Jim Malcolm

After a couple of weeks back home in Scotland I was off to Orlando Florida with a number of family members.

It was a special expedition to celebrate my big sister Alison’s fiftieth birthday. It was also the first time since starting to work in America back in 1999 that I’ve actually had a proper holiday here.

Big sis at the back, we had just terrified ourselves in the attraction behind

Sandy goes all Gene Kelly on us…

Sandy has to grin and bear it…

Spacey place at Epcot..

England at Epcot.. Some American once said to me – ‘we don’t need to go to Europe, we’ve got Epcot’

Beth with some fine revolutionary fellows..

Ahhh, the highlight of our whole trip, Harry Potter Land at Universal studios. We are a family of devout Potteronians…..

Hogsmeade which has been blended with Diagon Alley.. very well done..

The wand shop where they do the whole ‘It’s the wand that chooses the wizard’ schtick..

You can stock up on chocolate frogs in Honeydukes..

Sandy spent all his holiday money on this clobber..

The highly dangerous Monster Book of Monsters

Owls waiting for postal assignments..

We were tickled to see that our home town had made it on to the Hogwarts Express timetable

The serious dragon rollercoaster..

We named these cranes Frazer and Nialls. I’ll get my coat…

Magic Kingdom where Disney really goes over the top..Beth wishing upon a star…

One of my more repeatable nicknames in The Old Blind dogs was Woody….Don’t see the resemblance myself..

Can’t help but feel dwarfed by her beauty…

You shall go to the ball….at 11am, 1pm,3pm and 5pm.

Chim chiminee, chim chiminee, chim chim charoo…that sent the spellchecker frantic..

Animal Kingdom, just as well hippos dont eat fish…

Bunch of old crocks…

We really are the brainy ones….

king of the swingers

Strange and beautiful tree lady…

Very Jungle Book…

The impressive peak is actually a Yeti themed rollercoster..scary biscuits!

The tree of life which is covered with animals..

The grand finale…a firework display narrated by Jiminy Cricket.. so always let your conscience be your guide..right – back to work…

Dorie in Rochester NY has a cool gismo for making guitar picks out of stuff like old credit cards…

Last leg of the tour, after a great final night in New Haven CT, heading for Newark airport in New Jersey..

Would love to see a baseball game here sometime….

Camera at the ready for a sneaky snap of Manhattan from this famous bridge..

Er, not that easy….
Many, many thanks to everyone who has made my tour a truly great experience, with wonderful support and hospitality all along the way. I look forward to seeng you all again sometime soon!

Last week in Fox River northern Illinois, on a beatiful autumnal day…made all the more wonderful by Andy Murray’s sensational US Open Tennis triumph the night before. As Scotland slept Andy ended a 76 year drought of grand slam titles for British players and has become Scotlands greatest ever sportsman…

my kind of town….

not worked much in this state…

I’ve got a girl… home of Gibson Guitars

A prominent politician lately claimed that the trees in his home state of Michigan are just the right size… see for yourself

Stayed with old pals in Caledonia, near Grand Rapids. They organised a spectacular Saltire welcome…

The best guitar shop on the planet….

Bass banjo

Bass ukelele?

Non guitar geeks look away… idea humidity for musical istruments

serious serious guitsrs…

tons of them…

Banjo heaven

Ukeleles galore..

mandolin madness

fiddles galore…

Bull fiddles

cheaper options…

have a cigar..

beautiful..

A collection of fluff balls removed from vintage guitars….known as tone balls

oh no a witch has reverse pinnochioed me…..
Hartland Michigan, a very hansome venue,,

Promised i’d post a photo of these lovely ‘Celtic Kettle’ ladies..

Sun splitting the Ohio sky…I was promised a dull rainy day.

Ten minutes later..That’s more like it, dull and rainy…

Tried fishing but only managed to catch three little ones like this which would not keep still…

Came across a gold panning operation

This guy is panning for gold

As luck would have it, after a long drought the overnight rain has turned the Clearfork of the Mohican into Willy Wonkas chocolate river. So no fishing on my day off – boo hoo! Hopefully it will clear for tommorrow.

Tough nuts to crack. These hickory nuts are tasty but built like Fort Knox. The two big ones are from last year, the smaller shows the effects of this years drought….

These folks have style…..