From Bellingham to Burghausen and Back: Fall is officially here...

and that means it's blogging weather. In other words, with shorter days and cooler nights, it's time to hunker down and reflect a bit on the summer and these past few beautiful autumn weeks. I believe the last time you heard from me was the end of July when I did my one and only official century bike ride. So, to catch up, I'll start with a quick run-down of the summer vacation.

As some of you know took a family trip to Scotland at the end of August. We mixed it up between visiting with James' family and heading up into the highlands. We rented a caravan centrally located on the Isle of Mull, one of the larger islands of the inner Hebrides and one that is a little bit off the beaten track. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, visited some castles, enjoyed a great day on the beautiful and magical island of Iona where I enjoyed the best 2 hours of the entire vacation playing in the sand, dipping my feet in the water, and watching Ronan build sand castles with his pail and shovel. I should also mention, we had a lovely visit with my Paddy and Emmelence, my brother-and sister-in-law near the town of Castle Douglas in Galloway, south of Glasgow. There, we visited Drumlanrig Castle near Dumfries. We took a tour of the castle. It's quite an amazing place owned by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, who are almost the wealthiest landowners in Britain, second only to the queen. After the tour, I explored a bit of the estate by mountain bike which you can rent at the castle. Definitely recommended. James and Ronan enjoyed the adventure playground.

Duart Castle on Isle of Mull

Ronan and his sand castles on Iona

The other highlight of the trip, of course, was my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party in James' hometown of Neilston, which he hadn't been back to in 17 years. It was the party of the decade for the village I'm sure. We got to meet lots of relatives who I had never met before but had heard about for years as well as nieces and nephews we hadn't seen since they were Ronan's age. Such a long time. James, his brother Joe, and his sister Mary entertained everyone with lots of great songs until the village's pipe and drum corps entered the parish hall to honor Betty on her birthday. It was a great night and I think the village is still talking about it.