Dad

My Dad's back in hospital again - same problem - they couldn't get him to take his drugs and he's irregular and dehydrated. Hopefully a day or so on a drip in hospital will sort him out again.

Luca was bright as a button again this morning and waved me off to work again. On the other hand, there's Ross, who was also up when I left - he's trying to get back to a non bat-like routine again and is on 36 hour days now. It would certainly help if he could be awake long enough during daylight hours to get something done about moving at least one of the cars from our drive - even Derek is getting frustrated with his lack of action.

Playing 6 a side footy tonight at Goals - then a few ales in the Douglas later on. I've also been invited again by Malcolm to go to Pittodrie again tomorrow - he's got a spare seat.

Empty nest syndrome

Yes - as you'll have read from Jo's blog, she's suffering from ENS again - she even had to wear Kelly's sweat shirt last night:

Why is Kelly's sweat shirt still here, you may ask? Well, it was a last minute panic yesterday morning when they realised their bags were overweight and ended up ditching half their stuff in our house!

That's all for now.

Beautiful weekend

I did manage to stroll across to the golf club last night. Dusk was settling and the sky above was stunning - all reds and blues. Unfortunately, I only had my Blackberry with me, so the quality of the photos I was able to take was pretty poor:

Today after golf, Jo had organised an al fresco lunch in the back garden. Here's Craig helping to set up:

Gary, Carole and Luca arrived a little late after some car trouble. Gary thought he needed a beer - and he tried one of my birthday ales - but the jury was out as far as he and Carole were concerned:

No, the beer wasn't that bad - it's just Carole's usual camera shyness:

Kelly and Craig didn't mind having their picture taken:

Luca was saying cheese again but the timing was all wrong:

Jo worked on him, however and eventually they both grinned happily for the camera:

9/11 memories

Check out my Facebook page to see my comments and a photo memory of that horrible time in 2001 - never to be repeated we hope.

On a more pleasant front, here's a short montage of photos of Cade at camp (click to enlarge) - note Scott kneeling in the top one:

Some kind of bug going round - Ross wasn't too good yesterday and I came home from the Broch, had my tea and went straight to bed - at 6:30 pm! Still don't feel great today and I've cancelled my football tonight - although I hope that I can manage a swift beer and some golf in the morning.

Disaster averted

Well, we got past 09/09/09 and I didn't hear tales of planes crashing or superbugs affecting the ICBM system - hopefully that's the last we'll hear of millennium bugs and their like.

I got the wrong photo of Cade's football - he was in white this year! Will correct in due course.

Kirriemuir was lovely yesterday but the same can't be said about the Scotland - Holland result. As a nation we thrive in despondency, and we don't do euphoria very well, so perhaps it's just as well we didn't make it to South Africa next year - I might have been tempted to go!

Nothing much else to report other than the fact that it's sweltering here in my office in Fraserburgh - can't take much more - will have to leave soon!

No room at the Inn

The Cornish contingent arrived in Banchory about tea time and they were followed a little later by Gary, Luca and Sima, so it was pretty much full house last night. The first thing Kelly and Craig wanted to do was shower - followed by catching up with e-mails, blogs, Facebooks etc:

Sima didn't want to be ignored:

Craig checked that his iPod was properly charged again:

We tried in vain to get a snap of Luca actually looking at the camera, but he's obviously got his mother's anti-camera thing going on. He's learned now to say "cheese" but he moves his head down immediately after saying it and you don't get a chance to take a snap:

Eventually Gary enticed him to keep his grin for a bit longer and I just about caught the moment:

Sun's shining today and it's looking good for my Seniors match at Kirriemuir this afternoon - and I'll get back in plenty of time to watch the key Scotland - Holland match - fingers crossed.

Back to work again

First of all, I think this is the photo of Cade in action (in blue) that Lucy tried to refer us to on the official photogarpher's web site, which is a little awkward to use:


Hope I've got the right one!

The downpour on Thursday caused the postponement of our golf at Aboyne on Friday afternoon, so I was sitting in the office late afternoon when I got a late call up for the football instead. I hadn't played for a while so I was more than a little apprehensive, but it was OK - at least until Saturday morning when I tried to play golf - boy, was I sore and stiff!

Our weekend at Boat of Garten went well - and we avoided the rain. Photos on my golf blog. On the way back, we always stop at the Boat Inn for a swift pint bought by the winner (Syd). I was delighted to see that they had 2 Deeside ales on - one of them my birthday brew, Nechtan. Here I am enjoying it:

We had aromatic crispy duck and Ross cut his cake last night. Today, Kelly and Craig are on their way up here - they're making good progress and should be here about tea time tonight - Gary and Luca are coming over as well.

Aberdeen monsoon

It's been raining in almost biblical proportions for the last 24 hours - our golf today was washed out and it's not looking good for our weekend at Boat of Garten.

I've just had 2 consecutive days at the dentist - with more to come. I changed my mind yesterday and told her that I'd decided after all to get the tooth that I broke in USA crowned - first time I've ever done this. It's pretty pricey - hope it works OK.

I sorted out the accidental double booking that I made in Oz for Kelly and Craig - but the trade-off was that I had take another exchange quickly - so I did - Marriott's Newport Coast Villas next March - so that's when we'll be going to USA next year. Cade and Braeden are off school that week, so we hope they can all join us then.

Last night we got invited by Richard Simcox to the Jazz Night at the Milton - and very nice it was too. You won't be surprised that Jo had the Creme Brulee (as I did) - and she thought it was absolutely spiffing!

Keith and Annette Gray took us there and back. Here, she and Keith are all ears:

Yes - it was Richard in full flow that they were listening to:

Rubble

I heard that awful crunching sound as I left to go to work today and I nipped next door to investigate. This is all that is now left of our squash courts:

I knew it was happening, but it's still pretty sad to see it. Still, try to remember the good times and the friends made there over the last 26 years.

It's also the last night of our midweek golf tonight - it's all downhill from here!

September

Carole King had a hit in 1962 with "It might as well rain until September" and, according to some people, it has. I can't say I share that view - I suppose we missed a lot of the wet weather when we were in USA in July - but it's not been too bad over the last month, I naively thought - that was until I heard the weather girl this morning say that Eskdalemuir has had its wettest August ever - mind you, that is the West of Scotland for you.

Anyway, now that it is actually September, let's hope for better things.

I did finish my book last night - very enjoyable - you can read a synopsis of it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_22 - but it's a pretty heavy analysis and not exactly an advert for reading the book - but don't be put off if you fancy reading it.

Last night we were trawling Interval International's web site for possible holiday exchanges for next year. Jo fancied a seaside resort this time and we found one I've been trying to get for years - Marriott's Newport Coast Villas, just south of LA - http://www.marriott-vacations.com/vacation/resorts/marriott-newport-coast-villas/overview.html. Looks very nice and exchanges are currently available for the week 19th - 26th March, 2010 (when the boys are on Easter break) and then from April 24th through until May 23rd, with another week available from September 10th to 17th. The only potential problem is that the Interval site says "The resort is undergoing construction/renovation, which is a continuation of the resort's development." I don't think we should be too worried about that - Marriott are usually pretty careful about how they manage this, but Jo was a trifle concerned.

There was also the possibility of one in the Napa Valley - http://www.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=291. This is available from April 30th all the way through the summer - pick your week.

No more thoughts for today - other than the fact that Jo's going to have her hands full getting the house back in a fit state for Kelly and Craig next week. Mmmm - on second thoughts, their standards are pretty low nowadays - "pikey" living, as Craig calls it.

Bank holiday blues

Back to the Broch today when it seems the whole of the rest of the country is on holiday. The house is in chaos as well as the bedrooms are getting painted - where to go, what to do?

No golf last Saturday - although Friday at St Andrews Bay was good - so I took up the offer of a ticket at Pittodrie for the Motherwell match. Now I remember why I cancelled our season tickets this year.

Going to finish my book tonight - Catch 22 - a classic - always meant to read it and now I've finally done it - almost. It seems to me like M.A.S.H. pilfered a lot of the style and the references from Catch 22 for the movie and TV series.

Sad to see the nights drawing in - this is the last week of our midweek golf - off to Boat of Garten Sunday/Monday as well - but not before I have to endure another 2 sessions at the dentist.

Mince & tatties for tea tonight - nice! Followed by leftover meringue from yesterday - yummy!

Anyway, I was consoling myself by checking on possible holiday locations for next year. Seems there's a few exchanges available just now, so might book soon. Need to find out when the boys are off school in 2010.

Squash

This rather grainy photo was taken with my Blackberry this morning. I had heard that the squash courts had been demolished - we hadn't heard anything from Arbor Court, but I thought I would check anyway, and I was horrified to see contractors there and the exterior cladding already removed:

On the face of it, this is a poor start to community relations for the new owners. They knew why we had been trying to organise a meeting for the last 2 months and had stalled us on the basis that they wanted to wait until Charlie Anderson arrived here from Canada and had a proper look at the hotel – which he has done over the last couple of weeks. They could at least have waited until they met us before starting demolition, but they obviously decided that they wanted to make it a fait accompli before we could present our case.

I have been in touch with the hotel manager, Peter Ferguson – who, we now understand is only there on a temporary basis for 3 months – and have arranged to meet him on Monday. I am making no comment to the local press at this time, although I have alerted them to check it out for themselves. There is another rumour going around that they are preparing to put in new sports facilities - let's wait and see what they say next week.

So - St Andrews Bay for me this afternoon - on another windy day. I can't remember the last time I was there and it wasn't windy. Still, it might keep the rain away!

Another short blog

Just to keep things ticking along, a quick posting today following yesterday's marathon effort - more words and pictures in that one than some people have posted in total in the last 2 months - no names, no pack drill, but she's busy sorting out the painter who's at our house with the unenviable task of doing up Ross' room - plus a few others.

Belated 55th birthday to Barry on Saturday and to Kieran, who was 20 on Sunday.

I think my cold/congestion is finally easing. I actually went to Bannatyne's at lunchtime today - not to do any real exercise - a couple of slow lengths, that's all - but to go to the steam room and try to clear my head and chest a bit.

Tomorrow is the first of 4 sessions at the dentist in the next couple of weeks. I've got 2 appointments with the hygienist - one each to clear out a couple of "pockets"; plus another 2 with the dentist to fix the 2 bits of tooth I lost over the summer. She wanted to crown one of them, but I've asked her to try a filling and a pin first of all to see if this will work or not.

Guess what? I must have put in 2 separate requests to Interval to find Kelly and Craig a timeshare swap - another one came through this morning - same place, same week, and right next door to each other! Duh! Anyone want a week's timeshare in Adelaide in January?

Fringe diary

Pictorial reporting of our weekend in Edinburgh. We drove down with Colin and Johanne and went straight to our first show - Me, Mum and Dusty Springfield - a one woman show in a small, intimate setting - her Mum's ashes were on the table and she was talking to the urn about how she was the b.....d love child of Tom Jones. It took us a while to figure out that she was talking about tribute acts - her Mum was "Dusty Springfield" and her alleged father was "Tom Jones"!

We then went back to check in at our oh so healthy and worthy B & B - McRae's Organic B & B, where we stayed last year. It's actually quite nice - the owners are a youngish Irish couple. A stroll up Broughton St and in for a couple of beers at the Cask & Barrel, then we headed up to the Assembly Hall on the Mound again. Here's Jo and I on the way up with the backdrop of the very impressive former HQ of the Bank of Scotland for the last few centuries - now sadly just part of Lloyds Bank:


The show we saw was Alistair McGowan - he really was terrific in front of a live audience in a small venue. His voices were spot on and he managed to morph from one voice in to another virtually seamlessly. Even a famous TV impressionist like him can suffer from stage fright however - he lost the plot at one stage, but, like the true professional he is, he managed to smooth it over and get back on track very quickly. We were hanging around in the quadrangle outside after the show and I spotted a guy in a white flat cap - it was Alistair McGowan himself on the way to another show. It was a coolish evening and, believe me, he needs some insulation up top! Colin appears to be almost stalking him here:

On the way home we passed a chippie with a very tempting offer:

and their coup de grace was a classic piece of Scottish "culture":

On Saturday morning, we walked up to Charlotte Square to the Literary Festival. Coffee, the morning papers and a nice seat in the sunshine, plus a few new books - excellent. We walked through Princes St gardens towards our first show of the day:

passing the Memorial gardens on the way:

The lunchtime show was called Ella, Marlene, Marilyn and Me - an Australian singer in another one woman "play", which was really a vehicle to display her singing talents. She did terrific versions of the three divas - Fitzgerald, Dietrich and Monroe. Great show.

Later on we went to see Paul Merton's Impro Chums, which was basically the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway, with four of the other stars who appeared there, including Richard Vranch (who also played keyboards), Mike McShane (somewhat overweight, but very funny American), Lee Simpson, and Suki Webster, who just happens to be Paul Merton's current partner - he used to be married to Carolin Quentin, but they divorced in 1998. He then had a relationship with the actress and producer Sarah Parkinson, but she died from breast cancer in 2003. Anyway the show was hilarious - genuine improvisation.

We then went walkabout and happened upon Koi Japanese restaurant (http://www.koiedinburgh.co.uk/) - they had a Teppanyaki table, and as Colin and Johanne had never tried this unique form of dining, we thought we'd give it a go. The chef was very entertaining and, as well as taking this photo with my camera, he took one with his own camera. Maybe we'll be starring on their web site soon?:

Can't remember where I saw this, but I thought our Grandson would like it:

We walked past the castle on the way back, down past the Caledonian Hotel, where Rebus' last novel, Exit Music, was centred. We had a look inside but were disappointed that we couldn't find any suspicious looking Russians in booths (oblique reference if you don't read Ian Rankin). Nonetheless, a photo had to be taken:

Sunday had been forecast to be wet and that was when we were due to be going back to the Foodies at the Fringe, which had been moved from the crowded, but dry, corridors of the Sheraton Hotel to the wilds of Holyrood Park. It was pretty muddy underfoot, but the weather wasn't half as bad as we feared. We went to a cookery demonstration and then the Cairngorm Brewery one, after which we sat outside and listened to Out of the Blue, a young acappella group from Oxford. By coincidence, Dave Williamson had recommended them to us. Here they are doing their version of the Four Seasons' December '63:

A few more stalls were visited and samples consumed, before we headed off up over Arthur's Seat and out west to Balerno. I couldn't resist going back to Cherry Tree Loan and checking out the house we sold in 1983:

Jo didn't like what they had done with "her" front window!