Sunday evening post

Three days on from my last post - if I don't keep the gaps between posts relatively short and/or take sufficient photos, then there's going to be gaps in this blog diary.

I've been watching a bit of the Euro championships from France. The 2 pm ko's in Europe mean a 6 am start here - I've seen a few but the best times for me have been when the ko has been 4 pm Euro time so I can watch them after breakfast. The evening matches are at noon here and we're often up to something by then, so that doesn't suit quite as well.

I was watching a match the other day when the broadcast was rudely interrupted for several minutes and this appeared on the screen:

Apparently a number of the cable companies have got together and devised this system which alerts the public to a situation of national emergency. This was just a test, but there's nothing you can do to stop it - the TV and the cable box are effectively frozen, and it applied to a large number of the states in USA.

That was probably the most exciting part of Thursday, which was also the first full day of the summer vacation for all the schools here. There was a weather front passing through and it brought unseasonably low temperatures and some rainfall, so our usual dining outdoors was curtailed for a few days. The upside was that it was a good time for me to go on a longer bike ride on Friday morning - almost 50 kms - quite a stretch. I went out to Robertson Bridge and back down to Grants Pass via Wildlife Images, where we've been a couple of times:

In Grants Pass, I cycled through Tussing Park:

That was a prelude to the Eric Burdon gig at Britt Fest, Jacksonville on Friday night. I've been there virtually every year since Scott and Lucy moved to Oregon, but I've never had to worry about the weather in the past. This time, however, was different. We were amongst the early arrivals, queuing up for our tickets and a good spot on the lawn. We had just got settled when the heavens opened. We had been partially prepared for some rain, but this was something else, so we hurriedly bought a couple of ponchos. Fortunately, the rain relented before the bands started playing, but, by then, Jo was pretty wet. I had managed to keep myself fairly dry somehow and I think, as a result, I enjoyed it a bit more than Jo did. Here's a brief dry moment before the start:

You can read more about the gig at http://banchoryheadbangers.blogspot.com/

Saturday was fairly uneventful apart from a minor injury I incurred. Jo put her half full coffee cup down on the table in the trailer, right next to my laptop. I said "risk assessment - don't do that" and leaned forward to pick up the cup, but cracked my head on the corner of one of the overhead cupboards, resulting in a fairly deep gash in my head:

We were about to leave for Medford to pick up Cade's meds before he went to football camp, so Lucy quickly got a freezer pack out and I held it to my head in the car on the way down to keep the swelling down.

When we returned, Scott showed off this display in the "shop":

Sunday morning was Father's Day and Lucy made Scott and I egg bake for breakfast - and I got this gift as well:

Braeden went off with his pal and the rest of us drove down to Ashland to drop off Cade - and all his gear - at his football camp at Southern Oregon University. Whilst they registered, Jo and I sat in the car park and waited for a while before moving nearer the dorms:

After taking Cade for a sushi lunch, the 4 of us wandered round lovely little Ashland, browsing book stores etc. I had finished the second in the Lewis trilogies in the car on the way down and spotted the third one in a bookshop and acquired it to complete the set. After that, we went from brewery to brewery - Standing Stones first, then Swing Tree, followed by Caldera. Nice afternoon.

USA 2016 - post no. 3

There's a front passing through the West Coast just now and the temperature has dropped considerably - we had a bit of rain yesterday morning (Wednesday), but this was just a prelude to the main event later that evening when Cade was in the middle of his final school day's mini football tournament, when we had a torrential downpour, complete with hail stones. It's due to heat up again by the weekend - hope it does so by Friday night as we've booked tickets to go and see Eric Burdon and the Animals at Britt Fest. Normally when we go there, we're sitting on the lawn baking in the sun, but it may be a little different this year - we'll go prepared anyway.

So you want to know what we've been up to since my last post? It's a good question - now, can I remember? I do recall going for a bike ride on Friday morning - although I only know that because I've posted it on my cycling blog. What else happened that day I do not recall now - I obviously didn't take any photos to remind me.

Saturday was different - I managed to persuade Jo to try riding a bike and she, Lucy and I rode to nearby work colleague Judy's place to pick blueberries. It was lovely, but, when we came to leave, heading down the gravelly slope that leads to the small farm, Jo panicked a bit and slammed on the anchors, thinking she was going too fast down the hill. The inevitable happened - skidoo - with the following result:

Lucy happened across an article in the local paper - which was also mentioned on the morning TV - about a Craft Beer Festival in Medford, so she drove us down there and Jo and I spent a very pleasant couple of hours there before heading back to Grants Pass, where Scott was busying himself in the vegetable patch:

Sunday was a bit of a blur too, but I got out on my bike again on Monday morning - and again on Wednesday - discovering some nice new mountain trails at the end of Elk Lane. Check out my cycling blog for details, including a link to a short video of some scary jumps - http://bvetscycling.blogspot.com/2016/06/euro-interruptus.html. The trails here are deserted and it would be quite easy to get disoriented and get lost. Lucy's also warned me about the possibility of coming across bears and cougars in these areas. The only slight disappointment is that there are no clear views from the top as there is too much vegetation to see all the surrounding area:

Scott and I have been going along to Cade's school after Scott finishes work to watch Cade in football practice. The facilities there are excellent and there's a bunch of kids who take part, as witnessed by this photo:

Yes, Cade is in there somewhere!

In my last posting to this blog, I showed Cade's fancy pair of shoes, but I didn't realise what a shoe fetishist he is. Would you believe it, he has 14 pairs of hardly used shoes - here's some of them, which he lined up the other night to show us:

At prices normally between $100 and $200 per pair, that's quite a wardrobe! I just hope his feet don't take a spurt now!

Lucy hadn't managed to get Jo's birthday present over to her back in March, so we had a (very) belated birthday tea for her the other night:

Still on the subject of shoes, I've been out bargain hunting in Ross' stores and managed to pick up a couple of pairs for very reasonable prices - summer golf shoes and some casual walking shoes.

I also finished my second book of the holiday in double quick time - Peter May's The Black House, the first in a trilogy of books based on the Hebridean island of Lewis. We paid a visit to Medford on Tuesday and went to our favourite book store - Barnes and Noble - where we spotted the second in the trilogy - The Lewis Man - so I'm now working my way through that. While we were in Medford, we went for a short walk along a bit of Bear Creek Greenway, a 20 mile stretch of off road walking and cycling track (http://www.bearcreekgreenway.com/). Apparently, the longer term intention is to have it running all the way from Grants Pass to Ashland, which would be amazing. It's certainly something I miss as most of my cycling here has to be done on roads shared with traffic. Jo was sufficiently encouraged by her short cycle on Sunday and the flat tarmac'd surface of this trail that she feels she would like to do a bit of it with me. Next week might be a good time for us, as the Lesinas go on their annual long weekend camping trip with Scott's family.

Last night, we booked a couple of rooms in Seaside, Monterey Bay, California. We'll break our July journey down to Newport Coast and also see the July 4th celebrations there. We're having trouble, however, in booking rooms in San Francisco for the night before we fly home. Lucy has booked tickets for us all to go to Alcatraz, but accommodation in the city is so expensive and even that out at the airport is hard to find. More work needs to be done here.

Thursday news

We'd had more than enough down time by now, so Jo and I thought we would take advantage of the cooler temperatures and go for a short-ish walk, so we headed down to Fish Hatchery Park and did the Nature Trail there - just over 5 kms. We never saw another soul on the walk:

Jo's first attempt to throw a stone in to the Applegate river was a bit pathetic. This is her trying to improve her technique. She didn't like it when I said it was still very girly-ish!

What's that between Jo and I? Best ask Luca

Tonight was a non-BBQ night. Scott and Cade were going to help a friend move house, so we just had bought-in pizzas.

I noticed Cade's dazzling new shoes. You wouldn't think it but they are a pair apparently - lots of subtle messages in the colours, design and tabs in these Nike LeBron special edition shoes:

So I finished my first book of the holiday - the follow-up to Stieg Larsson's Millennium series (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc), written by a different author, but very definitely in the original now deceased author's style. Now I've started Peter May's The Black House, set on Lewis.

First week of vacation

It's a week since we left Banchory and headed across the pond. The flights went well and there was no pain at all in downgrading our flights this year to World Traveller Plus.

We arrived at Vancouver airport early evening Canadian time and got through Customs etc fairly quickly and picked up a cab to take us to our hotel downtown. Nice room - junior suite. The hotel's bar was closed so we walked round the corner to a little tapas bar for a quick bite and a couple of beers before heading for bed. After all, it was now well past 5 am body clock time.

Our time in Vancouver was fairly limited so we thought the best thing for us to do was to go on one of the hop-on, hop-off tourist buses. We got off in Stanley Park, which is Vancouver's green lung - larger even than Central Park, NYC. We posed at the totem poles:

We walked for a bit, just to get our legs working again, and then picked up the bus back to Canada Place. By now it was lunchtime and we headed for a place that had been recommended to us. There's more detail of this - and all our other beer and food stops - on my Ale blog (http://iansaleadventures.blogspot.com/), so I'll try not to repeat myself on this blog - and I'll try to only use photos that haven't already appeared on any of my many other blogs - or Facebook.

Back on the bus in the afternoon, we headed for Granville Island where we went on an interesting walking tour. It's a former industrial site that has largely been converted in to a modern, funky, artistic centre all round the large public market - with one exception - the concrete factory is still there, but even it has undergone an artistic make-over:

We passed what they call float houses:

Apparently much sought after, their market value is in millions.

After completing the tour on the last bus, we had dinner with Fred. Who's he, you might ask? Well, listen very carefully. Jo's sister Mary is married to Brian, whose brother is David and he's married to Sherie, whose father is Fred, who lives in Vancouver. Got it?

Fred is now 85 but still very sprightly and we had a lovely evening with him. He took us to his favourite Chinese restaurant, did all the ordering and even paid the bill. Try as I might, he wouldn't let me pick up the tab. He ordered crab, prawns, scallops, chicken and noodles - tons of everything - and he eats like a sparrow! We made a valiant attempt to get through it, but I don't think Fred was too worried as he picked up the leftovers in a box. He even drove us back to our hotel.

We had only met Fred once before - he came to Scotland for Julie's wedding back in the early 90's, and he, Brian and David came up to Banchory for a game of golf. They all stayed at the Tor-na-Coille hotel and I remember on the Thursday evening, I took them to the folk club upstairs in the loft at Scott Skinner's. It's a very small room and this was in the days before smoking was banned in pubs in Scotland. It didn't take long for Fred to be literally smoked out - he couldn't take the choking atmosphere and went back to the hotel. We told him it's safe to come back to Scotland now!

On Friday, we initially planned to go back and do the interactive experience at Canada Place, then head for Vancouver Island in the afternoon, but, in the end, we just opted to catch an earlier bus/ferry. The journey was easy - once you get to the bus station and load your bags on, that's it - the bus takes you all the way to the ferry terminal (45 mins away) and straight on to the ferry and off the other end and in to the very pretty little city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia.

The weather was improving by the hour and the water was like a millpond for the ferry crossing, which passes through narrow channels between small islands - very pretty:

It was a good decision to catch an earlier ferry as we arrived at our hotel at the peak of the day. The hotel's location is stunning and there's a lovely coastal walk just outside - and, would you believe it, a lovely brewpub along the way (actually, the receptionist told us about it).

Our receptionist was hyper - so much so that we thought that we must have been on Candid Camera - everything was "awesome" in a high pitched voice. Jo was quietly giggling away, but I had to try and keep a straight face - at least until we got our keys.

The coastal trail was lovely and there was plenty of activity on the water - sea planes coming and going, little water taxis everywhere with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and a cruise ship had just arrived:

After refreshments at the brewpub, we continued on the trail and came across this strange sculpture:

On Saturday, the plan was to catch the bus to Butchart Gardens and we spent a couple of hours walking round there - delightful place:

We took the bus back about lunchtime and walked back to our hotel from the drop-off point. We have to cross a strange-looking bridge to get over to the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe:

The counterweight looks like a dog's head - note the eyes and ears.

We went to the spa and had a quick swim before dinner.

On Sunday morning we were awake early, so headed back down for a swim, sauna and hot-tub before breakfast and packing. Our 2 flights from Victoria to Medford went pretty well, although we skirted a thunderstorm as we approached Medford. The temperatures have been unseasonably high in Southern Oregon - 4 days in a row were, in old money, over 100 F, which hasn't happened here so early for half a century. Thankfully, it's cooled down a bit today (Wednesday) - mid 80's now - much more pleasant.

Lucy met us at the airport and drove us back to Grants Pass, where we met up with some strange-looking Lesinas - especially Cade, who has shot up and also lost a ton of weight - and, of course, he sounds different now! Scott, too, has lost some weight after his recent operations.

There's a new (to us) Jeep in the garage as well:

Meet the rest of the Lesinas:

Holly - not quite as lively as last year

Buster

Tina

 

Bugs

That's enough for now - got to go and pick up Braeden - I'm on the school runs this week - until they finish next Wednesday. Jo and I have just been chilling this week after a hectic few days in Canada - although I did manage a reasonable cycle this morning.

Final preps

Bags pretty much packed - just waiting to check in online and print boarding passes, then we're off to Inverurie this afternoon.

For those that didn't see it, Gary had an excellent Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday - terrific time of 3 hours 26 mins. Here he is with his pals Andy and Jamie:

I hope his running helps him cope with the stress of losing his job - he's one of the many victims of the recession in the oil industry in Aberdeen. He opted to take voluntary redundancy on Friday and the details will be sorted out in the next week or so. Hope he manages to get another position soon.

Meanwhile, Ross is working away in Deeside Drinks Emporium - although he's still to sort out his hours and pay etc - hope this goes well too.

Friday - home alone

Jo's away having her hair done before we head off on Wednesday so I'm just getting all my bills and online stuff done this morning. We FaceTimed Kelly this morning and had a chat with Miller - talkative little boy. Meanwhile Asher was sleeping away - that and feeding is all we have seen him do so far. Here's a photo Kelly sent us when he's actually awake and not taking milk:

The eyes are alive, aren't they?

Not much else to report - a couple of cycles this week, plus golf on Wednesday. More golf tonight, Sunday morning and Monday (Seniors match at Brechin) but then that's it for a while. I hardly played golf in USA last year - nor Australia this year. Must make more of an effort to play this time - otherwise when I come back, it'll be like starting the season all over again, whilst everyone else is fully up to speed.

Off to the dental hygienist this afternoon - hope she's not too rough with me.

To close, I spotted this article in the paper recently:

He's the guy who bought the hotel from Roxanne and her husband. We tried to set up a meeting with his people to discuss the squash court situation and they agreed but kept stalling/cancelling agreed dates, until one morning we awoke to the sound of bulldozers knocking the courts down. Fait accompli - no discussion now necessary! Drumtochty Castle is where Kelly and Chris were going to get married - 19th-21st July, 2016 was the plan. Wouldn't that have been nice if everyone was coming to Scotland in just a few weeks' time?

Mid-May

Well, it's been an interesting week - much of it spent at the beer festival. Setting up on Tuesday and Wednesday and serving punters Thursday and Friday. The downturn in the oil industry definitely had an effect on attendances, which meant it was never too busy - plus we had loads of volunteers, so I was able to head home on Thursday and Friday at a reasonable hour and I took Saturday off. By then, I was pretty knackered anyway. Erecting scaffolding and lifting casks isn't something I'm used to doing and I was definitely feeling a bit stiff and sore.

We've also had Luca staying with us the last two Saturday nights. Today (Sunday), Gary headed off for his last long training run prior to the Edinburgh Marathon next Sunday, and Jo was at church, so it was just me, Luca - and Yoda - for a while. We took a walk along to buy my paper which gave Luca the chance to climb his favourite little hill - with Yoda in tow this time:

He insisted I take a video of them running up - https://youtu.be/IQL3pYq0r0Q. After that, we went over to the golf club and hit a few balls in the practice facility before the darkening clouds made us scurry home. It's been intermittently bright then dark, with occasional showers. Wonder how the boys are doing on the hill-walking weekend in Assynt? Would like to have been there - but not if they're getting a soaking!

Early rise tomorrow - I'm taking Jo's car in to Aberdeen to get some work done on it, but I hope to be back in time for a cycle in the afternoon - weather permitting.

Need to start organising our packing this week as well - just 10 days until we head to North America again. I've got golf on Wednesday and Friday too and I also have to go back to get my bloods done - yet again. The results from my second test were again a bit out of range. I had a telephone appointment with our doctor and he said one of the two liver readings - Gamma GT, I think - was higher than normal. He asked me if I'd had a change of drugs recently - well, of course I did - you prescribed Riveroxaban for me! My two blood tests were taken just before and just after I was ill as well, so the only thing to do really was to get tested again - so that's Wednesday morning.

Ross started his new job - at Deeside Drinks Emporium - this afternoon. Hope it goes well.

Week of change

It was great while it lasted - the sun shone and it was beautifully warm all the way through to Thursday, but there was a sea change yesterday (Friday), when the temperature plummeted back down to more seasonal levels.

Golf on Wednesday was lovely, as was our cycle on Thursday morning up beautiful Glenesk. I can't believe I've lived in the North East for 33 years and never been there. There's even a nice Folk Museum and cafe called the Retreat which is worth a stop. I posed for a photo outside:

It's the beer festival next week - I'm working there Tuesday through Friday. In fact, I'm a judge of the Beer of the Festival this year. The downside is that it clashes with our hill-walking group's annual trip - this year they're heading to Assynt, staying 2 nights at Aultbea and 2 nights in Ullapool.

We FaceTimed with Kelly yesterday. Little Asher has had his tongue tie done and all seems to be well. Miller will get his done when he's a bit older - similar to his Mum. I never had mine done, but I've never really had any problems with it. OK - I can't stick my tongue out as far as others, but so what?

I've also had my first little rant for a while - check http://curmudgeonlyramblings.blogspot.co.uk/

Recovered

I was ill most of last week so had to cancel my trip to Inverurie last Tuesday and the CAMRA meeting that night, plus golf on Wednesday and cycling on Thursday. By Friday I was feeling a bit better and managed to make it down to Montrose where I'd entered the Senior Open.

I was grateful that I was well enough to attend our 61st golf outing to Boat of Garten on Sunday/Monday as the weather was stunning. On Tuesday we were back to Inverurie as usual, but I knew I was running out of time to distribute our local CAMRA branch's newsletter round the pubs in upper Deeside - it's the festival edition and the beer festival itself is next week - so I jumped in the car in the morning and drove down to Braemar, taking in Ballater, Tarland and Aboyne on the way back. At Ballater, Lochnagar was looking magnificent as usual:

To close, here's some pics Kelly sent us of her boys: