Loo-ville

Friday morning we got up nice and early to fly to Louisville. Normally a 5am wake-up call the day after a 4am wake-up call would rankle, but I guess one of the benefits of being jet-lagged is that getting up early is not really a problem. We hopped the hotel shuttle and found ourselves to be the only non-airline personnel on-board. It felt kind of like we were the new kids at school.

The flight was entirely uneventful because the weather was grand - clear skies without a cloud to be seen and temperatures in the nineties. Fiona's Dad had driven down from Toronto to join us on our visit and met us at the airport and a van-full of nephews and nieces were waiting in the cell-phone lot, so we received a very warm reception. It was amazing to see how much Edmund, Karol, Therese, Faustina and Gianna had grown and developed. They're all fantastic little people. We also got to meet our two new nieces - Jacinta and Zelie - both of which suffered the indignities of the poor newborn handling skills of Uncle Rik. They did their best to compensate for my clumsy nervousness and eventually agreed not to mock my baby-holding skills if I wouldn't comment on their diaper-filling abilities.

After spending the rest of the afternoon at their house, Doug came home and we all went out for dinner. Fiona and I shared a table with Edmund, Karol and Faustina who kept us entertained. We talked about a myriad of different topics and discovered some universal truths - hot peppers are no good, olives are yucky, bread (of all types) is fantastic, especially when dipped in oil, balsamic vinegar is somehow a lemon extract and goat's cheese does not belong on pizza.

The next day was as hot as the first. It was kind of humorous to see the Doppler Radar image on the weather forecast - completely blank. Our mission that day was to go out and enjoy the Kentucky State Fair. The kids were great. The exhibition is a different experience when accompanied by the commentary of little people.

It was our first state fair experience, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. The highlights for us?

1. The animals. A small petting zoo was a hit with the kids. They had a very cute setup for ducklings, where they placed a dish of food at the very edge of a ramp. The ducklings would grab a couple of kernels before losing their balance and sliding down the ramp. Come to think of it, is that cute ... or cruel?

2. Moldy pies. We went to the fair on day 10 of 11 and I guess the pie judging was done on day 1. The prize winning pies were placed in display cases and promptly went moldy. A prize winning peach pie with fuzz on the outside just doesn't have the same cache as one that is warm and fresh.

3. Agricultural displays. I learned that the head of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture is a guy called Richie Farmer. I learned that I can drown in grain in less than 8 seconds. I learned that roll bars on a tractor can help you avoid grisly and terrible mangling.

4. Health care tips. The kids really enjoyed walking through a giant colon. They had lots of strangely insightful questions about colon health. I was hoping for more giant inflatable internal organs, but there were no more to be seen.

5. They are doing amazing things with balloons these days. When I was a kid balloon animals were a big thing. Nowadays they generate entire balloon landscapes. I think the adults were just as impressed as the kids.

6. Food. Funnel cake, lemonade shake-ups, elephant ears, fried chicken, sausages, pulled pork, and that's only the food served in the exhibition hall. Fiona, Roger and I hit the midway later in the afternoon and saw the wonderful variety of stick-based foods. But our personal favourite was the donut burger - a perfectly cooked bacon cheeseburger with donuts instead of buns. I had to take two pictures - one of the sign to get all the details and another, of the stand, showing that there were actually people in line to buy this monstrosity.

7. I've still got it. I confidently stepped up on the midway and won my little lady a fancy stuffed penguin by throwing darts at balloons. Of course, I purposely missed on the last dart so as not to fill our suitcase with an overly large stuffed animal.

After an afternoon on the midway we retreated back to the house. Doug and Adele managed to get away for a little bit as Roger, Fiona and I played babysitter. The kids were really well behaved and it was quite an easy gig.

On Sunday we had brunch at a riverside restaurant. We managed to squeeze all the big kids into a booth and I got to play gatekeeper, keeping an eye on the cheerful little crowd. They started to get a little concerned towards the end of the meal that Fiona and I would be leaving later that day. They kept asking when we would be back. It's great to know we'll be missed.

We had a few more hours at the house before taking off again. It was good quality time with both the kids and Doug and Adele. Karol taught me about stick-bugs, butterflies and methods for keeping deer out of your vegetable garden. Therese was dealing out hugs as usual. Faustina thought she could count all my freckles before I left. Edmund explained the literary complexities found within the gripping book "Mr. Sneeze". Gianna smiled, laughed and giggled as she got me to chase her around the house. Jacinta and Zelie managed to survive another few minutes in Uncle Rik's arms.

The trip back to Houston provided one more highlight: fantastic cloud formations. We were expecting a bit of a rough ride due to bands of thunderstorms, but it never really materialized and we spent most of the flight gaping out the window and the clouds. Fantastic.

Passport News and Movie Reviews

We're hanging out in the North Houston Sheraton waiting to start a day of house-shopping, so I figured it was a good time to catch up on some blogging.

Because I've already said we're in Houston you can infer that I got my passport issues sorted out. It only took a day trip to Glasgow and 6 hours in the bureaucratic nightmare that is a UK Border Agency office. My application went smoothly, but there were problems with the system and things just took a lot longer than they should have. A few days later I received my new identity card in the mail. It looks very futuristic. Let's hope it gets me back into the country in a couple of weeks.

We worried a lot about our trip through US customs. How would they treat us? Would the re-entry permits be accepted? It turns out we worried about nothing. For once we had very friendly border agent and even got a heart-warming "Welcome Home".

Our flight was good. Uneventful, but that's how trans-Atlantic flights should be. We mostly spent the 10 hours catching up on some movies. We both watched "Date Night": enjoyable, but how could it not be with Tina Fey and Steve Carrell? While it was hard to stifle some out-loud laughter at some points, we both thought it could have been better. There were definitely some slow parts. I somehow managed to sit through all 90 minutes of "The Losers". This one was pretty contrived with a "twist" halfway through that made no sense and pretty much ruined the rest of the movie. If you're in the need for mindless action-adventure, then go see the A-Team. We went with Roger and Cathy when they were in Aberdeen. I was prepared for a plethora of explosions, but even those expectations were exceeded. And yet, somehow, it also managed to be fun. Part of that fun was watching Fiona swoon every time Bradley Cooper took his shirt off - which was a lot. I also watched "Shutter Island" with Leonardo diCaprio. It had a pretty cool vibe and twisty plot, but it had the unfortunate luck of being seen after "Inception", which is a similar version of the same movie, but done much, much better. In fact, I think "Inception" was probably the best movie I've seen this year (and am likely to see). The only one to perhaps give it a run for its money was "Kenny", an Australian pseudo-documentary about a guy who runs a porta-potty business. It never degenerates into the obvious run of poop jokes, although there are a few. You end up getting really attached to Kenny. Fiona and I both highly recommend it.

We picked up a great rental car at the airport - a Dodge Journey. Although I'd never heard of the model (I'm getting too used to Citroens and Vauxhalls) it is really growing on me. Big enough without being ridiculous, comfortable enough for long trips on the I-10 and powerful enough to overtake without being too hard on gas.

We quickly sprinted down the Sam Houston to the office where we managed to sign all our new re-entry papers with enough time to make it to Pappadeaux for our fill of fried crawdads, crabcakes and Andouille sausage. With an ice-cold Shiner on the side. Fabulous.

Scone Castle and more golf

It turns out we got more than mild indigestion at the Lebanese-Scottish diner outside Cawdor Castle. On our way out we grabbed some brochures and ended up setting the next weekend's agenda - an orchid festival at Scone Castle. Fiona and Roger had spent some time during the week doling out some TLC to our resident orchids and buying some new, fragrant varieties, so an orchid festival seemed the thing to do. It was cool that we could combine it with a trip to Scone (pronounced Scoon) Castle, a place we've been wanting to go for sometime. Scone was the ancient crowning place for Scottish kings. They would sit upon the Stone of Scone to be crowned. The stone was stolen by Edward I and brought to Westminster Abbey where it sat until it was stolen by some university students in the 60's (all covered very nicely in the movie "Stone of Destiny"). They brought it back to Scotland and it now sits in Edinburgh Castle, "on loan" from the monarchy.

It was an easy 2 hour drive down to Scone and the grounds were already quite busy when we arrived. They had a live cover band (well, I say band, but it was actually just a piano player and singer) playing in the courtyard. As we had Casey with us, we took turns seeing the sights. They had a tent full of orchids brought in by growers all over the country. We were tempted to buy another one, but decided we had enough work with the ones already in the house. We toured an ancient graveyard and marveled at the sequoias and giant Douglas firs in the pinetum. They actually had one planted from seed brought back by David Douglas himself, who was a local. We even made our way through the hedge maze. The castle itself was a real highlight, with lots of porcelain and portraiture. The portraits were especially eye-catching because the Murrays were a good-looking family. They had orchids in every room which really added another touch of class. We spent some time talking to the Artist-in-Residence who was working on some spectacular watercolours of, you guessed it, orchids. She and Fiona talked shop for a while and Fiona came away with some good tips for her new watercolour project.

Later that week Fiona took Roger and Cathy to her new favourite golf course, just outside Aberdeen in a little place called Kemnay. Even with the thunderclouds rolling in and filling up the background, you can see what a beautiful place it is go for a walk, even if you have to stop and hit (or curse at) a small white ball every so often.

Cawdor Castle, Pitmedden Gardens and new sense of Scottishness

We took the slow route back from Ben Nevis, swinging to the north from Fort William and then up along the entire length of Loch Ness. A portion of this route has been a standard day trip for almost all visitors, but I think this was a first for both Roger and Cathy. The weather co-operated, giving the trip a true Scottish feel by adding a touch of cloud and little bit of rain. We thought we might stop at Urquhart Castle, but the lines of tourists turned us away. We opted to head for a pretty good second choice, however, and ended up heading toward Cawdor Castle. Avid readers of the blog will recognize it from previous postings, avid readers of Shakespeare (not necessarily the same readers, but we hope for the best from our audience) will recognize it as the stomping grounds of the notorious Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth.

After a quick stop for a hearty lunch at the local Lebanese-Scottish (!) diner, we stormed the castle. Right at the entrance was a large grove of trees which sounded like a South African football stadium. That same background buzzing that we had put up with for a month during the World Cup was now coming from a very large tree in the middle of the grove. I suspect the cause was more likely to be a mass infestation of bees rather than a group of vuvuzela-blowing fans in the tree-tops, but as I saw no bees I can't be sure.

The castle gardens were in fabulous shape. We were maybe a week or so late to catch it at its peak, but they were impressive nonetheless. We wandered around both sets of walled gardens before heading into the castle where pictures are forbidden. I always liked Cawdor Castle because it is still lived in by its current owner. That means that beside the 14th century tapestry sits a silver framed picture of Aunt Judy. It's a pretty cool juxtaposition.

The rest of the trip to Aberdeen was pretty uneventful. The next few days were marked by an incredible difficulty to get up and down the stairs, a lot of moaning and groaning whenever someone stood up or sat down and reduced number of walks for the dog.

Roger, Cathy and Fiona had enough mobility restored by mid-week to take a trip up to Pitmedden Gardens, about 45 minutes outside of Aberdeen. They returned with remarkable stories of fantastically level hedges and Fiona's National Geographic worthy photos.

Later that week we all tidied ourselves up and went to the Marcliffe Hotel for a fancy-pants dinner. We had a drink in the lounge before dinner and indulged in the lobster and crab heavy menu. Good conversation, good company and good food, all the hallmarks of having Roger and Cathy visiting. It had been a while since we had a meal (and an evening) so enjoyable. I was glad because it was my treat to Roger for completely rebuilding the dilapidated greenhouse/potting shed in our backyard. He did an amazing job undoing all the water damage and making it both usable and esthetically pleasing. I can't wait to be growing chili peppers during the long, cold winter.

The next day we were on the golf course. We got there early, just before 9am, and managed to play the first 6 holes on our own private course as the light rain and early hour kept everyone else away. Fiona played absolutely lights-out, hitting greens with deadly accuracy and generally making the rest of us look a little foolish. But I think the most memorable thing I took away from this particular trip round the links was a new sense and acceptance of my growing Scottishness. We played through a light, misty drizzle for most of the round, and, looking back, I can see why others stayed away. But I remember talking to Roger and Fiona at the third tee-box and stating, with no sense of irony, that: "it wasn't really raining". And when it started to rain a little harder on the next hole, I stated with ultimate conviction that: "at least the wind was down". And when the wind picked up a few holes later, I calmly opined that: "this won't last - I see the sun behind the next cloud". I may have put my next tee-shot in the pond, but my remark was deadly accurate: we finished the last two holes bathed in glorious sunshine.