Hogmanay & New Year

It was Hogmanay and it come to 1:30 pm - or midnight Adelaide time, but there were no Australians to be found - but that didn't stop some from an early New Year's celebration:

Chris and Kelly returned later on and we all went out to the Derbar for their buffet:

We decided to see New Year in at the flat at Inchmarlo. Jo and I walked up there and were greeted by this sight when we arrived:

We stood on the balcony and watched the Tor-na-Coille Hotel's fireworks from a distance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZuRtjRWvG4

It was back to in-house catering on New Year's Day - Jo's steak pie. Braeden performed his party trick at dinner:

I tried to arrange a family photo, but some folk can never sit still for the camera:

January 2nd brought another trip over the hill to Drumtochty to have a proper look at this potential wedding venue (summer 2016 possibly). It's a magnificent private house that you basically hire for 3 days or so, and they arrange the wedding there for you. Here's some of the views from inside the house:

It was also the day of the Lumphanan Detox 10K and Lucy and Gary were taking part, so, after dropping off Chris and Kelly in Banchory, I dashed up there to watch the race. I saw them off at the mass start:

(also in video format at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A70ra6YVoyg)

I then wandered round Lumphanan whilst they ran over the hills and through the mud in the fields. It's Macbeth country of course, and I came across this:

I also bumped in to these people:

Carole, Luca and Yoda had come to see Gary finish. It was another high quality field, won yet again by the amazing Robbie Simpson, who finished light years ahead of the rest. Gary did a respectable 44 minutes on what is a difficult, slowish course - I reckoned he was about 69th. Lucy wasn't feeling her best and took just over the hour, but she looked very cheerful at the finish:

Here they are together:

The Last Supper had to be a fish one, and Ross came along and enjoyed some of the left-overs and re-heats. The Lesinas were staying overnight with us.

This morning (Friday), we were all up at stupid o'clock and Jo and I drove them - and their considerable luggage - to the airport, and said our farewells:

One lot down, one to go - tomorrow (Saturday) evening. This place is sure going to feel different next week when it's just Jo and I again.