Hello again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Where have I been? Well, mostly down in the Lake District since my last blog - check out http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/. I didn't cope too well and I rather suspect this will be the last time I can join them on a trip like this. My best day was Saturday when the sun shone and I was on my own, happy to stroll along at my own pace with my music on. I think I decided I liked my own company that day. Here's a couple of photos I took that aren't on the hill-walking blog:

It's been back to the old routine for now - Tuesday Fraserburgh, Wednesday Aberdeen and tomorrow back to the Broch again - busy catching up. Friday should be a bit easier and we've got a special football celebration match then - not that I'll be playing - I can't risk kicking a ball again, but I will probably referee. My pal Dave and I are putting together a presentation for Andy Gore, who's now played 1,000 matches - we're going to show it on the big screen in the Douglas Arms after the football. It's a bit of a technical challenge, with Dave working down in Reading and me up here, but we'll manage somehow.

That's about all for now - no more news, but I'll keep you posted.

Table

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

A poor photo taken with my iPhone, but it gives you an idea of what the new kitchen table looks like:

No - the table legs aren't green - they're buttermilk - the same as the units - it's just a poor flash.

Arise Sir Andy!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

What a night last night - no wonder I'm tired today - we stayed up until 2:30 am watching Andy Murray finally overcome the British male hoodoo and become a winner of a Grand Slam event - after a gap of almost four generations. I think my tiredness is only partly due to lack of sleep - the rest is due to the emotional wringer that Andy always seems to put us through. Even when he was 5-2 up and serving for the match against an apparently wounded opponent, you still felt it wasn't going to be a shoe-in - but it was, and what a relief.

What was even more surprising was that Jo, who doesn't really like sport at all, stayed up with me and watched every ball too. Ross was in and out of the room, regularly checking up on the score - and adding, in his unique way, comments about there still being time for Andy to mess it up - but, for once, he didn't.

So what now for Andy? Honours certainly - Knighthood? - perhaps not yet. Sports Personality of the Year? - good chance, although several Olympians, including Mo Farah, may contest that one - and that's without mentioning Bradley Wiggins, winner of the Tour de France.

Tired though I was, I think I successfully steered our company through its annual wage negotiations with USDAW in Fraserburgh this morning, so it looks to have been a good day so far. I'll stop off at Inverurie on the way home and have a bite with Jo and Luca - and poor, sick Carole, who's got pleurisy apparently - before heading back home for an early night.

The weekend was good - especially Sunday's golf up at spectacular Castle Stuart - check the golf blog for some nice views of the course and the surrounding area.

I'm half packed for this weekend's walking trip to the Lake District. All we need now is for the weather to behave itself.

We're considering going to Ullapool for a weekend late October, to coincide with their annual beer festival, but there's a slight logistical complication in that I've also got a ticket to see The Steve Miller Band at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on the Sunday night. Watch this space for further news.

There's a Food and Beer night coming up at Milton of Crathes on 20th September - looks interesting, and so it should be at £45 per head. Here's the provisional menu:

Appetiser- Venison tartare, caper relish, coal oil, gorse flower.

Starter- Grilled smoked salmon, rockette and a

pple salad, cucumber gel.

Main- Slow braised pork belly, cauliflower purée, sweet and sour peppers, coconut porter sauce.

Cheese course- Badentoy blue cheese, toasted brioche, sweetened stout jelly.

Desert- Warm chocolate ganache tart, yoghurt sorbet.

Coffee and fudge.

Oh - and our new kitchen table arrived yesterday - and it's lovely - Jo's delighted with it. Painting the kitchen - and the chairs - will finish that project off, but we're waiting to get a plasterer to do some repair work in the downstairs WC before we call the painter back.

Ross in his 30th year!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yup - 29 years ago today, our youngest came in to the world at Simpson's Maternity, Edinburgh - and I was just about to start a new job - and a new life - at Clipper Seafoods, Aberdeen. Where has the time gone?

Jo was out last night and I was idly trawling the internet, looking at potential flights to USA next year - using our (Avios) air miles and the BA Companion Voucher we have (which was due to expire next year). I tried Los Angeles first - no dice. Nothing at all in June/July/August. Same with San Francisco - and Seattle. The next big west coast(ish) airport I could think of was Las Vegas, but I didn't hold out much hope - but there they were - departing Wednesday 10th July, returning Monday 5th August - Business Class. I nabbed them, without further consultation.

So our plan would be to spend a few nights in Vegas, recovering from the journey and perhaps taking in a show or two, then fly to Reno on Sunday, where, hopefully Scott and Lucy would pick us up on their way to South Lake Tahoe, where we're all spending a week at the Marriott timeshare.

We'd have to sort out logistics to get us back from Reno to Medford, then from there back to LV at the end of our holiday, but that shouldn't be insurmountable.

I feel relieved this morning, having sorted out our dates for next year already - I was concerned we wouldn't get to use our air miles and companion voucher before they expired.

Tomorrow looks good, weather-wise and I've got golf in the morning and then Gary and Luca are over at lunchtime after Gary has completed his 10K - http://www.stoneystomp.org.uk/Stoney_Stomp/homepage.html

On Sunday, I'm off to Castle Stuart (http://www.castlestuartgolf.com/) on the Moray Firth, where they held the Scottish Open. It looks spectacular - hope the weather holds. Then on Thursday, it's a return to the Lake District for a weekend of hiking/hill-walking.

More press

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I got quoted in today's Deeside Piper article about the lack of a decent swimming pool in Banchory - check out http://www.deesidepiper.co.uk/news/local-headlines/calls-for-new-pool-in-banchory-1-2510659

Following on yesterday's comments about my annual health screen, despite the predictable adverse comments on my diet, I think overall I was pretty much in range for most things - in fact, pretty good on some of them, like BP and Cholesterol. The adverse ones included the fact that I was dehydrated at the time of the test - no surprise as it was taken first thing in the morning after over 12 hours of fasting with no liquids. This too could have contributed to the trace of protein they found in my urine - often caused by a concentrated sample.

My weight and BMI are also rising - but I knew that.

The bad one was my liver function tests which showed a raised Gamma GT - 127, when the recommended range is 10 to 60. It's almost identical to last year's screen result, but these 2 results were much higher than in previous years. I blame the Lesinas - we had just returned from a month's holiday in USA. Mental note to self - get screened before we go off on holiday next year.

Talking about holidays, we got one of our exchange requests coming through, so we know we're going to South Lake Tahoe for a week in mid-July - http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/rnotl-marriotts-timber-lodge/

Must get on with booking flights now. We have Avios points to use and a Companion Voucher too, but no doubt there'll be no availability for Air Miles bookings at that time of year.

Autumn Almanac

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Would you believe it? I've suddenly discovered some form again at golf after a whole season of playing rubbish. The magic started last Wednesday on the final night of our season long Quaich competition when I scored 43 points - what does that mean you ask? Well, it's 7 under par for my handicap - pretty good, I can tell you.

I didn't quite do as well at the Terry Edmonds' Memorial at Aboyne on Friday - I only finished second! I soon corrected that at Grantown and Boat of Garten on Sunday/Monday however by winning the trophy again on our 54th outing there.

OK - enough of golf - well, maybe not - the sun's shining - I may disappear soon.

In between all this golf, Jo and I took the bus down to Potarch on Saturday morning and, after a beer and a spot of lunch, we walked back along the Deeside Way - read all about it at http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/

Here's one of Jo en route:

Saturday night we watched the modern version of True Grit - not bad, we thought.

My medical results are in - shall I save the bad news for another day? Here's a sneak preview of their analysis of my diet:

That's enough for now.

Bank Holiday Blues

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's not a Bank holiday here - but it is in England and, seemingly, some other parts of Scotland. They can have it, though - it's pretty miserable in most of the UK anyway as yet another wet front passes through our island.

It's still August, however - we must hope that it's just passing. Perhaps we'll have an Indian Summer? Hope so - the golf season is rapidly coming to an end. This Wednesday is the last of our midweek evenings competition for the Quaich - an event I won last year, incidentally - and, on Friday we're at Aboyne for the Terry Edmonds' Memorial, then it's off to Boat of Garten on Sunday/Monday.

Talking about golf, this has been my worst season for a couple of decades in terms of scoring and events won etc. What can I put this down to? Perhaps my knees? I did play pretty well at St. Andrews last Tuesday, however, and again at Kintore on Thursday, so perhaps there's hope there yet.

The news that Neil Armstrong had died was another bit of our past gone. Like Kennedy's shooting, everyone can remember where they were on that day in 1969 - "one giant step for mankind". I was in a caravan in Paignton, Devon with my pals. Coming so soon after they successfully landed the probe on Mars, it was slightly ironic.

We watched the DVD of War Horse last night. I knew it would be a bit schmaltzy, but it was classic Speilberg and kept us well entertained for a couple of hours.

I've dished out the CAMRA LocAle stuff to the Douglas and the Burnett in Banchory, but need to get round to some of the other Deeside pubs soon and do likewise.

I'll finish again with a medical report. I had my annual full "M.o.T." on Wednesday at Nuffield Health. We usually go to Albyn, but thought we would try Nuffield for a change this year. They're pretty well organised, even although they had to postpone my medical by a week when the doctor who was due to see me left them at short notice. However, they were able to ship another in from Glasgow for the day, so that's the advantage of being with a national chain, I guess. It seemed to go OK, but I'll wait for the full report before further comment.

I also went to see the nurse at our local medical centre on Friday to have a look at the apparent foreign body in the sole of my foot. I can't see it, but she reckoned it was a verucca and so we're now treating it that way. Jo has since spotted another one on the same foot - where did I pick them up from?

This morning was my annual check-up with my cardiologist - ECG, treadmill, heart scan and physical examination. He reckoned my heart, apart from the known AF, was fine. He noted I couldn't do as long on the treadmill as a couple of years ago, but, equally, my heart rate didn't rise as far, which is due to the beta blockers of course. Just carry on, he said - get as much exercise as your heart - and your knees - will let you do.

Beery weekend

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Brian Hanson arrived on Friday and we played golf at Tarland and Banchory and then he was gone on Saturday afternoon. For those that didn't get a chance to see him, here he is:

Brian's been on an exercise regime and has lost weight over the last year. He started off going for long walks, then reverted to cycling - he even bought a new bike. His golf was a bit better too.

I also had a CAMRA meeting to attend on Saturday afternoon, so, the combination of Brian being here, some golf and the meeting, meant a few ales were supped. Not a good idea with my medical coming up on Wednesday.

We watched The Iron Lady on Saturday night - Meryl Streep was brilliant - and it was quite a poignant film, with the emphasis on her slide into Alzheimer's. Must have been good to get us feeling sorry for her.

Jo says I've got something stuck in the sole of my left foot, and I'm going to have to go to the Nurse to get it removed - it's too deep-seated - but I'm sure it's not like the time Jo stood on a needle and it disappeared into her foot. I thought at first it was just my wedges hurting, but apparently not.

Tomorrow, it's St. Andrews for me - hope it stays dry.

And the footy season's back in full swing now - the Dons have made a reasonable start and the Jags have won every game so far. Tonight, it's Man Utd - they're playing Everton away - tough start.

I've also got new CAMRA LocAle handouts to take to the local pubs - the idea is to promote the benefits of drinking locally produced real ales, including the environmental ones. This got me thinking about a couple of real ale festivals coming up in the next couple of months - Loch Ness and Torridon in particular. Might be worth a weekend trip or two.

Thursday evening update

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Unexpectedly a lovely day today - even in the sea-surrounded Broch it was over 20C. I'm at home now and have just booked our next holiday - to go and see Kelly and Chris over Christmas/New Year, when it's also our 40th Wedding Anniversary. And guess what? - Ross is coming too!

Malaysian Airlines this time - via Kuala Lumpur, and we're having a 2 night stopover there on the way back - at http://www.shangri-la.com/kualalumpur/shangrila/.

When I got home tonight, I noticed Luca had a plaster on his elbow - he had fallen in the street. He was pretty quiet and when Jo nipped out to the shops, I never noticed him falling asleep at first - I thought he was still watching the cartoons - but then I spotted him reclining on the settee, propped up by his other elbow and with his eyes apparently half open:

Spooky, eh? Jo says Gary was just the same - she used to go over to him and shut his eyelids - just as the undertaker does with the dead.

The dentist smoothed off the rough edge on my broken tooth yesterday so that it doesn't catch my tongue, but I have to go back for a full appointment to get it repaired properly. Apparently the tooth had 2 old fillings and it split right down the middle of them.

The roof surveyor is coming out next week to assess what needs to be done to the flat roof above Ross' bedroom and to look at the pitched roof above ours at the same time.

Do you remember the complaint we were having with Santander? Well, yesterday, completely out of the blue, we received a bunch of flowers:

Very nice - but even this was a cock-up. The investment, the complaint, and all the correspondence are all in Jo's name, but the flowers and the apology were addressed to me:

Can't they do anything right?

News now of a big challenge coming up over the Christmas holidays next year - 2013-14. With all the athletic training apparently going on in our (extended) family, Scott has given notice that they - the Lesinas, Scott and Lucy - are going to be taking on Kelly and Chris in a race up Scolty Hill!

Of course, Gary and Carole could be contestants as well by then! Watch this space. I'll be keeping a fatherly eye on this one - particularly as I did the official Scolty Hill Race (http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceDetails.aspx?RaceID=RA-0049) when I was older than any of my offspring and their partners are now!

Tomorrow, Brian Hanson arrives at lunchtime and is staying overnight, with golf planned for tomorrow afternoon and Saturday morning - hope the weather behaves.

Last word - a thought for Jo - it's 21 years ago today that her father - Granda Bill to most - died.

Bad start to the day

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yes - today hasn't gone too well so far. Jo was up at 4 am - I didn't hear anything, but I understand there was a huge thunderstorm then - that didn't waken me, but Jo getting up did.

The knock-on effect was that the flash floods caused by the storm have closed, not just Banchory G.C., but also Meldrum House, where I was supposed to be playing in a  corporate event this afternoon. That's the course attached to the hotel where Gary and Carole got married, and I hadn't played it for a number of years, so I was really looking forward to playing it again today. Ho hum.

Maybe just as well, mind you - I played a tie last night and I've got a medal tomorrow, plus I'm still a little stiff from Sunday's walk, so a day of rest won't do me any harm.

I also had a dentist's appointment this morning - or at least I thought I did. I'd made the appointment to look at the tooth I broke on holiday by phone on the way back from the airport last Monday, but when I turned up this morning, I was told I should have been there yesterday! I was sure she'd said Tuesday, but I was a bit tired and jet-lagged, so it's possible I did get it wrong. Anyway, it's now re-scheduled to tomorrow.

Sleeping again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yes - I think my sleeping pattern is pretty much back to normal again. Each night last week, I got about an hour more than the night before, and then, this morning, I slept in a bit - never awoke until ten to seven. Mind you, I think this was mostly brought on by a fairly stiff walk I did yesterday - my first outing on the hills since the Lake District last year. (details on http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/) - it demonstrated that I badly needed the exercise as it's only just over 4 weeks until I'm going back there again for another walking weekend.

Yesterday was the first time I had walked with my orthotic wedges in my walking boots. I had wondered how it might be, but it seems the wedges are still working as I don't have any of the awful pain I used to get after walking - only the usual stiffness etc - plus a bit of discomfort on the soles of my feet - a relatively small price to pay. Of more concern is my cardio condition - I know I'm not very fit now, as my exercise has tailed off with each passing year - but it was certainly a struggle up the last bit of Pressendye yesterday. My main concern is holding back my pals, who have to wait for me to get my breath back before I start off again.

Enough of that - what else has happened since my last posting? Well, I golfed on Wednesday night again - nice to see all the lads again. Also nice to watch a bit of live Olympics at the right time of day/night - but it's all over now. It'll be interesting to see what the aftermath is like for the economy and the country, but it certainly seemed to go very well.

On Saturday, I drove down to Johnstone to play with brother-in-law Brian in his club's Members' Invitational event. I didn't play well, but Brian was pretty steady. He's coming back up this week to play in Banchory's Invitational - we'll see how he does up here - like me at Cochrane Castle, he's never really done well when playing Banchory.

Jo came down with me and spent the afternoon with Mary, and the two of them popped out to see Julie for a brief while.

After yesterday's walk, Gary, Carole and Luca came over for tea - that was nice. Luca's now staying with us for a few days, so Jo will be kept even busier. We handed out the holiday presents, including an Oregon Ducks t-shirt for Luca. Of course, we bought American size, which turned out to be a bit on the large side for little Luca just now:

Luca was amused - as was his Gran. He's grown since we were away - but not that much. I don't think he's going to be a footballer - at least, not an American one! I guess the t-shirt is one for the drawer just now!

Luca's latest creation with the play bricks was photographed - he was very proud of it and wanted to make sure we had a record of it:

This week? Golf tie tonight, then (corporate) golf outing at Meldrum House tomorrow afternoon, followed by our pre-penultimate midweek Quaich golf on Wednesday, and more golf on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday - whew! I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Early morning again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Does one and a half hours' more sleep last night count as an improvement? I suppose so, but I wish I could have slept in until after 3 am. Hence yet another blog entry.

Apparently the gas engineer is going to arrive first thing this morning - good luck Jo with the negotiations. She's got a lot on her hands just now - she was working away for over 20 hours yesterday - cleaning, visits to the tip and the store, plus cooking. No ironing however - that's planned for today - if she can find any spare time.

On top of that, there's the downstairs WC project - the sparky arrived last night and wired up the new shower, so all that's needed now is for them to finish off the half cladding on the walls, then get a floor covering down.

Then there's the kitchen, of course. We still have to get some more glass splash-backs and the wooden uprisers - Jo's thinking of using John Lewis, if she can get there tomorrow. Taylor's have the order already for the floor covering, then we'll have to get Davie, our painter, back to do the walls and ceiling. I paid the deposit yesterday on our new kitchen table, so hopefully that's under control now as well.

After the central heating, kitchen and WC are finished, the next project is the utility room. We kept back some of the old units from the previous kitchen and intend to have those fitted. The work is once again being done as a "homer" by Ross' pal Dan and his colleagues, so we'll have to wait for the WC to be finished first. I'm looking forward to eventually getting the house back to some semblance of normality again - we're tripping over everything just now - including a full size drum kit that's in the downstairs computer/games/work room. It takes up a lot of space but hopefully we'll be able to move it on soon.

At least we don't have the old Merc in our driveway now. It's nice that the three of us can all bring our cars in and out without having to do any shuffling around. Jo borrowed Isobel's power washer before we went away, intending to give the driveway a good blast to get rid of the marks left behind by the Merc after - what was it? - 3-4 years, rusting away on our driveway?

So you can see that retirement for Jo is not quite so cosy just now, with all these projects going on!

I'm hoping to have a game of golf again tonight - if I can stay awake until 5 pm. Forecast's not too bad - shorts perhaps? Sadly, after tonight, we only have 3 Wednesdays left of our midweek "Summer Quaich" season - after the end of this month, it's too dark to get a full round in after work.

I've got a lot of golf to catch up with in August. On Saturday, it's down to Johnstone for the Cochrane Castle Invitational with Brian, then, on Tuesday, I've got a corporate invite to Meldrum House, followed on Friday by the 2nd attempt to play our Midsummer Outing at Tarland - the first one got called off half way round when a huge thunder and lightning storm hit us back in June. Brian's going to play with us there too as it's Banchory's Invitational on Saturday and he's coming up for that - hopefully we can squeeze a bed for him OK!

Got a trip to St. Andrews on Tuesday 21st, then 5 consecutive days of golf from 30th August - Glenbervie (corporate), Aboyne, Banchory, Grantown and Boat of Garten. Will I manage it all? Probably not - but that's the programme anyway.

September's busy too - but I won't bore you any further with all the details, save to mention that the middle weekend is our return Hill-walking trip to the Lake District. Now, unlike last year, I haven't managed to do any of the "training" walks at all this year. Will need to try out the knees before then, that's for sure.

Talking about knees, do you want the latest on my various health conditions? No? Well here it is anyway:

1. Dentist next Tuesday to hopefully do something with the tooth I broke on holiday.
2. As we were leaving Grants Pass on Sunday, I tripped down the steps leaving the trailer and sprained my ankle. It's getting better, but it's still very tender - will it affect my golf?
3. My new orthotic wedges were fitted just before we went away and seem to be OK, but, on holiday, I was mostly just wearing flip-flops, so it was quite an adjustment putting proper shoes (with wedges) on again - my calves have been aching since I reverted on Sunday.
4. I lost count of the number of head knocks I got on holiday - going in and out of cars, trailers etc and banging on cupboard corners. I seem to have lost some of my spatial awareness when it comes to bending down - the top of my head is full of scars and broken skin. Is this an age thing or is something else going on?
5. It's my annual health check next Wednesday and we've got a new provider this year - Nuffield Health. So far, they seem to be much more modern and well organised beforehand. I've already filled in an extensive online questionnaire about my medical history and now I've to complete a detailed report of my diet for 4 consecutive days - every meal, drink and snack - quantities/weight, type, cooking method, brand etc. And, of course, there's the horrible ritual of the 3 stool samples to provide as well. My main concern has to be my rising weight and lack of exercise however. Why did I arrange this for just after a long holiday in USA? Answers on a postcard please.
6. Got my 6 monthly check-up with my cardiologist at the end of the month as well.
7. Jo went to the Doctor's and Chemist yesterday  and picked up our regular monthly drug supplies - I'd run out on holiday and had to share some of Jo's beta blockers and statins.

So that's about it - pretty extensive, huh? The product of lack of sleep - I hope I won't be filling in my time with too many blog posts like this one.

Home again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Long journey, but it went well - no travel problems, just a fairly long (planned) stopover at Seattle. We both had a good few hours' sleep in Business Class, although it was like the Marie Celeste - we'd never seen so many empty seats on a plane.

The house is a shambles, of course - the new downstairs WC had just been fitted out the day before and there was dust everywhere downstairs - and then there were the 2 leaking radiators, one of which was causing a drip down from the bathroom to our back sitting room so we've now got a bucket gathering drips. Scottish Gas have excelled themselves again and I've written a complaint letter. Another engineer is due out in the morning. Is there no end to it all?

We stayed up till 10pm, feeling quite proud of ourselves, and we both soon conked out - but only until 1:30 am. Jo had to get up - she wasn't feeling great and there were too many things she knew she had to do in the house. I stuck it out in bed for another couple of hours, but never got back to sleep, so I got up, had breakfast, then headed to the office.

Nothing was open of course. I couldn't even get a paper - not even at Tesco Extra - the store is open 24 hours, but no papers until 6 am. I considered going in to Bannatyne's, but it doesn't open until 6:30 am. So work it was. At least it gave me a chance to catch up with the holiday backlog.

Back to routine now - until Saturday anyway. I'm due to go down to Johnstone and play in Brian's Members' Invitational at Cochrane Castle.

Cade's birthday greeting

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We tried to put this on the camera that we gave to Cade for his birthday but something went wrong, so here's the video greeting -  http://youtu.be/KN1QR7Ikye8

and the photo: