Friday

Wednesday at Kaleidoscope:

Lucy's off work today and we're threatening to go on the bikes - but it's going to be another hot one, so we need to be careful.

This morning, we're trying to figure out why Blogspot is different on Lucy's PC from what it is at home - we can't seem to copy and paste, nor move text nor photos around - strange.

Thursday

What do I have to say about today? Not a lot. Having dragged the boys from their beloved home yesterday, Jo and I thought it was only fair that we should let them stay put today. Of course, it helped that it was the 1st round of the Open - even if it was 3 hours' delayed transmission on the West Coast.

So we just chilled - read our books, jumped in the pool (me - not the boys for a change, and certainly not Jo). We had watched a film on my laptop last night - Sweeney Todd - the Musical, with Johnny Depp - much better than it promised or the reviews had said about it. It was pretty late by the time we stopped watching it, so we weren't exactly bursting with energy anyway today.

Jo made the tea - spag bog - but with buffalo meat!

Tomorrow, we might cycle downtown - if we get away early enough and it's not too hot.

Getting hotter

The thermometer crept over the 100F mark today - but we spent most of the day down in Medford shopping. Jo and I spent $100 in Barnes & Noble buying books to read on our holiday!!!

The boys were bribed with a small toy treat at Toys R Us and I bought a new pair of glasses, which I have to pick up on our way back from Salt Lake City on our way north to Portland and home.

We did manage lunch at one of our favourite pizza bars - Kaleidoscope. Here's Lucy and the boys:

Grants Pass babysitters

Jo and I had our first full day alone with the boys yesterday - and we did nothing! That's the way the boys like it - they're definitely homebirds - and it suited us as well, just chilling out. I realised I hadn't even taken any photos since we arrived in Grants Pass, so here's one taken after Lucy and Scott came home from work yesterday:

What are we planning for today? Similar, but we will have to do some shopping - that will be fun, getting Cade and Braeden prised away from the TV, Wii and their toys.

Portland south to Grants Pass

One more photo from our walk round Portland on Thursday afternoon - this is me in Pioneer Square in front of the Courthouse:


On Friday morning, a rare sight - Jo in the hotel pool:




After a walk to China Town, we had lunch at one of Portland's dining institutions - Dan and Louis' Oyster bar, after which we foolishly hired one of the family bikes and worked our way round a loop crossing two bridges, with a couple of fairly benign climbs, which were incredibly hard work on this machine - of course it would have helped if all 4 adults had been making an effort:


On Saturday after breakfast, we headed south and stopped at Roseberg for lunch - see Facebook for photo. Scott and I then stopped off at Myrtle Creek for 18 holes before heading back to GP.

My exertions of the last few weeks, combined with the travel and the disturbed sleep pattern, finally hit me and I sloped off to bed at 8:30 pm, not rising until 9:30 am the following morning - something I haven't done for years. Sunday was then just a lazy day, chilling out until late afternoon when Jo and I walked to Albertson's to get a few groceries.

Got to go - Scott's on the BBQ - spare ribs tonight!

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!