Clan Dinner and Reception at Pedrotti’s NORTH WIND Ranch

The October 2019 Loch Sloy! is now digitally available.  

Click the attachment (visible with a paid membership) to download.

Clan MacFarlane Worldwide, Inc. is proud to announce its 2020 trip to Scotland, beginning June 30, 2020. The Annual Members Meeting will take place July 1.  Non members can join the trip so If you are not registered, please do so. The information packet is attached with itinerary, hotels, pricing. You can also email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and the info and registration forms will be e-mailed to you. Hope to see you there!