Midwinter Update

I can see that I am really not going to keep this blog up at all - I'll try to get to the first anniversary of our moving here, which neatly co-incides with my 60th birthday, for which we are planning a party.

It seems a long time since our first Christmas in this house - complete with both daughters and as you can see we had a good feast. Edward and his friend Susan arrived (more or less, after a long saga of snow, missed flights, lost luggage etc) from New York, via Grand Rapids, on the Saturday after Christmas and stayed for a few days, feeding our new neighbours as you can see below (the cat is not too sure about these new somewhat large neighbours). They went to Glasgow for New Year (at a do in Hampden Park) and we just went along to the Port Charlotte Hotel to see in the bells. Plans to cycle along did not last long in the cold and dark, so I drove and limited myself to one dram.

January has been pretty cold, though we have avoided the snow which has fallen elsewhere - we just have it on the hills to provide us with cracking views. I did mange to go on a "test walk" for Walk Islay week, over the hills in the rain and have managed several rounds of golf, though mostly delayed because of frost in the mornings. We had a nice break thanks to a visit from Sue & Tim who also needed a break so came for 5 days in the middle of the month.

I have very busy setting up the golf club membership system in order to get the subscription renewals in the post this coming week. I have even manged quite a few rounds, though they were often delayed by frost. I also got sucked into a game of table tennis for the first time in many years.

It being January we were involved in two Burns Suppers - well one was the Port Mor lunch club do where I did the toast to the lassies and Bronwen sang. She was also singing at the Feis Ila Supper, of which a DVD was made and just arrived - Bronwen seems to be hiding it for her private consumption only, but if I can extract a bit I might put it up here!

I also managed a trip off the island last weekend (only my 4th I think) to a bridge congress in Dunoon. Very tiring playing bridge until after 11 each night, but very enjoyable. We did not feature in the prizes, but neither were we last. With any luck I should be off the island again on Thursday/Friday when my dad is due to get his cataract sorted in Glasgow - this was delayed last month due to him catching a cold, so we hope it will happen this time. Friday was the Choir's annual dinner, with an excellent meal at the Port Charlotte hotel .

Sadly Bronwen's mother seems to be fading fast after suffering another stoke, so things are somewhat uncertain for the next few weeks. The photo below is Ed and Bronwen from the hill behind the house looking south, the house being the one just to Bronwen's right shoulder.