Grants Pass - and still some connection issues

Trying to figure out what's wrong with my settings in Outlook that won't let me send e-mails from USA this year - tried every combination and failed so far - have referred to our IT people - very frustrating - so don't expect too many e-mails until this matter is resolved!

Portland

Early start, but catching a direct flight from Amsterdam to Portland meant we were there just after noon, west coast time. Immigration in Portland is a lot easier here than elsewhere - that is, unless you have a radioactive wife - I'll let Jo tell you about her immigration experience.

We had to try and stay awake however for a bit longer than usual, so we went for a walk along the river front just opposite our hotel:


We caught them filming a Macdonald's commercial:

After our stroll around the city centre, we went back and caught up with everyone and went out for dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant - which also had some lovely cask conditioned ale!

Dad

Here's a brief video of Dad strolling in the garden last Tuesday:

Luca last Friday

The bold boy stayed over last Friday - and he's already developing Ross-like tendencies if this photo's anything to go by:



I picked up my first case of my beer from Deeside Brewery - this was the first time I had tasted it - the photo was taken by Luca!:



and here's a brief video of Luca in action on Jo's computer:

Bringing it all back up to date

I've been pretty busy - check my golf and football blogs for my activities from Friday to Monday. The golf trip to Harrogate was particularly good this year - so much better than last, when we got soaked in Cornwall.

Our hotel was in the centre of town and the view from my bedroom window was:


Turn sharp right when you come out of the hotel and this is what you see:

Yes - Harrogate's an old spa town - and it's got some good golf courses, not to mention, like the rest of Yorkshire, some excellent ales. This was the front door of our hotel:

Looks a bit better than it really was. It was hot and I couldn't open the windows - in fact, they hadn't been opened in 40 years it seemed. Still the consolation was that it made all of our group - even Syd, who's 70 now - feel very young, as busload after busload of really old fogeys trooped in.

Anyway, must go and do some packing. Got a lot of work to do tomorrow and hopefully some golf in the evening, then off on the redeye to Amsterdam on Thursday morning.

Tor-na-Coille hotel

Not happy - having heard earlier that the Tor-na-Coille hotel had finally been sold, we hoped that we could once more have access to our squash courts there, but I've just heard that the new owners apparently have plans to demolish the courts - on the grounds of health and safety! We can only assume that the wicked witch has been feeding poison to the new owners - we need to get the word out quickly!

There's no doubt that, internally, there'll be some cleaning up work to be done after 3 years or so of non-use, but, structurally and externally, the building is sound - after all we put a new roof and new external cladding on just 3 years ago.

Just when we thought we were finally getting a break!

Quick update

Yes, I know - I haven't been blogging this week - but I haven't had much chance - it's all been go, go, go. Rushed from my board meeting on Monday afternoon straight down to Balmoral, picking up Jas, Dick and Malcolm on the way. We had a wonderful evening down there - best ever - and even the midges didn't bother us too much, unlike previous years.

By the time we'd played golf, then had our meal - bread, cheese, ham and nibbles brought in and washed down with some bottles of beer - then I'd dropped off the others, it was 1 am before I was home. I was up early on Tuesday and down to Glasgow for a meeting at 9:30 am. I went over to Erskine to see Dad afterwards, but arrived at lunchtime so decided best to wait half an hour until they'd all eaten, so I just lay horizontal on the grass and took in some rays and gently closed my eyes.

Dad was OK, although looking frailer each time I see him. I took him outside in to the garden to get some air, exercise and some sunshine. He seemed to enjoy it and we sang a few songs together, but, after a while, he got a bit restless and decided it was time for us to part. Who should leave? Him or me? He wandered round the garden and tested all the gates - closed, I'm afraid - why won't the gardener open them, he seemed to be thinking. Each time he wandered back and just waved at me, and, after a while, I took the hint and left:

I charged up the road and made it home in time to grab a sandwich - thanks, Jo - before heading up to Torphins for a much delayed foursomes tie. We lost, but I didn't care - it would only have created further diary problems if we'd won.

Wednesday was thankfully spent in the Aberdeen office - baking. I played at Banchory at 5:30 pm and it was still over 30 degrees C - amazing! I had my best round of the season - gross 73, net 63 - but was only 5th in the medal - tough school! I did, however, get my handicap cut and I'm now officially a single figure handicapper again. I've been here before, but it was in my late 40's, but here I am in my 60's and back down to 9 again.

Today was Fraserburgh and tonight it's just catching up with blogging - check my golf blog for some photos.

Tomorrow afternoon, it's the Football Group annual golf outing - Lumphanan this time - then it's off to Harrogate early on Saturday morning - hope the great weather holds - there's now some doubt about potential thunderstorms etc - surely we won't be as unlucky as last year?

I spoke to Rob at Deeside Brewery today and I'm going to pick up my case of 12 bottles tomorrow. Next task is to design a label - any ideas for "Scolty Ale"? Picture of Scolty, or me - or both - or neither? Narrative?

Tough schedule ahead

Football on Friday was followed by golf on Saturday morning (did surprisingly well considering how sore and stiff I was), then squash doubles on Saturday evening. It was a lovely day again.

Jo and I watched a movie on Saturday night - so good I can't remember the title nor anything much about it!

On Sunday morning, more golf, but no sunshine - warm and still but a bit cloudy. After that, it was a quiet Sunday - Jo's been feeling a bit low and drowsy - perhaps the drugs? - so we spent a fair bit of time watching Glastonbury plus a few music recordings on Sky +, then had tea. Jo made a wonderful - and apparently fairly healthy - rhubarb crumble. Jo will fill in the details for those interested.

Tonight it's our annual outing to Balmoral - it's usually a fairly late night - and a bit boozy, apart from those that have to drive, which includes me tonight - perhaps just as well, as I have to go down to Glasgow first thing in the morning - we've just changed insurance brokers and our policies expire tomorrow night, so I have to review their proposals in the morning. Still it gives me a chance to go and see Dad as well. What's not so good is that I have a tie to play at Torphins at 5:30 pm, so it's dash, dash, dash everywhere.

On Wednesday, it's our usual Quaich night - day's respite from golf on Thursday - then it's the football group golf outing to Lumphanan on Friday afternoon, immediately followed by our Summer Tour - this year we're driving down to Harrogate. Remember last year, we flew to Cornwall and it was a horrendous weekend? I'll get home from this trip on Monday evening then 2 days in the office and then we're off to USA on Thursday 9th! Great!

Anyway, best go now - got a Board Meeting this afternoon and have to prepare for it.

Blogging

Gary - your bluff (if it was) seemed to work - at least with Lucy and Kelly!

More presents!

Another day, another present. Last night, it was the tickets for the Neil Young concert - today, I received a parcel from USA with my Father's Day gift - a "Gramp-li-fy" t-shirt:

Next week, my beer perhaps? Yummy!

Neil Young

Sore and tired today - getting too old to play a round of golf and then stand for 2 hours on the concrete floor at AECC. Neil Young was great however, but, boy was I glad to sit down after the concert!

Jo survived the experience - here she is at the start - looking for the exits - she was freaked out by the crowd!:

I think Jo enjoyed the quieter accoustic spell in the middle of the concert - the longer, louder guitar solos at the start and finish of the concert from the so-called "Godfather of Grunge" left her cringing a bit at times - particularly on the many false endings of his last number, Rockin' in the Free World. Jo thought he had started and finished the concert with the same song, but it was in fact Hey hey, My my that he opened with - although I can see how she could get confused - they're both pretty similar, although written and recorded a decade apart. I had been told what his encore would be, but it was still a bit of a surprise to hear him doing A Day in the Life - although he did a pretty good job on a song that even the Beatles never did live.

(The football and golf blogs have got photos and videos from yesterday.)

Forgot to tell you about a fascinating incident the other day. I came home from work on Tuesday and Amy from number 6 came over to see me. She asked me how long the tree swing had been up in Arbor Court? I'm not sure, I said - 15 years maybe? Well, did I object to the kids playing on the grass or on the swing? - not at all, I said. Finally, she told me - the nutter from number 3 had cut the swing down! Apparently she said that she did not want to be responsible under Health & Safety for one of the kids having an accident!

Amy also revealed that Gayle from number 2 had also had a run-in with our Irish friend, so we're not alone! Armed with the information that everyone else in the street was happy to have the tree swing, Amy went and put it back up again:

Watch this space for future developments!

And Gary - no, it's not acceptable to just stop your blog. I know I have been bleating about others not updating regularly, but if you stop, how else will we know what's happening with you lot? You don't phone - unless you need a babysitter - and you've never Skyped, unlike Lucy.

Sunshine - bring it on!

The day has started with early morning haar in Aberdeen, but this usually means glorious afternoon sunshine in Deeside - roll on my 2:15 pm tee time. After golf, it's back to the haar to see Neil Young at AECC tonight. Jo and I are going along - I've warned her about Neil's extended guitar solos - dentists' drills she calls them - hope she copes OK. It's going to be a long evening, standing - no seats available - but thanks to Kelly and Craig for the tickets.

Another birthday present I've still to collect is my beer from Deeside Brewery, courtesy of Gary and Carole. Must get in touch with Rob - it must be ready to roll out to the pubs.

Jo had a bit of a Homer "Duh" moment in her blog - she asked us to name all the kids in the photo - well, of course, it's Sasha and Karl. How did I know? Click on the photo and all is revealed - Jo named the photo herself! Their parents were Ray and Chris Barrie and they lived a couple of doors along from us in Caldecot Way, Broxbourne.

Weary

Golfed out - that's me. I'm sitting here in my Aberdeen office looking at the glorious day outside and normally I'd be champing at the bit to get out on the golf course, but it's all been a bit much recently and I'm very glad to give it a rest tonight.

I'll tell you how bad it is - I had qualified in the last 32 and played in the 3rd round of the John Marr Trophy (no, I don't know who he is either) last night. I had a pretty average round and it was touch and got whether I made the cut to the last 16 to be played on Thursday evening. For once, I was delighted when I got the e-mail this morning to tell me that I'd finished 19th and didn't have to play on Thursday!

It's just an accumulation and it always happens in June each year. There's more to come - I'm playing my usual Wednesday Quaich game tomorrow (in the afternoon as we're going to see Neil Young at AECC in the evening) and then there's football on Friday, golf at Banchory on Saturday and Sunday mornings, then our annual late night trip to Balmoral on Monday, followed by a tie at Torphins on Tuesday etc etc. Roll on the holiday!

The poll results haven't been matched by action - most said they preferred blogs, but, if you look at them, the number of postings is dropping rapidly. I'm as guilty as anyone - it used to be an average of at least one daily (30 or so a month), but the last 3 months have had only 22, 15 and 10 respectively. Is it the time of year, or are we getting fed up of blogs? Vote now.

What a lovely Father's Day

St Andrews was great on Friday - but windy - see golf blog for photos.



Colin didn't get out of hospital on Friday as we thought he would, but he did eventually manage to persuade them yesterday to let him out "on parole" for the weekend. He has to go back in on Monday to get the results of his 24 hour heart monitor.



Today has been great - shorts weather. Golf was fun this morning and we got to sit out on the balcony afterwards. When I came home, Jo was out in the back garden potting:

I'd had enough sun in the morning so I was quite happy to settle down in front of the TV to take in the Grand Prix, then the Twenty20 final, followed by the 3rd round of the US Open - and Wimbledon starts tomorrow - great!

Gary came over with Luca and Sima - plus some chocolates!

Luca loves spending time with his Gran - I secretly filmed the two of them on the balcony:

Well, that was the Summer Solstice - all downhill from here!