Monday lunchtime

Ian is out at the shops just now, the boys are watching cartoons in the living room and I've finally managed to find my glasses.

Weren't they on your face? You ask.
Well in years gone by, they would have been but with maturity comes eyesight changes and I'm getting more like my father every year in that respect.

I remember he used to take his glasses off to read and that's exactly what I have to do now... and I keep forgetting where I've left them.

Is it time to chain them round my neck?

Tell us more about your holiday, I hear you cry!

OK!

Yesterday was another beautiful sunny day so we stayed home and sat in the garden - in the shade - sipping fruit juice with ice.
The boys played in the pool, Lucy did a spot of housework and then came out to join me and I read my book - lounging on a sun chair.

In the evening as the temperature dropped a little we took off for dinner at Summer Jo's.


Scott donned his golf shirt - and very nice it is too!



Some photos taken inside Summer Jo's follow:

Ian,



Lucy and Braeden,

Scott and Cade.

The gardens and vegetable plots at the back of the restaurant were avery pleasant distraction since our table wasn't ready when we arrived!

Ian informed the boys that the lilly pond was 60 feet deep but they were still quite happy to stand up on the rim and pose for this photo...I, on the other hand felt distinctly tingly watching them stand so close to the edge!!

Now, here's a lovely family portrait. You've already seen this composition on Ian's blog but this one is minus the back of me :)

And below is a photo of Ian and I with Braeden and Cade sitting on a rather rickety garden seat.

It could have been at this point that the mozzy attacked me.

I woke this morning with my first red lump!

It's on my arm... I've taken an antihistamine pill so hopefully it won't come to anything.

I was just congratulating myself yesterday on how I'd had no mozzy bites since I arrived in America.

I was even flirting with the idea that I was now immune to them!

Well no, not yet, is the answer to that query!

Does anyone else notice how wide everyone is in these photos, or is it just me.

Maybe I'll try lenthening them tomorrow!

Sunday morning on another sunny day!!

The photos are all, hopefully, in the right sequence for this foody entry.
So let's get started!

First, let's go back to 'Heaven on Earth'.

I haven't bothered with photos of the boring omelettes - that's Scott and I.
Or the even more boring porridge - Lucy!
But, here's Braeden with his children's 'pancake stack'. The little metal container has syrup in it and that's butter sitting on top... lots of butter.
Do we like?

Or perhaps you would prefer biscuits and gravy, as chosen by Cade.
My first impression of this was not good.
Visually I didn't think it had any appeal, but I had a little taste and it was very like sausages!
So would you like Cade's choice?

Then there was Ian... hmm, decisions, decisions!

Now here's a chappy happy with his choice!

French toast.

With syrup to pour over it, of course.

Good choice, Ian!! :)

Moving back in time, let's take a look at lunch in Portland in the famous 'Dan and Louis'.
The meal in the photo below was Scott's choice.

- oysters and chips!

Followed by Lucy with her weightwatcher's salad, watching Cade being presented with his clam chowder.

What is she thinking?

In fact, she was surrounded by chowder bowls...

Aaagh!!!!

Keep up the good work, Lucy.

Yours is the only sylph like figure left.

It's elastic waistbands for the rest of us!! :)

My best intentions disappeared in Dan and Louis as I succumbed to the clam chowder too!

That was followed by the cinnamon buns :(

Mmmmm must eat cinnamon buns... cinnamon ... sugar ... gooey dough ...

Resistance is futile!!

We set off without breakfast this morning because a friend of Lucy's had recommended a restaurant called, "Heaven on Earth" so it was decided we would break our journey to the resevoir by breakfasting there.

The photo of the restaurant is at the end of this entry because this is Lucy's version of 'blog' and I've no idea how to move pictures around.
Bear with me...

Here's the boat parked at the front of the house before we left.

... and here are the photos of Cade,

and Braeden taken when they got in the truck - full of beans and ready to go!

Now we've jumped to the reservoir...

Ah, now the photo below was taken after Ian and I had had our turn on the big 'Bonzai'!

It's pulled along behind the boat.

Poor Scott was the only one who didn't get a shot because he is the one with a licence to drive the boat.

What a great time we had.

We zoomed around dragging the 'Bonzai' behind us and we stopped the boat a couple of times for a swim.

The water was lovely and warm once you got in.

Poor wee Braeden was plum tuckered out and fell asleep on the boat before we got back to shore...and boy did we suffer for that when he had to wake up and get out of the boat!! :)

The photo below was taken when we were at 'Heaven on Earth'.

I'm going to put on some more photos of breakfast but since they'll apppear at the top of this entry if I try to put them on now, I'll wait and do it later.

Maybe I'll also show you what Scott had for lunch on our second day in Portland too!

Time to go. The house is coming back to life!!

Saturday July 18th

Back again!


The house is quiet now. Everybody has gone to bed for a well deserved siesta.
Necessary because we got up this morning and drove to Galeville Reservoir to have fun on the boat.

What to do, I wondered... eat the huge big cinnamon bun Lucy bought at the "Heaven on Earth" restaurant where we had breakfast?
Or... put an entry on the blog?

Do you see the size of the cinnamon bun?
Do I really want to eat it all...and I will if I start!!
Nibble by nibble I would consume it and then I would say, "Oh I wish I hadn't eaten all of that bun!!"

I know me well!
So here I sit - typing.

Friday morning - ten o'clock

Cade and Lucy at the marina in Portland.

Braeden and Lucy at the marina in Portland too!

Lucy and the boys walking along by the river in Portland.


Braeden in distress!!

Happy chappies on the bike!!

It's already too hot for me outside!

I took my coffee into the garden to sit in the sun and read a couple of chapters of my current book.

And very nice it felt too but the temperature is rising...
so here I am - back inside again.

Yesterday, I didn't go out during the day at all.

The temperature was over a hundred at it's peak and even when Lucy and I took Bailey for her evening walk - after eight - it was still 88 degrees!


I hate feeling wet!! Especially the sweat that runs down from my back!

We were going to take the bikes out today and go for a cycle down to the river for lunch but we'll need to postpone that trip till the weather cools a bit!

Poor wee Bailey - at least we're not wearing a fur coat.

I have however given up trying to straighten my hair. If I didn't have it tied back it would be afro 2009.

Want to know about Portland?

The part we were staying in this year was lovely.

It had walks all along the riverside which have been laid out with grass and trees, even flowers and a fountain for the kids to run through -

Down by the marina there are shops and restaurants. On our first evening in Portland, we walked down to this area and ate at one of the restaurants.
Food was good! I had scallops...mmm.

What strikes you is the number of cyclists who use the area.
You can hire bikes of all shapes and sizes to join in the fun.

Well, for some it's fun for others it's an agony of anxiety...as we know!
We hired a eight seater bike on our second day!
Lucy and Scott were up front with Cade - pedalling and steering.
Ian, Braeden and I were in the rear - pedalling.

Now Ian will dispute this -

He will say, "Correction here! Lucy and Scott were pedalling at the front and I was pedalling in the rear. Madam (me) was sitting back doing nothing!"

Technically it may have seemed that I was sitting back doing nothing, but in actual fact, I was concentrating hard on making sure we didn't hit anyone or career into anything...not to mention, veer off the two bridges we crossed and splash into the fast flowing river below!!

Braeden was also doing his bit to keep us safe as he wailed and cried out warnings to the drivers up front... especially when we were crossing the bridges.

Check the trauma on that poor child's face in the photo at the top of the entry! :)

Thursday16th July

It's been a while.
I thought when I was on holiday, I'd be writing every day but it hasn't turned out that way.

However, I have taken a good few photos which I've just finished downloading onto Lucy'n Scott's computer - so this is a good time to make an entry.

The boys have had their peanut butter sandwiches and grapes for lunch and are now playing in the back room and Ian is watching the golf.

Times flown by. It's been a week since we left Scotland - so I'll try to bring you up to date quickly.

The journey over was surprisingly painless and I had all but forgotten the visit to the hospital the previous day until we hit immigration at Portland.
Having got to the top of the queue, a burly immigration officer sporting a large moustache came over to us and said, "Excuse me ma am, have you had a proceedure recently?"

Immediately feeling guilty (and probably looking it), I admitted that I had had a 'nuclear scan' the previous day.
I couldn't help noticing the flashing red light in his hand!!
"Follow me, please!" he said.

We were deposited in an empty US citizen's line.

The immigration officer at this desk called us forward and we were processed but then the man with the moustache reappeared and we had to follow him into another room.

On one side was a reception counter and facing it were a couple of rows of seats.
He motioned for us to sit down but then asked me to follow him into a small room just behind the counter.

Ian got up too but was told to sit back down!!

I followed the man into the room and sat down.
My hands were shaking and I was worried he would notice - sure sign of guilt.

I cursed the Scottish hospital staff who had told me that my appointment card would be enough to get me through security and that was only on the off chance that I was still radioactive.
"It'll have worn off by the end of 24 hours, no problem." the woman had assured me!

Well no, it hadn't.
The machine on the desk was bleeping like crazy every time I moved towards it.

He read my appointment card...
"It doesn't state what isotope was used," he looked at me.

I shook my head and tried to look innocent.

He shook his head as he pondered the form in front of him.

He wrote down the name of the hospital and sat, pen in hand.

"They're going to refuse you entry," I said to myself. "Talk, talk to him..."

'You know the hospital told me the isotope would have broken down by now..." I twittered.
He wasn't listening!!

At this point, the lady immigration officer who had taken our fingerprints appeared in the doorway,
"Just put down isotope used for nuclear scanning" and she smiled at me!

The man with the moustache nodded and I was free to go!

So much for keeping it short but I thought you might like to share my trauma with me :)

I'll carry on with the catch up later. Cade wants a wee shot on the computer now.

Monday morning

Almost a week since I wrote on the blog.

It's six thirty in the morning and the house is beginning to stir.

Lucy and Bailley have appeared in the kitchen and almost at the same moment, the door from the garage has opened and Ian has walked past with a silent nod.

Scott's just appeared too... hopefully the boys will sleep a bit longer or it will be a very long day for old Granda Ian and Granny Jo as we are holding the fort today!

Lucy and Scott are both working.

Last Tuesday seems like an eternity ago.

'Trip 2' to the hospital was ghastly and I'm very relieved I took Ross up on his offer to go with me because I'm not sure I would have made it home without him!

The proceedure was quite straight forward...in fact the place was full of people getting the same thing.
It was like a conveyer belt.

Step 1. nurses room - injected with heart stimulant over a period of six minutes using a tap that's been inserted.
(this is horrible - everything inside the upper half of your body starts to burn and feel as though it's expanding. Your skin feels too tight and I think I now know what it must have felt like for the folk in medieval times who were crushed to death by having boulders laid on top of their chest...nasty)

Step 2. still in nurses room - a radiocative isotope is injected.

Step 3. the hospital corridor - a carton of full cream milk and 45 minutes walking up and down.

Step 4. the scanning room - 15 minutes with your arms stretched out above your head and the instruction ... 'Don't move, it'll ruin the image.'

I got to 'Step 3' before I hit a blip.

I became really light headed and nausious while marching up and down the corridor.
When I asked one of the nurses for a sick pan, she grabbed me and plonked me down on a chair and called for a blood pressure unit.

On the way back to the waiting room in the wheel chair, I was told, "Don't worry. Your blood pressure is fine, you've just been unlucky and developed 'side effects'"

So there we are.
I got the scan and Ross took his rather pathetic old mother, who was feeling really sorry for herself, back home to bed where she stayed till she had to get up to fly to America!!

I'm going to stop here because everytrhing else that follows is 'good news' and 'happy times' so I don't want to put it in this entry!!