Patrick’s the Centre of a Media Scramble

5 boys and 5 girls were picked for St Fillans to compete in the “Alternative Highland Games”  Patrick was one of the lucky ones, and last Friday morning they jumped on a bus to the Linwood Sports Centre.  There were another 7 local schools competing, but St Fillans came in first and were invited to the finals in Paisley on Monday – St Andrews Day.
So on Monday, we all jumped in the car and headed to the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley for the final.  (The kids were off school (because of St Andrews day) and I took the day off too)  There were 6 schools in the final.  They competed in “Throw the Welly”, “Toss the Turnip”, Tug o War, Toss The Caber,  Three Legged Race and the Relay.
St Fillan’s did great – they were second and, with a little bit of luck on their side in the relay they could have won – next year.
One of the sponsors of the event was the “Queen’s Baton Relay”.  This is like the Olympic torch, but for the Commonwealth Games.  The torch is touring around all the Commonwealth countries until it gets to Delhi for the start of the games in October next year.

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Mo’s Birthday

It was Mo’s birthday yesterday.  We were all going out to Xscape to go for out dinner and then for a ski.  Fiona & Gordon, Laura & Craig, and Michael all came for dinner.  We left Michael and Fiona in the bar while the rest of us went skiing.  The bar over looks the slope, so they could watch.

Skiing was great …

Greer Family Photo

Granny’s sister, Annie, died last week.  Dad was at the funeral on Tuesday and while he was speaking to Gerard Dellot it was mentioned that he had a Greer family picture from years ago.  Dad got this email from Gerard yesterday and he then passed it on to all of us.

Hi Michael

Nice to catch up with you both yesterday. We had another long journey home in terrible weather but thankfully cleared after the Lake District.

Anyway, Greer family photo attached:- 'Broons' eat your heart out!

Cheers

Gez

And Dad’s email …

Look at the resemblance between my Granny and Mary. Also, Mary is the spitting image of her daughter, Fiona Mary.

Eileen, Paul and Johanna: Don't you think that my Granda could be Peter Dalton? You can see why Meg couldn't get clothes and shoes to fit her, she's already the biggest of the crowd. I don't know when it was taken but I think that Mary went to London when she was 18, so I'm guessing that this may have been just before that. If I'm right that would make: Mary-18, Sadie-17, Meg-16,Annie-15.  I don't know the other ages but Charlie told me yesterday that he was 78 last week and he's the youngest.

I'm fairly sure that the order, from oldest to youngest is: Mary, Sadie, Meg, Annie, Charlie, Eileen, Owenie, Jean, James, Frank. Eileen (Brawley), let me know if you agree with the order.

Finally, Megan, Patrick and Ella, How would you like to be in a family of 10 children? No chance of getting your own room, Meggy! And Patrick - 6 sisters, augh!!!

Dad xx

The quality is amazing considering the photo could be almost 80 years old!!

Partick’s Stop Motion – “Snack Time”

I have a lot of catching up to do with the blog, but I have been really busy at work.  I was having to replace the office server, which needs to be done out of hours so I had planned to go in last Saturday.  Patrick came in with me and he watched some movies while I started configuring the server.  A lot of the time involved clicking the mouse and then watching a status bar for 10mins. 

To try and make the day go a bit quicker, I took my camera in and Patrick came up with a new stop motion movie.  What do you all think …

Ella’s Dancing Show

It was Ella’s dancing show today – Jean and Eddie and Mum and Dad joined us for the extravaganza!  She was great - She was out again tonight for the final show – she is going to be knackered! 

While Megan, Mo and Granny were watching Strictly Come Dancing, Patrick, Granda and me tried another stop motion movie in the kitchen - the latest blockbuster is after Ella’s dance.

Patrick’s Going to be a Film Director

It is Ella’s first Dancing show tonight and Mo and Megan were away helping.  We are all going to see her tomorrow so I will let you know how it all goes. 

So Pat and I have got an empty!!  At dinner Patrick said he wanted to be a film director, so we got the camera out and some lego and a train set and came up with these shows – Pat did the second one entirely by himself – I think he could be the next Stephen Speilberg!!

Aviemore – Gordon’s Pictures

Gordon sent us some of his pictures from the weekend.  I am still lovin’ the fishing pictures!! 

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Aviemore 2009 – Sunday

Mo and I won a watch last night – we ended up in the Villa with just Ella.  The girls were with Fiona & Gordon and the boys were with David in the flat.  We got up to another glorious frosty morning.  I went a walk round the grounds taking some photographs and when I came back Mo told me that Patrick had been sick during the night.  I went over to the flat, where David was in the process of cleaning up spew!  Luckily Patrick had been on the top bunk and had managed to spray/splatter all over the clothes that were lying on the floor below – happy days.  We seem to miss out on the midnight spews.  Megan was sick a few years ago while staying with Fiona & Gordon. 

This spewing put the plan back, but we were still on the road for 10:45.  We headed up to a place called the “Uath Lochans”, close to Loch Inch.  What a lovely setting, typical of the forests around Aviemore, but with the weather so still and clear the views were fantastic.  We had a short walk round one of the lochans before heading back to the units to make lunch.  We had home caught and cooked Rainbow Trout which tasted fantastic.  Once we were tidied up we emptied the units into the cars and headed back down the road.

Another great weekend and I can’t wait for the next one – scarily looking forward to the fishing!!!

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Aviemore 2009 - Saturday

It was the annual Monks trip up to Aviemore this weekend.  We all got up on Friday evening and had a few glasses of wine and agreed on the plan of action for Saturday – not too easy with 9 adults and 8 kids.  (Caroline didn’t make it this year).  The plan was the Highland Wildlife Park for the ones not going to the EGM meeting – (Fiona and Jean – someone had to!!)

We were on the road for 10:20 (world record?) and the weather was frosty and cold, but really sunny – perfect Aviemore weather.  We had a walk round the park, Tigers, Wolves, Polar Bear and Snow Monkeys were a few of the main attractions.  Ella kept the pace up – we would arrive at an enclosure and before the last person had got to the glass Ella was moving us on.  (Ask Gordon about Kelvingrove Museum!!)  We had lunch in the cafe (the mac ‘n’ cheese was great) before heading back to the units.      

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Ella’s Drawings

Ella loves her arts & crafts – she will sit for hours drawing, sticking, cutting and colouring.  On Sunday night she was drawing and I was tidying up the kitchen after dinner and she asked “Do you want me to draw you a “Heelin’ Coo” – that is Scottish for Highland Cow don’t you know?”  Her are the results …