Dad

My Dad's out of hospital now - he seemed quite happy to be back "home" at Erskine and even had some soup when he arrived. Doctor goes in to see him today.

I'm picking my new car up today sometime - I have to go to the dentist first of all, as I lost the temporary crown she put in last week, and the new crown hasn't arrived from Switzerland yet.

Equinox

We're now on the cusp of the Autumnal Equinox - and it feels like it too. We had a glorious weekend - week, in fact - but you can feel - and see - the seasons changing. Early morning mists and dew on the ground - it's lovely, but it is a harbinger of things to come.

I must say I like the feel of the change, but, for some reason, I'm back to waking earlier each morning - you would think it would be the other way round, but here I am, awakening in darkness each day - strange.

As Jo said in her blog, we Skyped with Kelly and Lucy last night - it was really weird seeing the 2 sisters side by side with the same mannerisms - like 2 peas in a pod. Incidentally, we were in Utah this year, not Ohio - perhaps the changing seasons are affecting Jo's equilibrium too - certainly her geography.

I read my CAMRA quarterly Beer magazine and there was an article from Roger Protz, probably the best known writer on the subject - and someone who also works with Anne's brother, Tom Cannavan - and the following may be of interest to Craig - some advice on how to find interesting ale Down Under (click to enlarge):


The opposite page had an advert for Adelaide's leading ale brand:

Dad's still in hospital but they're planning to let him out tomorrow. According to Dawn, he's still refusing treatment, so they're just going to have to let him go. Not sure what the implications are, but we're actually due to have his 6 monthly assessment at Erskine next week.

I'm arranging all the finance etc for my new car today - hopefully pick it up on Wednesday.

Multiplication

It was a hit by Bobby Darin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_darin) in 1962, but he was singing about the human race - but it's happening to the cars in our driveway. My hope in my last blog posting was that we might be losing one of them soon, but when I came home from work on Friday, the exact opposite had happened and another one had appeared - the Audi convertible, which had been parked at D.I.S.C. next door, had been moved in to our driveway, apparently at the suggestion of Derek Glass, who didn't think it was a good idea to leave a soft top there, out of site.

So this is the view from our balcony now:

Jo's hurt her back again - she walked to the garden centre today and she said it was the walk back downhill that did it. Incidentally, she still hasn't taken Kelly's top off - she's worn it every day since she left! She's on a diet again - poor girl. Hopefully she won't let it spoil her fun when we go to Exeter next weekend - the trip we planned to see Kelly and Craig in Cornwall before they left for Oz.

Dad's still in hospital and not eating or drinking, but he's on a drip and hopefully the laxatives will work soon - or it will be an enema for him. Dawn said he looked terrible yesterday - hardly surprising, I suppose.

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.