Dog days of summer

In more ways than one .... it's been triple digit temperatures here in Southern Oregon the last few days and it's forecast to remain high for a while yet - and this houseful of dogs - Holly, Buster and Shelby - has been suffering too. We had a surprise thunderstorm on Sunday morning while Scott, Lucy and Jo were over in Medford doing the big weekly shop at Costco. I had just returned from an early morning bike ride, so opted to stay at home. When the thunder started rumbling, Holly dashed over to me and absolutely insisted on jumping up on my knee. She trembled her way through the next hour until the rumbles finally stopped.

Bringing my blog up to date, I got my temporary crown fitted, as planned, on Thursday, but not before suffering another hour and a half of drilling to get my tooth in to shape. that's 7 hours in the chair so far. The final crown will be delivered a week on Thursday - the day before Jo and I head to Portland, and 2 days before we go to Hawaii - and hopefully that will be that.

After my crown fitting last Thursday, Jo and I decided we had to get out and do some exercise, so we drove south west towards Cave Junction and the nature interpretive trail and boardwalk there. It was very short but we spotted other trails just across the road and decided to try them out. They, in turn, led to the "Little Falls Trail", so we decided to follow that. We had fluids with us but it was very hot and the falls didn't seem to be getting any nearer, so we thought it best to head back. Parts of the trail were a little precarious and Jo was a bit fearful of taking another tumble:

Jo struggled on the way back - I think she was dehydrated and suffering from a bit of heatstroke. It took her quite a while to get back up the hill where I could drive her to Cave Junction to get some food and fluids in to her.

Despite this fright, we liked the area and decided to make a quick return the following day - suitably armed this time with a picnic lunch. We attacked the Little Falls trail again from a different approach, but were disappointed that the trail didn't afford very good views of the falls, so we moved on to another spot beside a bridge over the Illinois for lunch:

On Saturday, it was back to the water again - this time, the Rogue River. Scott and Lucy's friends, the Englands, had invited us to join them on their boat for a short ride up the river and a picnic and some beers. The ride itself had to be curtailed a little, as the Rogue, like the Dee back home, is running very low and the channels are narrowing daily.

The flat-bottomed jetboats that do the Hellgate ride can go a lot further and they passed our picnic spot a few times. In between, it was like a scene from Deliverance. I swear if I'd heard any banjos, I was off! It did feel like we were in the wilderness but it was wonderful to see some of the large birds around - buzzards and ospreys in particular, and one spectacular viewing of a golden eagle chasing an osprey back to its nest.

I must have applied sunscreen 5 or 6 times that afternoon as the scorching sun beat down on us. The only way to keep cool was to go in the river - even our chairs were parked there so we could wallow in the cool(er) water:

On Sunday afternoon, we were "despatched" by Lucy to the new local "Double Taps" bar on the pretext of using up a $2 voucher she had, thus also giving her a chance to clean the floors.

With my dental work mostly finished - it took up 3 days of last week - Jo and I took the opportunity yesterday (Monday) to make our long-promised escape to the coast. We drove over the mountains through Northern California (briefly) - we lied again when we were asked if we had any produce at the border - then back in to the port of Brookings in Oregon.

Spotting some short coastal trails leading down to the beach, we parked up the car just north of the town and wandered along the beach for a while. We couldn't believe how much debris there was - huge, bleached timber logs had been washed up everywhere:

The offshore rocks and mini islands are very attractive visually, although they are mostly seabird colonies and you're not meant to climb on them unfortunately. The whole of that coastline is like that - especially between Brookings and Gold Beach, which was our next stop.

At the Gold Beach Visitors Centre, one of the maps showed that the Arch Rock Brewery was very close at hand, so we headed there. As it happened, they only had a Tap Room and it is closed on Mondays anyway, but the adjacent "Tav" had food and stocked Arch Rock's beers so we lunched there, after which we took a look around the small town before heading for the beach for a quick kip:

Our car thermostat still only read 62 F, but it seemed much warmer than that in the blazing sun - how else would we have fallen asleep on the beach?

On our return journey, we stopped off at the Arch Rock viewpoint and took a few photos there:

We stopped off in Brookings again, this time heading to the lovely port area where we feasted on ice creams in the evening sun.

The lady at the Gold Beach Visitors Centre, on hearing that we were returning to Grants Pass, advised us to try a small detour through Crescent City and up through what she described as a beautiful drive - a place where they had filmed the Return of the Jedi. We found the road OK but it was very narrow and windy and after a few hundred yards it changed from a tarmac surface to a rough road covered in chippings and holes, so we decided to turn back. No - we didn't see any EWOKs, but Jo described the dark, dense trees as "needing a good dusting"!

So today (Tuesday) is a down day - I've done the morning runs to and from football training for Braeden and I've just listened to my fellow Headbangers' new show on River Dee Radio - and now I'm updating my blog. Time for lunch, I think.

Dental days

It's Wednesday morning here in Oregon - on the brink of the England - Croatia World Cup semi-final, but all I can think of is my poor teeth and gums which have been taking a pounding the last two days. My toothache was reviewed by Lucy's dentist on Monday morning and his analysis of the situation was that, to relieve the pain I was experiencing, either extraction or root canal work was required.

Extraction would create difficulties given where the problem tooth is and its key role in chewing and the fact that it would leave the adjacent tooth exposed and unsupported, so I opted for his recommendation of root canal work.

The dentist re-organised his daily schedule and started work later on Monday morning. He had to have three attempts at numbing me up and then I spent another couple of hours in his chair as he worked away on the root canals. He put in a temporary filling overnight and I was to come back first thing on Tuesday morning to have the rest done.

Tuesday brought more of the same - this time it took him 4 attempts to get my mouth sufficiently numb for him to start work. By now, I reckoned he must have injected me with Novocaine (or equivalent) more than 30 times in all. My gums must have seemed like a pin cushion.

Anyway, the root canal work was finished on Tuesday but I have to go back tomorrow (Thursday) morning to have the fitting for a crown. The results will then go to the lab and the completed crown should be back in a week or so.

Goodness knows what all this is going to cost - and our travel insurer has already refused to pay for it all - apparently all I'm entitled to is emergency pain relief. I'll keep arguing my case.

With all this going on, our plans to have some away days this week have been scuppered for the time being. I'm still popping Tylenol for pain relief, but hope to be better by the end of the week.

Sorry - nothing much else to report for now.

First full week at GP

It's Sunday morning here in Grants Pass and I'm feeling sorry for myself - I've got toothache and it looks like I'll have to go to the local dentist in the morning - bummer.

Anyway, here's what we've been up to since my last blog post:

Did I forget to show you the Lesinas' new BBQ - a Traeger?

It got its first serious outing on Wednesday - US Independence Day. It operates more like an oven and cooks using wood pellets, creating smoke. Scott's Mum and Dad, and sister Laramie and her partner Rick all came over for dinner, but we had to wait a bit for our pulled pork as it was a huge portion and took 10 hours to cook, but it was well worth the wait.

Once it was dark, we went to the front of the house and the boys let off the fireworks in the middle of the street:

It looks like the neighbourhood was aflame in this photo - but it was all under control.

On Wednesday morning, Jo and I had taken a short walk in Reinhart Volunteer Park, and on Thursday, with everyone back at work, we took a longer one, driving down to Rogue River to try out the relatively recently completed stretch of the Rogue River Greenway, which eventually is planned to go all the way from Grants Pass to Medford. This section is 4 miles long and it was out and back for us, so 8 miles in all - not bad in the heat of the midday sun. Here we are at the start, crossing the Rogue River bridge:

Friday was a quiet day for us - just some local shopping - but on Saturday we all went to the Farmers' market and then climbed up Dollar Mountain. Despite her fears, Jo managed fine:

We went to Judy's to pick blueberries after this and we now have 6 pounds of them in the fridge!

Temperatures picking up this week:

GP, Or

Greetings from Grants Pass, Oregon. All went well with the series of events prior to our departure to USA last Wednesday (as recorded in my last blog posting)  - including Jo's Endoscopy. Nothing was seen on the camera so apparently the next stage is an ultrasound scan. I have to say though, that Jo seems to be getting better - not quite back to her normal eating/drinking diet - still no coffee, for instance - but she's quite happy to have a glass - or two - of wine again.

Our journey over to USA went pretty well really, but it's always tricky when you have to go through Heathrow if you have to change terminals - as we did, from 5 to 3. We got off the Aberdeen plane and walked for maybe 10 minutes to get to the departure point for the transit buses that take you to T3, but there was a seething mass of people waiting there when we arrived, We had to wait for 5 or 6 busloads before we managed to get on one - and then it's about a 15 minute ride, so that's an hour gone already since we got off the plane in T5.

Stress levels were rising - particularly when we saw the lines at T3 security. Another half hour passed. The moral is simple - never arrange a tight connection at Heathrow unless you're arriving at and departing from the same terminal.

There was a bit of a delay in the plane departing as well - technical problem with one of the door's automatic locking systems apparently, but, apart from that, the flight went well. It was our first return to cattle class for many years and I have to say it wasn't too unpleasant at all. The service was very good - lots of regular food and drinks supplied, although it's all very cramped for eating and drinking as we had booked seats at the front of the cabin next to the emergency doors - it meant nobody was sitting beside us and we had tons of legroom, but the pop-up tray table is tiny.

We smoothed our way through US Immigration at Denver and it didn't take too long for our bags to arrive and then we jumped on our (free) hotel shuttle and very soon we had checked in to the Residence Inn - in a lovely big suite. There was a full service Marriott across the road so we popped over there for a couple of local beers and shared a cheese and meat platter. By now, it was nearing 10 pm local time but our body clocks were at 5 am the following morning so it was time for some shut-eye.

We could have flown directly to Medford from Denver but it would have meant a fairly early start in the morning so we had elected instead to take our time and leave at lunchtime, going via Seattle, but it meant we arrived in Oregon in the early evening and Lucy was there waiting to take us to Grants Pass - and she'd managed a full day's work and hadn't had to take any time off to pick up her old folks.

Lucy and Scott were working on Friday of course, so Jo and I decided we needed to stretch our legs a bit. We took the Jeep and headed up to the familiar territory of the Cathedral Hills trail system and chose a couple of trails that would give us, roughly, a 5 mile loop. It's well shaded and it wasn't ridiculously hot so we coped OK - well, I did anyway - but it may have been too soon after the journey for Jo, who said the undulations nearly killed her!

On Saturday, it was Open Day at Solero Winery, a lovely little place in the Applegate Valley that we had visited last year - Scott and Lucy were now Wine Club members there. Early afternoon wine drinking in the sun seems lovely at the time, but it has a hugely soporific effect later on - particularly as Scott took us to a new brewpub afterwards - via a coffee and cake stop at Pennington Farms. We managed some takeaway pizza in the evening but were happy to tumble in to bed fairly early on.

On Sunday morning, I felt sufficiently revived to venture out on a short bike ride around the town - nothing substantial and certainly no hills - it had been a while since I'd been in the saddle, so I took it very easy. Braeden was staying at a friend's house, but Cade had two of his buddies at home with him and they wanted to go boating/surfing on the lake so Scott, being the only duly licensed adult available, took them to Galesville reservoir, whilst Lucy, Jo and I drove over to Medford to do the Costco weekly food shop - plus a visit to Barnes & Noble's excellent book store.

One of the upshots of our trip is that the Lesinas now have a brand new, super-duper BBQ/grille - or they will have when Scott has finished assembling it. The old one had served them well, but it's now time to move on. Food quality reports will follow over the next few weeks.

Now you may be wondering why all this narrative and no photos? Well, most of them have already appeared on Facebook, but I've kept a couple back for this blog. I have two new pairs of swim shorts - Lucy bought me one with a definite Hawaii'an theme in mind, in view of our trip there in a few weeks' time:

To continue with my modelling of the Stewart range of swimshorts, here's what Jo bought me in M & S before we left:

The last photo was taken on my cycle ride this morning (Sunday). Every year, Grants Pass erects in the downtown area several bears, each with a different theme - here's one of them:

(New top also supplied by Lucy)

That's all for now folks.

Midsummer approaches

Just a couple of days now until the longest day - and just 10 days until we depart for USA. It's been a busy time recently and the next 10 days are no different.

Thankfully, the painters are now finished and we're slowly bringing each room in the house back to a semblance of normality. The Magpies charity shop has benefited from the reams of books and CD's we've disposed of - and the tip/recycle centre has had several visits, including our old shelving system in our downstairs office/studio. We've now ordered a new bookcase from Myakka:

This is due to arrive in the next week and we can then empty the garage of all the lever arch folders etc.

Since my last blog I've been to the dentist for a filling, attended a CAMRA tasting afternoon, been to Edinburgh for the wonderful Scotland cricket team's victory over England, then survived 3 days' golf in the Borders.

Coming up, I've got another radio show tonight, followed by a Seniors golf match at Aboyne tomorrow afternoon, then it's Jo's Endoscopy at ARI on Tuesday, another radio show after golf on Wednesday, then I'm off to Durham for another cricket match on Thursday. On Saturday there's a CAMRA meeting in Braemar then a meal out with the Masons and Kilgours. Monday is our annual Balmoral outing. On the eve of our departure we'll be back in Inverurie and, of course, amidst all this, there's some World Cup watching to be done!

Blazing June

We're well in to June now and the weather continues to be brilliant. I can't recall such a long period of dry, settled weather here - not quite the summers of 1975 & 1976 yet (when we were in SE England), but they say last month was the warmest and driest May for nearly 100 years. I could well believe it. I played golf yesterday - a relatively rare event for me nowadays - and the course was hard and dry and there were several areas where the ground was cracking up.

As I said, I don't play nearly as much golf as I used to, but the next couple of weeks before we head off to USA will see the most action for a while - June is always the busiest golf month of the year for me. It's likely Jo and I won't see much of each other before we get on the plane on 27th June!

Jo's away today - a day out in Edinburgh with her pal Anne. I drove them to Stonehaven early this morning. Ordinarily, this would have meant I was home alone today, but I'm afraid that's far from the situation. We have the painters in just now - they've been here since Monday and they're blitzing the whole house - inside and out. The house is like a war zone - there's no room where we can sit down and relax - all the furniture is piled up and shrouded with old bedsheets and polythene. They also sanded down a couple of our Artex ceilings, so every surface in the house now has a layer of dust on it. It's going to be quite a tidy-up job once they're finished. One side benefit has been the fact that we've had to clear space for them and this gave us a chance to have a major clear-out of some of the old files, books and CD's that had been overspilling some of our shelves and wardrobes. Lucy's and Kelly's old university course books and papers were part of that - and, Kelly - I have to tell you that we came across an old diary of yours!

I'm off to Edinburgh on Sunday to watch the Scotland v England cricket match. Brother-in-law Brian is joining us, as is Leslie Mason (Anne's husband). From there, it's then down to Peebles for 3 days' golf, so it'll be Thursday next week when we go to Inverurie for our usual weekly "babysitting" duties.

Jo's appointment to get her cataracts done hasn't come through yet, but she has now got a date for her endoscopy - Tuesday 19th June.

Sorry - no photos today - not even one of Luca after I took him for a haircut on Tuesday. You probably wouldn't notice the difference anyway!

West Coast Wanders

Our long promised trip to the other side of the country took place in a superb weather window. It was only a short break - just 2 nights - and we were just planning to have a little look around.

We left Banchory fairly promptly on Tuesday morning. There was a little bit of mist on Deeside but it was lifting as we headed further inland - at least until we approached Inverness, where there was a fairly thick Moray Firth haar. After crossing the Kessock Bridge we figured it was time for a short break, so we pulled in to the mart on the outskirts of Dingwall, where a cafe was advertised. It was very much a mart workers cafe - very functional, but it hit the spot as far as we were concerned. Jo thought it would be nice to take a photo beside the mart's signature statues:

Jo insisted on doing it again as she had stood in front of the dog:

The drive from there through to Plockton was fairly straight-forward, apart from the last few miles which were along a very narrow winding single track road - a small taste of things to come. The haar around Inverness had turned in to brilliant sunshine and the thermometer steadily rose to 26 C as we ventured further west.

We were booked in to the Plockton Inn - the Hotel was full. It was lunchtime when we arrived and the place was heaving so we decided to take a walk around the village and then head off to get some fuel.

The tide was out so we were able to walk across to the mini island where there were a number of seats conveniently located:

We completed a mini loop round the village, starting with the beach and coming back via the main street:

Thirsty work needed a quick pint on the decking of Plockton Hotel and then we jumped in the car and headed for the nearest fuel station at Kyle of Lochalsh - not exactly the cheapest fuel in Scotland. We couldn't then pass up the opportunity of crossing the adjacent bridge over to Skye and popped in to Kyleakin for a quick ice cream and a photo of the bridge:

Back in Plockton, our room was ready and soon it was time for dinner in their fine, but casual, seafood restaurant. A band was playing in the bar that night and we listened for a while before retiring.

Our next overnight stay was in Torridon but we planned to go there on a fairly circuitous route via Applecross, accessing it over the Bealloch na Ba hill route. The weather was stunning again as we crawled up the hill behind a brave team from the Cairngorm Cycling Club - we could only get past each of the riders as they pulled in to the passing places - but if there was traffic coming the other way - and there were plenty of tourists about - then you had to miss a turn. It took an eternity to get to the top of the road where there was a fairly large car park full of cars decamping their contents to get the obligatory photos of the jawdropping scenery looking across to Skye and Raasay:

We needed to do some leg stretching so I persuaded Jo to take the fairly short, but steepish in places, hike up here:

Jo took it nice and steady and made it fairly comfortably to the cairn where I was waiting:

We made it back down to the car then tackled the slow drive down the hill to Applecross. The Inn was mobbed - inside and out - so we decided on a nearby cafe instead for lunch, after which we took another stroll around before heading off to Torridon - the long way via the Wester Ross Coastal Trail.

Most of the journey went well, despite the narrow roads but, towards the end, we had a couple of near scrapes with a couple of less than friendly drivers coming in the opposite direction.

We arrived at the Torridon - we were staying in the Inn as the Hotel was full - late afternoon and, after a welcoming cup of tea and Tunnock's Caramel Wafer, we took the short walk down to the Boat House and Loch Torridon before dinner. A quick bath then out for a pre-dinner beer:

The Torridon resort is lovely and the rooms were a far cry from the tight but adequate ones we'd had at the Plockton Inn.

Our short break over, we had to now go to Inverurie to pick up Luca from school, stopping off on the way for coffee and a scone at the harbour in Nairn.

Back in Banchory today (Friday), it's been fairly busy - Jo's car had to be taken in for MoT and service and we also had the glaziers calling to measure the front door pane that recently shattered. We're also clearing the rooms to prepare for the arrival of the painters on Monday - an opportunity also to ditch a lot of the excess stuff built up over the years.

Second half of May

A lot to catch up on - 2 weeks with no blog reports. Funny how things have changed - I was posting virtually daily when I was working but now that I'm retired the posts seem to be getting less and less frequent. Retirement is a busy business.

Cade's graduation details arrived in the post:

Not something we do in the UK - strictly an American thing just now, but, then again, we never used to have fancy senior proms here - and we do now. Watch this space then.

A strange thing happened the other day - and we've no idea how or when it occurred. We - or, rather, Jo - noticed that one of the side panels at our front door was shattered:

Strange, eh?

On to matters Luca now. He's in his final year at primary now and will be starting at secondary school in August. He collected his new school tie the other day:

Luca's football season with Colony Park is coming to an end. I went along to his penultimate match at Oldmeldrum with Gary. Luca did well and scored a penalty. His "reward", which Gary treats him to after every match - win, lose or draw - is to go out for lunch - this time to Inverurie Garden Centre, where he scoffed down a day's worth of calories in one sitting.

The following weekend I did a double sitting with Luca. Carole was away eventing and Gary was taking part in the Oldmeldrum Hill Race, so I took Luca to his kickboxing class on Saturday morning. His reward this time was lunch in the small cafe/restaurant just 100 yards from their back door - the Scone and Yon. It's a former private house conversion - although very little internally has changed. It's still very obvious which room is which. The former living room was full so we were taken upstairs to what had been a small bedroom with a dormer window. It felt seriously weird:

The food was OK however.

On Sunday, Luca's final match was out at Millbank, near Alford. It was another glorious day and we all turned up to watch him play - me, Gary, Carole and Jo. Here's Jo and Gary having a seat and a chat at half time:

After every match has finished, the teams line up for each player to take a penalty. Exactly as he did the week before, Luca despatched his with ease:

Luca played well and his team won again. We celebrated with lunch at a nice cafe in Alford.

The weather had been brilliant and forecast to continue that way for at least another week, so it was time for Jo and I to make our long promised visit over to the west coast. Plockton, Applecross and Torridon were on our radar. Due to other commitments, the earliest we could travel was Tuesday this week. We're now back home and will report back on our trip in my next post.

Another end of week update

It's Friday afternoon and Jo's away swimming with her pals and I'm about to head out on my bike to take advantage of the sunshine, so I'll make this a quick one.

Our walk in the Cairngorms last week went OK - eventually. Check my hill-walking blog - https://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/. Jo and I also went a 5 kms forest walk last Saturday at Potarch.

Jo's been busy in the garden - front and back and I've been doing the consequent runs to the tip. The front was getting a bit overgrown but it's a lot tidier now:

It was my Boat of Garten weekend last Sunday/Monday and we struck it lucky with the weather again, as we did at golf again on Wednesday and cycling yesterday. More please.

Want to see what Ross is up to now? Check https://www.jacscoffeevan.co.uk/

Tonight I've got another live Headbangers show on River Dee Radio - don't forget to tune in at 8 pm - www.tunein.com/radio/River-Dee-Radio-s274232 - or listen to the podcast tomorrow on Mixcloud.

Busy time golfing next week but not long until we head off to USA - just 6 weeks now. Hope the Hawaiian volcano settles down soon.

Mayday

The headline is not a cry for help - merely a statement of fact. Tomorrow (Monday) is the May bank holiday in the UK and those living further south have been sweltering in a mini heatwave. Up here in the North East of Scotland we haven't been quite so fortunate - we've had plenty of bright, sunny days, but, until today there's been a little nip in the wind, keeping temperatures down a bit from what we had been told they would be.

Still, spring is definitely here - at least in the Northern hemisphere. I monitor the weather at the locations of our family and it's noticeable how Lucy's temperatures in Oregon have now gone well past Kelly's in Adelaide, as they're well in to their autumn now.

On the job front, Ross has finally managed to pick up some work. It's a start-up operation - a coffee stall in an old Citroen van situated in Victoria Park, Edinburgh - he's the barista. He had his first day trading yesterday and with the weather this weekend, it should have gone quite well. Fingers crossed. Incidentally, his PC crashed and burned so he has now "borrowed" Jo's laptop.

Kelly, too, has accepted a new job and starts next month. She went through turmoil before finally taking the plunge. It will mean less travelling for her, so that's good.

Of course, Gary too is in a new job - he's been at GEODIS in Aberdeen city centre for a couple of months now. Those on Facebook will be aware that Gary ran the Stirling Marathon last Sunday in an excellent time - although, as ever, he thought he could/should have done better. Here's the goody pack he got for participating:

Now the medical report. Since my last blog post, Jo has been for her breast screening and, on Thursday, we drove in to ARI for her medical assessment for her cataract operations. The doctor said her cataracts weren't too bad - normally they slowly encroach from either side, but hers are right across the middle, which is why they are causing her issues with reading and driving. They're going to do one eye and see how she gets on with that. Now it's just a waiting game to get her a slot for the operation, which could be in Stirling or Glasgow - and she's also indicated she will accept a last minute cancellation.

I've been back to the dermatology clinic for more treatment on the growths on the my nose. The one that was on top was burned off and now it's the lower one that has had a dose of liquid nitrogen and is starting to scab up a little:

I go back again in a few weeks' time.

Other goings-on in Arbor Court include the fact that we've just bought a new cordless Dyson cleaner. It was getting difficult for Jo to lug the old one up and down the stairs - this should be a lot easier.

We've also started the process of getting our house painted inside and out. We've had one quote already and another surveyor arrives on Wednesday. It's way too much for me to do.

Tomorrow, I'm going hiking in the Cairngorms with my hill-walking pals. The idea is to get up in to the mountains before all the snow disappears - not that we'll be walking in it, but we should get some nice views and photos at this time of year. It'll be an all-day expedition.

It's coming up to that busy time of the year - especially for golf. May and June are my peak months before we fly off to USA. I don't play nearly as often as I used to, but the next few weeks will still test me - starting with Boat of Garten next weekend.

To close, Jo recently sent me this photo she took of me having a moment at our little Air B'n'B in Adelaide:

Has Spring sprung?

We've had some lovely weather - bright sunny days, although not the temperatures they've been getting in the South of England, but it seems to have gone a little changeable again. Still, it can happen anywhere - even in the Algarve as we found out on our recent golfing trip. It was a short trip this year - just 3 days' golf - any longer and I wouldn't have gone. The weather was unseasonably poor - cool and wet at times. We would wake to temperatures of just 11 C - similar to Banchory - rising to just 16 C. Thursday morning was really bad - it was lashing and we had to postpone our tee time. Fortunately, it stopped at lunchtime and we did manage to play in the afternoon.

Friday was better - it got up to 21 C - and we did manage 3 rounds of golf in the 3 days, so it wasn't a complete disaster - just a little disappointing. The worst was getting some kind of food poisoning on the Thursday night - and I wasn't alone. I couldn't even face going out for dinner on Friday night, our last evening.

So, yes, as I suspected, this was my last overseas golf trip. I just can't hack it any more. I'll still keep playing golf here of course - and I have one more big commitment I've signed up to, which involves 3 straight days of golf on our annual Summer Tour - to Peebles this time, in June, immediately after a cricket trip to Edinburgh. Will I see Ross when I'm there? Who knows? He's still looking for employment down there, without any success at the time of writing, and he's given himself a deadline of the end of this month, so he may be back in Banchory by June.

So what have we been up to since I got back from Portugal? I went for a cycle with the Freewheelers last Monday - the first time I'd been out with them since our Xmas lunch. Tuesday it was back to Inverurie and Wednesday was golf for me and swimming for Jo again.

On Thursday, Jo and I took advantage of the good weather and went for a walk. We parked the car at Milton and walked eastwards along the river. It was a voyage of discovery for Jo. We came across a "host of golden daffodils":

A little further on, we came across a tiny adder on our path:

Friday was a really busy day for Jo - she had the West Church coffee morning, immediately followed by her afternoon swimming. I was going hill-walking in the afternoon, but had been working away on re-varnishing our garden bench that sits out front and also preparing the balcony decking for its annual oiling, so I got on with these chores in the morning.

More of the same for me on Saturday and I also managed to give our new car its first wash in the warm sunshine. On Sunday, after Jo had finished her duties at St. Columba's coffee morning, we drove down to Perth to meet up with Barry, Helen and Dawn, who were caravanning/camping near Scone Palace - they had come to see the Classic Car show on the Saturday. We all went for a stroll to Scone Palace and took a wander round the grounds, taking a photograph in the old graveyard:

Annoyingly, there were some showers on Sunday and, all of a sudden, my car was filthy again.

Today (Monday) I played my first Seniors golf match of the season and tonight we have another live show on River Dee Radio - https://tunein.com/radio/River-Dee-Radio-s274232/ in case you've forgotten.

Tomorrow it's back to Inverurie and then golf and swimming on Wednesday. Thursday is medical day - Jo has her breast screening and I'm going back to the Dermatology Clinic re my nose.

Eve of Algarve

I'm off to the Algarve in the morning for 3 days' golf - hope I manage OK. I suspect this may be my last overseas golf trip.

Luca and Gary came over for a belated Easter lunch yesterday with Jo, Ross and I. Sorry no photos again - I'm slipping up, aren't I? Ross goes back to Edinburgh tonight - I'll drive him in to Aberdeen to catch his train. He thinks he's going to give notice to his landlord at the end of this month, but where he'll be after that is dependent on where he can find some work. Edinburgh hasn't been a happy hunting place for him so far, but there's no doubt the economy there is buoyant and he probably has more chance of picking something up there than he has in the North East, where, although things are picking up a bit again in the oil industry, it's still suffering from a bit of a hangover from the oil price crash a couple of years ago.

Luca is here for a few more days as it's the second week of his school Easter holidays. He and I rode our bikes up to Inchmarlo driving range this morning and hit a few balls there. Watch him in action here - https://youtu.be/F9J27YtWArM.

On to medical matters - Jo's appointment at the hospital for her cataracts has come through - Thursday 3rd May.

Central Belt trip

We're back from our brief trip south - and we've gained a body - Ross came back with us for a few days, so the house is now full of the sound of he and his Mum discussing/arguing about world affairs. Have you ever known two people who can rant endlessly about the most trivial of matters - and miss the entire point in the process? Oh well.

Yes - plans to have Easter Sunday lunch/dinner with Ross and Gary fell apart. Carole's sister came up to visit them and Ross' plans changed too, so all of a sudden, it was just Jo and I - and guess what? - Jo suggested that, as it was such a beautiful day that the two of us should take a walk up Scolty! Surprised? I nearly fell out of bed. Jo hadn't been up there for probably three decades - but she made it OK - and probably more comfortably than she thought. She'll tell you, of course, how hard it was for her - and it wasn't easy - but I think she's more capable than she gives herself credit for. As long as she takes her time and stops often, she can get there OK - Jo even climbed up the Tower on the top - and here's the proof:

On Monday morning, we went for our first proper trip in our new car. I still await a full printed manual (although there is one available online and another onscreen in the car) so still haven't figured out all of the fancy functions of this high-tech car. We had already marvelled at the blind spot warning lights but discovered the virtually driverless technology in use when operating cruise control.

We made it to Dawn's in time for a spot of lunch before heading over to Barry and Helen's to drop the car off. Meghan is over from NYC just now so Dawn had arranged for us all to meet up in the city for a couple of beers and a meal. I remembered to use my camera to get a shot of Barry and Helen on the train, but failed dismally to capture images of Dawn, Meghan or Jordon - idiot!:

The weather was foul - I had originally hoped to squeeze in a game of golf with Brian on Tuesday, but the forecast was so bad, I didn't even bother to pack my clubs. We had lunch over at Julie and Guy's in Houston - the boys were off school during the Easter holidays and Mary was over there supervising.

Brian and I popped out in the afternoon to go and do some indoor practice at the Glasgow Golf Centre. I decided to take a video of a few of my swings. It worked OK for the first one, but I then struggled to get a ball to balance on the tee supplied - it took me ages to have another hit. Watch this farce here - https://youtu.be/ZPzQkTVeIMU

Back in Houston, Guy and Julie eventually got home from work and we had dinner there. Here's some shots from our day at the Whaleys:

I had somehow succeeded in snapping a pair of reading glasses, so I popped in to ASDA and bought another cheap - identical - replacement pair:

We left Brian and Mary's in Elderslie on Wednesday morning and, if anything, the weather had taken another turn for the worse - it was horribly sleety. Brian had arranged to take Leo fishing - he'd got a rod for Christmas and was keen to try it out. We didn't think they'd manage, but Brian sent me this photo of Leo and his catch:

We drove through the snow to Edinburgh to Ross' flat, where he told us he'd lost his job and wanted to come back with us to Banchory for a few days. The snow was building up in Edinburgh and the traffic was awful - it took us hours to get out on the open road, but the North East of Scotland again appeared to have escaped the worst of it. We couldn't go over Cairn o' Mount, but, generally, Deeside was virtually snow free and it improved sufficiently on Thursday for me to get a game of golf.

This morning (Friday), I awoke to find the scab on my nose after the recent liquid nitrogen treatment had come off. Now all that's left is the growth underneath, which will get treated at the end of this month:

To close, I've been trying for while to locate a photo of the old Bonnie Banchory flower display at the corner of Corsee Road. I contacted various local clubs and societies etc and eventually, the local Heritage Society came up with this:

Great, I thought - then I looked again - it doesn't say Bonnie Banchory! I've since been told that, from time to time, a new "sponsor" would have their name featured - and then it would change back to Bonnie Banchory again. So the bottom line is I'm still searching for that elusive photo. Once I get a suitable one, I think I'll start a campaign to bring the display back again. What do you think?