Back in the saddle

Yes, it's really me this time - no interlopers. Well, what have we been up to? Not much really, just chilling. Our morning walks down to the State Park and along the lovely beaches are a regular feature and we've also had short trips to Laguna Beach (on the Marriott shuttle bus) and Huntington Beach, aka Surf City - it was just like the movies - all volleyball courts, big waves, surf schools and miles and miles of golden sands - I swear I could almost hear the ghosts of Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys.

But I'm getting ahead of myself again - our first trip was the short journey south down to Laguna Beach - the lifeguard stations are so typically evocative of the West Coast:



We liked the decorated VW bug we spotted:



Lunch at the Cliff, overlooking the bay, was nice.

On Monday, Scott and I went to golf at Strawberry Farms (http://www.strawberryfarmsgolf.com/) - sounds like a nice, open friendly golf course? - couldn't have been further from the truth - it was very tight. We bought golf balls at the start - or at least Scott did - I foolishly persuaded him to buy the more expensive Pro V1 balls - fatal error! Still, it was a whole lot cheaper than playing the golf course our villa overlooks - http://www.pelicanhill.com/#/golf/ - lovely looking courses, but $250 per round? - no thanks. If you strayed at all at Strawberry Farms - and we did - there wasn't even any point looking for the golf balls - it was jungle, added to which these signs didn't exactly encourage us much:



There was a nice finishing hole there however:



In the evening we had dinner at the lcoal brewpub - Newport Beach Brewery (http://newportbeachbrewingcompany.com/) - nice ales and excellent food - the complete opposite of our experience last night at Huntington Beach (http://www.hbbeerco.com/) - average food and beers that were over-carbonated and just dull really. There were 2 brewpubs directly opposite each other - I guess we chose the wrong one - we should have tried BJ's - http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/

The pier at Huntington Beach is an extension of Main St where there was a weekly street fair going on - the boys enjoyed the bouncy castles, but we all enjoyed getting blown off our feet walking out to the end of the pier to Ruby's Diner:



Ruby's maintains the style and standards of a typical 40's/50's seaside diner - all red plastic booths and waiters and waitresses dressed accordingly - it was great - as were the shakes:



OK - that's me up to date again - back to the pool now.

Another nice day at Newport Coast

Hi, Lucy here....online and have come across Dads blog is open.....tee hee hee....all the things I could've written here pretending to be him ;-)

Hope everyone is well and Good luck to Kelly on her upcoming move

We are just lazing around the apartment today....kids pretty exhausted from days of sand and sea. So we are making our way through the cadburys supply that mum brought us.

love to all


Lucy xoxox

Newport Coast

Perfect temperature yesterday - warm enough to go for a dip or sit by the pool or beach, yet not so hot that you couldn't do anything.

We think this is the loveliest Marriott resort we have ever stayed at. On Friday night when we arrived, the boys were in the local pool, but on Saturday morning we went to the main pool. A spot of lunch then a short drive down to Newport Beach - it was lovely - we all went for a paddle, although the boys went in a bit deeper:



We walked along a bit and witnessed some kind of adult baptising - the group appeard to be Mexican-ish, or possibly South American:



Walking back to the car, we looked at some of the lovely little houses overlooking the bay - one of them had a sales tag on, which necessitated a quick double take - at first we thought it was $795,000, but, no - it was $7,995,000!!!! - and it was a fairly modest house too.

We eventually found a nice fish restaurant looking out on to the marina - the Rusty Pelican (http://www.rustypelican.com/) - and booked a table for Jo's birthday dinner.

This morning we were up early again and decided to head down to Crystal Cove before the Lesinas awoke - it was a lovely walk through the State Park and along the beach to Crystal Cove, which is being lovingly restored to what seems like a typical 30's beach resort:

Ready to go

All checked in and ready to go now. Just the small matter of a day's work at Fraserburgh and an early rise tomorrow morning.

Beware beware

Monday 15th March - the Ides of March! Spooky week - Vernal Equinox and BA strikes - hope we get lucky. The BA site is still saying that the strikes start on Saturday 20th, but when I clicked one of the links for our flights on Friday, it said both were "subject to possible disruption" - what's going on?

We had our initial meeting with the golf club committee tonight concerning the possible building of 2 squash courts at the golf club - funded entirely by Richard Simcox. I'm not sure how I felt it went - I was hoping to be a bit more positive, but I feel a bit subdued by the whole experience. Let's hope that we at least get to the next hurdle.

Sunday morning posting part 2

As I was saying before I was interrupted - our walk up the path towards Ben Vrackie was good exercise for DJ, but hard work for Dawn, who's still recovering from her last knee op - and waiting for the other one to be done - so we didn't walk too far up the hill: Today it's been really nice to get on the golf course again. I was back sharp to look after Luca. He's been as good as gold again - happy to play with his toys, or watch Peppa Pig, or even go out for a walk with his Grandad. We went to Burnett Park and walked round toward the curling pond, which still has the faintest hint of ice on top of the pool: We walked on from there, round the tennis courts and back along the old Deeside railway line, where we bumped in to the McWhinnies out for a stroll. Luca was still full of beans and delighted in running up and down the line:

Harbingers of spring (2)

First of all the golf course is open again this morning - hurray! I came back from lunch with Dawn and Barry in Pitlochry yesterday and could tell things were improving - the broomstick was on the move:



Jo wasn't home yet from her lunch with her former colleagues so I nipped down to the Douglas to watch the Calcutta Cup match, and when I returned, the brush was gone! We had Luca overnight on Friday and he awoke gently with his usual greeting - "I had a nice sleep, Granda, did you?" Gary came round and picked him up and took Jo in to Aberdeen for her lunch and I headed off west over the ski slopes to Pitlochry to meet up with Barry and Dawn at the Moulin Inn (http://www.moulinhotel.co.uk/index.htm) for lunch. Jo was miffed as she felt she was missing out on a lunch! For her benefit, I had mince and tatties, Jordon had haggis, neeps and tatties, Helen had lamb shank, Dawn had steak and ale pie and Barry had the house speciality Vrackie grostel - named after the local hill. Here's some of the food:



It's a super place - very welcoming - and we had the pick of the seats as I was first in - next to the fire and the window, with the sun streaming in - we almost could have sat outside. After lunch we went for a short walk up the hill towards Ben Vrackie. It was a chance to give DJ some exercise - she started off all white and fluffy, but she was soon two tone - black underneath and white on top. She loved it:



Whilst uploading all this, Kelly's just come on Skype to wish Jo happy mother's day, and now I have to head off to golf - I've got to be back by 1:30 pm latest as I'm babysitting Luca this afternoon - Gary's taking Carole and Jo to the movies. I'll finish this posting off later - look out for instalment 2.

Phew!

It looks like we might have got away with it - although Unite announced their strikes today, they don't actually start until next Saturday - the day after we fly out!

Like the old photos in Jo's blog, btw.

TGiF - manana

It's been really hectic this week - I've been juggling schedules all over the place, trying to keep everything moving on smoothly to allow me to go on holiday in just over a week's time with a clear conscience. Who says men can't multi-task? I never understood this saying anyway as my personal experience is the exact opposite.

We've had some nice meals this week - even steak and kidney pie last night! Tonight was nice too - noodles - but I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have done as I got indigestion imploring certain parties to get their finger out and at least phone their customers back - grrr - I thought I was coming home to relax after a hard day, but it's as frustrating here as it was in Fraserburgh today. Oh how I hate having to chivvy you-know-who.

Anyway, it is getting milder now - we even had a smattering of rain today - although we need a lot more to clear the golf course to allow me to get a game on Sunday. The snow has been around for so long and the weather has been so bright with clear skies that mean the overnight temperature stays low and keeps re-freezing the lying snow.

Even in our street, there's noticeable signs of low long the snow has been around and how frozen it still is. The photo below is from our front rockery - the broom was there when I got back from Marrakech. I asked Jo if she had done it as a kind of harbinger of spring - when the broom finally falls to the ground, will that officially signal the end of winter? I think the groundhog was right.

On the common ground, the kids at number one, with their Dad's help, built an igloo, which still stands:

What else is new? Well, there's a quiz night at the golf club tomorrow - and I'm meeting Dawn and Barry at Pitlochry for lunch on Saturday. We agreed to meet up when our Dad's affairs were all sorted out. We'll go to the Moulin Inn - a favourite. Assuming there's no more snow, I'll go down the tourist trail over Glenshee. Jo can't make it as she's already arranged to go in to Aberdeen to meet her old school buddies for lunch. I originally thought I would be heading to the Central Belt as I thought I was getting a corporate invitation to the Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield on Saturday, but it hasn't come through - I'm not concerned, however, as it means I can meet Barry and Dawn and still be back home in time to watch the match on TV.

We'll be watching the news keenly tomorrow. BA and Unite have not resolved their differences yet. BA's web site says that Unite are obliged to give them 7 days notice of any strike action, so, if they don't do this tomorrow, we should be OK to fly out next Friday - fingers crossed!

I didn't get any tickets in the ballot for Wimbledon this year, but Dave Williamson and I had a pact that we would both apply and whoever was successful would invite the other - and he was the lucky one. The tickets are for the Thursday - 2 days before I was planning to go down anyway for my annual trip to Lord's for the cricket. By coincidence, Crosby, Stills and Nash are playing at the Royal Albert Hall that weekend, so we've now got tickets for that too! OK - what to do on the Friday between the tennis and the cricket? Would you believe,  it's the Henley Regatta that week - another possible box to tick.

It's funny how things sometime fall in to place - and also how often the "London Bus" scenario plays out. I've always wanted to go to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall - we tried a few years ago when Cream played their reunion gigs. Johanne has always wanted to go too and so we've been watching for a suitable opportunity, and it came along a couple of weeks ago, when we noticed that Jools Holland was playing there in November, so we bought tickets for the 4 of us - Kilgours and Stewarts. Now, I'm going there twice this year. It never rains but it pours.

That's all I can think of for now - have a good one, and keep blogging!

Another week - 8 days until next hols!

For Sunday's adventures hill-walking, read the football blog. Yes - I am sore today.

We had Skyped Kelly first thing in the morning and Lucy phoned in the evening, so that was nice. We had watched the Hurt Locker on Saturday evening then awoke this morning to discover that it had scooped the Oscars. I thought it was pretty good - atmospheric - but the jury's still out for Jo - and Gary didn't think much of it either.

It was Fraserburgh for me again today - the first of 4 planned days there in a row. Luckily, I'm now off the hook on this one as my meeting there on Wednesday afternoon has been re-scheduled for Aberdeen instead - that's a bit of a relief. I'm back tomorrow, however - unfortunately for a funeral. The former factory manager of our canning plant (Peter White), who had retired (early) in September, died last week after undergoing a number of operations in hospital in recent weeks - how tragic. The church will be mobbed - the whole town will be there.

I've decided my knee has now made sufficient recovery for me to chance a game of squash again tomorrow - hope it holds up OK - and that my aching legs ease up a bit too.

I've got a lot to do in the next 8 days at work - going to be busy.

Birthday aftermath etc

Our headbang at Gary's on Friday was good - see Music blog for details and photos. They even bought a cake for me and we had it in the early hours of Saturday morning. When I got home, Jo had left out my presents - chocolate featured of course, but I also got the book I wanted - Jack Bruce - Composing Myself - and a pile of M & S socks:

Do these look like socks I would wear? I didn't think so at first, but Jo pointed out to me that the vivid fluorescent colours are only on the soles - and you won't see them when I wear them. In fact, she bought them because she is having problems matching up my pairs of socks just now - grey and blue are regularly mixed together, and there's a whole pile of single socks downstairs!

Saturday was nice - Gary, Carole and Luca came over, and Dawn came up as well. Luca was looking forward to my birthday cake and he put the candles on. It was supposed to be 6 silver ones and 1 white one, but Luca decided all 12 from the packets should go on:

Chocolate featured heavily in my other presents - no chance of  losing any of the weight I put on last week in Marrakech then before we go to USA.

Luca was a bit shy with Dawn at first, but he soon relaxed with her - especially when she started reading to him:

Carole was going on a Hen night, for which the dress code was black and bling. She wouldn't let me take her picture without make-up, but I eventually got her later - a little reluctantly and with Gary as shield:

So today's the first of our planned monthly training walks prior to our September 4 day walk on the West Highland Way. Wish me luck - Clach-na-Ben will have to wait until the next time (April 18th?) as there will still be too much soft snow up there, so it's the bus out to Potarch, then walk back with a detour up Scolty.

Wednesday morning in the Broch

A quick word of explanation about the change to my blog settings - you are now receiving postings as e-mails. You can still view the blog in the usual way by logging on to Blogspot, but this is an additional alert every time I make a new post. If you would prefer to have your e-mail address removed from this alert service and just access my blog in the usual way (as Gary has done), then just let me know and I'll make the appropriate adjustments.

It's a fine day again - nice and bright and sunny - but cold - down to minus 10 C on my travels to the Broch earlier on, but warming up now.

Dawn and Jordon are coming up on Saturday to have birthday lunch with me. It's the day after our headbang, so I may be a little tired. This Sunday we were planning to do our first training walk for the West Highland Way walk we are planning in September - by walking up Clach-na-Ben (for the first time in my life) - but it looks like the weather may have scuppered our plans - it may be too icy and we'll have to choose another route.

Marrakech

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I went out on to our balcony and took a quick photo:

That evening, we went to a lovely restaurant that Francis Clark had recommended to me - Comptoir Darna (http://www.comptoirdarna.com/restaurant-comptoir-darna-marrakech-maroc-eng.html). I knew Jo would want to know what I had to eat, so I photographed the menu and she asked me to put it on the blog so she could study it:

I thought she'd be more interested in pictures of the food - here's my dessert - profiteroles and "gazelle horn" ice cream!:

One of the other desserts was a trio of creme brulee:

Jo was salivating over this one when she saw the photo!

Back home again

Just a quick one - I'm back - great holiday - super place, nice weather, nice people. Bit of a temperature adjustment for me, but at least it's nice and bright and sunny this morning - although I did come through a brief flurry of snow around Tyrebagger - and the days are noticeably stretching.

Took a quick snap last night of the ear-rings I brought back for Jo - although it didn't come out too well:

You get the picture though, don't you? They're silver and very heavy - just watch Jo's ear-lobes stretch!