Tuesday 31 January 2012
SKI MOUNTAINEERING BADGE
Monday 30 January 2012
GLASGOW LIGHTHOUSE
Sunday 29 January 2012
NORTH FACE MOUNTAINEERING VIDEO
Front cover |
This has to be one of the most heroic and tragic stories in mountaineering. As the cover of this video states: "The climbing sequences equal those of Touching the Void." The 3 of us sat and watched this film absolutely spell-bound!
Back cover |
Thursday 26 January 2012
EVERYTHING STOPS FOR TEA
Wednesday 25 January 2012
BURNS' OFFERING
A fig for those by law protected!
Liberty's a glorious feast!
Courts for cowards were erected,
Churches built to please the priest.
Later: Here is one of my favourite people, Bruce Davies, giving the Address to the Haggis.
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Photograph source: Wikipedia: Adrien Brouwer, The Bitter Tonic, Frankfurt am Main
Monday 23 January 2012
VANCOUVER - NEW YEAR'S DAY 2012
The Polar Bear club were out for their New Year's Day swim in English Bay |
Burrard Inlet looking west |
One of many in the downtown area |
English Bay looking west with cargo ships waiting to get into harbour - someone exercising |
English Bay looking west with cargo ships waiting to get into harbour - 3:30 pm |
Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park with snow-covered mountains in background |
Coal Harbour in late afternoon with white float plane at dock; cruise ship quay is out of the picture on the right. Lights of North Vancouver on the opposite shore. |
Sunday 22 January 2012
PLANTS AND PLANT HUNTERS
Here are Nessie and I investigating this camera-happy sculpture! I thought he was terrific!
This is what the camera-happy sculpture was looking at. That is the city in the background - quite lovely!
I was very impressed with the VanDusen Gardens which were next door to where we were staying for three weeks with Alastair. Here is a sculpture of David Douglas, the Scottish born botanist who travelled in British Columbia in the early 19th century, and named a lot of species of plants, including Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).
His is known in Scotland and is included as one of the Plant Hunters in a most interesting garden in Perthshire called the Explorers' Garden. His story is here on their website.
Finally I was most taken with this plant, the purple Beautyberry Bush or Callicarpa dichotoma. It provided a most eye-catching colour in this mid-winter period. As the climate of Vancouver is very like Glasgow I am going to see if I can grow this shrub in our garden. I noticed that the gardens in Vancouver had the same sort of plants that grow in our gardens and were at the same stage in December.
Saturday 21 January 2012
ENDERBY, BRISITH COLUMBIA
Thursday 19 January 2012
DOG-GONE GOOD WINE
He went missing one day and despite searches for him he came back 4 days later injured with a missing ear (if I remember the story correctly) and teeth marks about him. He survived and is bounding about the place ... much to our amazement!
Wednesday 18 January 2012
WINE IN THE NORTHERN LATITUDE
In my day it was all fruit growing but the trees have been pulled out and vines planted (where developers have not built or roads widened in the upgrade from gravel or asphalt to modern requirements).
It was a lovely day when Don took us there to sample the wines and buy some bottles.
Tuesday 17 January 2012
WINE LABELS
"For a working paper published last May by the American Association of Wine Economists, tens of thousands of alcohol levels for wines imported between 1992 and 2007 by the LCBO, the powerful liquor monopoly of Ontario that buys wines from all over the world, were analysed and compared with actual temperature increases in their regions of origin. The wine economists were able to show that the increase in average alcohol levels was much greater than could be explained by any change in climate and concluded 'our findings lead us to think that the rise in alcohol content of wine is primarily man-made'. They cited in particular 'evolving consumer preferences and expert ratings' as more likely to have driven up alcohol levels. In other words, wine producers perceive that wine consumers and authorities alike want wines that taste riper and in particular have softer tannins and lower acidity (acid levels fall as grapes ripen) and have deliberately chosen to have grapes picked later than they once were."
Monday 16 January 2012
EYE CANCER SUCKS
We are all pleased, and relieved, that there appears to be no cancer cells. Alastair has started a blog now and all the details, as they happen, are here:
They live very near the BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre in Vancouver and at this moment in time are awaiting Indy coming out of the anaesthetic.
He is going to be fitted with a prosthetic eye and it is to be ready by the end of this week! We are all very impressed with the care they are receiving as well as being in awe of the latest medical technology on offer today.
Sunday 15 January 2012
THE ROCK MOVED
2. Anyone who sails in the west of Scotland certainly knows about rock-dodging.
3. We know about rock-dodging. (That is another story.)
4. And we know: rocks move ... don't they? *
2. Anyone who sails in the west of Scotland certainly knows about rock-dodging.
3. We know about rock-dodging. (That is another story.)
4. Peter knows about rock dodging.
5. Off Port Ellen, Islay, in early May ... oh dear ... the rocks moved ... didn't they?*
7. Out of the water all summer
8. For repairs to a hole in her hull.
*Answer: Yes, it is a fact .... because I read it in the paper!
Saturday 14 January 2012
MUGDOCK
Storm damage was still evident with limbs and branches everywhere and the odd tree uprooted.
Thursday 12 January 2012
JANUARY TURNAROUND TIME
We flew back from Vancouver - half way round the world for us - and arrived home delighted with the smoothness of the trip. As there are no direct flights in winter to or from Glasgow we had to go through London Heathrow. Whether it was the British Airways carrier, the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow or the fact that more people are traveling ... or possibly more attention paid to travel logistics e.g. transport connections, check-in and security queues, etc ... we found the whole process over 24 hours very, very efficient and stress-free. Oh yes, computer booking and confirmation as well as seat selection must be a factor too. In total, much time-saving is evident compared to years ago.
Cards and letters bring talk of travels, health bulletins, births, deaths, achievements, photographs from recent or long ago, as well as talk of meeting up again in near or far locations.
January is never long with us as some Burns Supper or variation of it, is on the go. Maybe it is a proper Supper with Iain playing in the haggis, or maybe a ceilidh or concert ... or maybe dinner with friends with Iain brushing up his Address to the Haggis or his pièce de résistance: Tam O'Shanter.