All Hail To the Ale

Yesterday, I went to the 21st Aberdeen and North East Beer Festival, and met up with Dave and Richard from jogscotland and a bunch of Dave's work mates. It was a good laugh - the new venue at the home of AFC had some weird acoustics, but more space and better toilets than the old place.

That's Dave and Richard enjoying some beer - they were also good enough to make sure I got the right train home and got off at the right stop, although Dave almost succeeded in persuading me to stop for another pint after we got back to Stoney which would probably have led to a major hangover this morning. As it happened I didn't feel too bad, but did get a bit tired earlier this evening and tried to get a wee nap while watching the very enjoyable "Earth: The Power of the Planet" with the kids

Back to the beer, and here are my tasting notes:

Williams Bros Ginger Kyte	3.5% ABV
Very gingery and refreshing - like kids ginger beer but with alcohol. Dave thought the more beery less gingery Ginger Marble was better but he was wrong
Highland Dark Munro	4.0% ABV
Nice dark beer from Orkney.
Brew DogParadox	10.0% ABV
Very strong, brewed in whisky barrels giving it a fantastic flavour, which I am told varies depending on the whisky. Great flavour but wouldn't want to drink too much.
MarbleChocolate	5.5% ABV
Nice - slightly chocolaty in flavour.
Orkney Northern Light	4.0% ABV
Light and refreshing - not bad at all.

(I think I had something else as well, but I can't remember much about it. I blame the Paradox)

Dib dib dib and all that

This week, Lachlan was officially inducted into the Cub Scouts and became a proper member of the White six. I'm happy to say he seems to be enjoying it and making new friends. Can't wait until they start taking him away to camp!

Looking more like his mum each day

Lachlan got new specs today which are, strangely, quite similar to his mother's, but are in fact way cooler because they have a zebra pattern on the inside of the frames.

Calum's eyesight means that he has yet to experience the joy of new glasses, but he is becoming a proficient Lego builder, as this fine model of a man shows.

I've just realised that these two photos just about fit the latest Weekly Word Competition (which I've been meaning to get involved in for a few weeks now) because Lachlan is wearing his Purple school uniform and the Lego man is made from a mismatched Assortment of bits.

Happy Birthday, Aileen

To celebrate her 60th birthday, my Auntie Aileen invited a big bunch of family for lunch at The Atholl. For some reason, the birthday girl arranged the seating plan to have Lachlan and Calum on either side of her, not something most people would choose to do if they'd ever sat at a table with them before. As it turned out, it all went really well. The food was excellent, the kids were well behaved (as well as our two, their cousins Liam, Eilidh, and Kirsten were there and they all played well together or drew pictures when they weren't eating), and it was a nice chance to say hello to a number of relatives who we hadn't seen for a while. A good time was had by all. Lachlan and Calum took quite a few photos - a lot had to be deleted but enough survived for a slide show. Click below if you want to see the full size versions:

Facebook Malarky

I have decided to join Facebook cos I was scared I was missing something. Seems moderatly enjoyable. I'm obviously now in a race to get more friends than Iain so please contact me! (Yes, I'm that sad!) Here is the link to my Facebook page so you can have a look:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=716929703

Ooooh! Aaaah!

Fireworks are great. As usual, Stonehaven managed to put on a really decent show with a nice big fire (featuring an absolutely brilliant Guy - where did they get that from?) and a whole bunch of fireworks. The kids really enjoyed it, although I think the sparklers were their favourite. I was able to muck about with the camera's "Night" and "Fireworks" settings which produced some fairly decent pics although camera shake is definitely a problem I'll have to work on.

2007-11-04 Bonfire Night

Sports Roundup

We've had a lot to blog about this last week, so some of this is getting to be old news, but there have been a couple of major achievements in the world of sport worth mentioning.

First, the Boston Redsox won the (ever so slightly misnamed) World Series for the second time in four years. Yay! Go Sox!

Secondly, Aberdeen beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 4-1 in the quarter final of the CIS (which stands for Calum Iain Shanks) Cup to set up a semi final against Dundee United (or should that be Rangers?). Double Yay! C'mon you reds!

Finally, Glenury Untied have been promoted to III.16 in Hattrick after over three years (omg, has it really been that long) or ten seasons in IV.6. I reckon there's even a decent chance of staying up.