Thawing out nicely

It's Wednesday morning and the snow and ice have long gone, replaced by grey skies and unseasonably high temperatures. At least that means I can get out for a cycle this morning - just prior to our cycling group's Xmas lunch at the golf club.

We did our usual Inverurie trip yesterday. Gary was off work - still not fully recovered from the cold/flu he had last week - but we went ahead and picked up Luca from school anyway. Jo had arranged a picnic style tea - at Luca's request - and we ate it on the floor of their living room:

Sorry about the lack of focus.

We'd been to Costco beforehand and I spotted a balaclava style hood/mask which will do me nicely for cycling in colder weather conditions. I also picked up my new driving glasses, and I'm wearing them in this photo:

The big round mirror we recently acquired has been moved from the hall downstairs to our back/TV room - and Jo is much happier with this location. It's like a porthole through to the kitchen.

It's exactly a year to the day since I formally resigned as Director of all the Group companies. Tempus fugit.

Sunday evening

Lucy's on FaceTime just now - I just listen in as she and Jo natter away. I don't think they're quite going to make the 2 hour mark tonight.

Jo's been busy preparing food for the Seniors lunch at the church - that kept her going Friday morning and a good chunk of Saturday too, but she managed to squeeze in her usual Friday afternoon swim as well. Whilst she was doing that, I decided to get some more of the pub surveys done, plus delivery of our quarterly newsletters and membership forms. Ballater, Tarland, Aboyne & Feughside were all done, but I passed on Braemar - maybe another time.

Got some golf in this morning - winter course. It was a beautiful day - cloudless skies and not a breath of wind, but the temperature never got above about 2 C.

This week, I have to pick up my new driving glasses from Costco, and we should really start putting the Xmas decorations up - and buy a tree of course. It's our Cyclists Xmas lunch at the golf club on Wednesday and we have a Headbang on Friday night. Dawn, Barry & Helen are coming up on Sunday - not sure yet whether it's just for the afternoon or whether they'll stay overnight.

To close, here's a photo Jo took of me in St. Andrews Brewing Co on Wednesday:

Whoops - it's sideways!

From this weekend's Deeside Piper, there was a photo of the foreign fishermen wearing the hats that Jo's been knitting for them these last couple of years: