Off-at-a-Tangent

GLASGOW WHOLE FOODS STORE

2012-02-19T18:35:00.000Z

Glasgow has recently opened up a large Whole Foods Store. While not located in our part of the city I headed over to Giffnock today with the intention of buying some supplies for a dinner party we are having tomorrow.

Well, I had a ball! I remember the days when this shop (store) was Safeway's and it has now had a complete make-over. It has a very West Coast of North America feel about the place with its wooden board exterior and brown grocery bags being packed by lads at the check-out. Yes, it had all the grains, pulses, nuts and seeds and plenty else besides. Yes, it was rather expensive but oh-h-h the range and quality!

I said to the lad at the delicatessen area where sushi was being offered for tasting, "Goodness! This could be Vancouver!" And just then a children's choir started singing "Do Lord, Oh Do Lord ..." negro spiritual! Apparently 5% of the day's taking go to the school which whose choir was performing.

What I was looking for was blocks of chocolate for baking ... and indeed, they had it (lower left corner of photo). I haven't seen that for years. Britain does not sell Bakers chocolate in any shape or form. Never has.

In the above photo I picked up [L] unsulphered apricots. Verdict: completely tasteless! [centre bag] red rice from the Camargue region of France [R] walnuts which apparently are the best ever according to Christina. (Though she lives near Whole Foods I was unable to visit today.) The Brownies are just out of the oven and are for tomorrow.

FEBRUARY HOLIDAY PHOTOS

2012-02-18T18:57:00.001Z

John took some photos of the children last weekend.

Here is Ishie flying a kite at Dunira.

Alastair practicing on his"climbing wall".

INDY'S EYE EXPLAINED

2012-02-16T23:22:00.000Z

Dawn and Alastair have posted some photos on Indy's blog here. I have taken the liberty of copying one photo and the text here to highlight the work that has been done to give Indy an artificial left eye. Just look at the match in this latest photo! And furthermore, Dawn explains how the eye is fitted so that the prosthesis will move along with the other eye when it moves. Amazing!

She says:

"Indy's prosthetic is really quite amazing. If you were to meet him now you really could have a hard time telling which one is the real eye. It's tracking along with his other eye quite well now and doesn't seem to be causing him any problems.

It seems there was some confusion about how it works so I thought I would write a post to clarify.

When they removed his eye they put in an implant, a sphere covered in a special porous surface that was surgically attached to his eye muscles. His body won't reject it as it's made of a special material. As it is surgically attached, he will live with this implant. When he looks to the left, the muscles will move this implant as if it was an eye. The implant is a pinkish color - you can see it at the top of this page, [i.e. the following photo] covered by a see through "space keeper" which was put at the same time to hold the space for where a prosthetic would be added.

The prosthetic sits under the eyelids and over the implant and can be removed. As the implant moves, it moves the prosthetic around, with about 60% of the motion. When he's looking straight ahead both eyes look straight ahead (most of the time). I believe the prosthetic is made out of dental materials. The front was hand painted and is a really good match. Even if you have a close look, the color and texture of the eye and iris are very similar."

Several days later ... here is another photo. Look at how the two eyes are moving together!

FIVE YEAR OLD FASHION STATEMENT

2012-02-16T18:45:00.002Z

Big Ish (Iseabail) and Wee Ish were here today after school for a few hours. Big Ish always brings lovely books and Wee Ish really enjoys them. We had a great afternoon as the sun shone which meant we were out in the garden for a couple of hours after school.

I was showing Big Ish a blue velvet hat that belonged to her mother and which has been in our dress-up box for over 40 years. I took this picture because I want to be able to show Ishie in years to come that this really is her colour, i.e. when the day comes to buy a ball-gown or a velvet jacket, this is a colour that is quite stunning on her!

The other colour that suits her is fuschia which is what this little dress which came from Debra highlights.

THE POETRY OF RADIO

2012-02-15T20:53:00.002Z

Bournmouth University's Emeritus Professor Seán Street was discussing his new book 'The Poetry of Radio, The Colour of Sound on BBC Radio 4 today.  "The book explores the imaginative connections between radio and poetry, looking at how poets have used sound since before the printed word, providing narrative through the music of the world that surrounds us." (Quote taken from his website here.)

On the radio programme here Libby Purves and guests were talking about the aesthetics of ordinary radio [9.40 minutes in] i.e. accidental poetry as opposed to a given poem being read out. Prof. Street maintained that "radio, at its heart, is a poetic medium… There are magical moments, particularly in the vernacular…. and also when people get emotional…. Language can become transcendent and they move into a poetic sort of utterance."

For example, there were Radio Ballads produced in the 1950s and 1960s. The very first one was a ballad about a railway accident The Ballad of John Axon in which an engine driver was killed.

Charles Parker the producer was reporting on this accident in the days when BBC journalists/broadcasters went out with notebooks and wrote down what people said and then actors read it. They were just going over to the use of a tape recorder for interviewing at this particular time when he talked to one man about why railways were important. The man said it was a tradition, it was part of your life; railways went through the back of your spine like BLACKPOOL went through rock*.

______________________________________________________

To explain: *rock is hard sugar sweet in the shape of a stick; a stick of candy a bit like a candy cane without the hook. It is usually white with a red outside colour on it. The lettering, in red, of the town or city is incorporated into the stick so that when you suck on it the name of the town is always there. That being said, Edinburgh Rock is a different species but that is another story.

Photo is of the West Highland steam train that I took in Mallaig a couple of years ago.

INDY PROGRESS REPORT

2012-02-14T21:10:00.001Z

Indy has had another examination under anaesthetic to check if there are any cancer cells in his good eye. With the laser they treated 2 suspicious cells just in case they were something that might develop into a tumor.

For further up-to-date details go to the blog about Indy's story here.

________________________________________________

Photo: weathervane at Gartocharn Parish Church.

INDY'S NEW EYE

2012-02-08T12:27:00.002Z

Just look at this little fellow! Indy, now 6 months old, was fitted with his new prosthesis today. The left eye makes a remarkable match with his good eye on the right. And isn't he just a real Vancouver boy in that sweater and winter hat?!!

It's Hats Off to the team at the BC Women Hospital and Health Centre in Vancouver for making such a wonderful job of creating and fitting his new eye.

The full story of Indy is here on the blog that his mum and dad, Dawn and Alastair, have created. You can also see other posts on this blog by going to the side bar and under the CATEGORIES heading find "Indy" and click on that.

AS WALTER SCOTT MIGHT SEE US

2012-02-05T09:59:00.000Z

The season for celebrating the memory of Robert Burns can last a good few weeks mainly because speakers, venues get squashed into this time of year and there is always a need to spread things out. To that end we attended at most pleasant Burns Evening at Ross Priory (Strathclyde Univeristy's country residence) on Friday night. We stayed overnight so were able to spend some time before and after getting out in the country air and having morning coffee with our hostess who lives locally.

The location is the very south end of Loch Lomond. This photo shows the area which is now designated as a reserve for birds.

There had been a lot of storm damage to the trees. The shore area was pretty water-logged anyhow so a lot of shallow rooted trees came down. The clean-up goes on in the cold afternoon when I am sure the men with chain saws want to be getting home.

* * * * *

The building of Ross Priory used to be owned by various people including in the 1800s the Leith-Buchanans. (This is Buchanan country.) They used to entertain visitors and inside the present building is a framed article from the Scottish Field magazine. It talks about how Sir Walter Scott visited and on one particular occasion the host thought Scott would enjoy meeting one of the local people:

"Among the guests invited to meet him [Walter Scott] at dinner was Mr Macfarlan, minister of neighbouring parish of Drymen, better known after as Principal of Glasgow University. The talk had been of antiquities and traditions of the neighbourhood. Mr Macfarlan ventured to quote, as a curious relic, a folk rhyme referring to a place in the parish. When Rob Roy appeared some little time afterwards [it was published in 1817], Mr Macfarlan found his curious folk rhyme at the head of one of the chapters."

"O Baron o'Buchlyvie
May the foul fiend rive ye,
And a' to pieces drive ye
For biggin'sie a toun
Where there's neither hourse meat,
Nor man's meal,
Nor a chair to sit doon!"

Scottish Field magazine, August 1906, page87.

* * * * *

The countryside, the mountains and loch would be much the same as when Walter Scott visited with farmers moving cattle about (mud everywhere on the narrow roads) and all the trees bare of their leaves.

The photo above is the village of Gartocharn from the village hall car park. Take away the modern houses in the foreground I doubt that the country would be much different after 200 years. I wonder what he might have written had he visited now?

View of Loch Lomond from Kilmaronack Churchyard, Gartocharn (Time: 4pm).

* * * * *

So to turn some lines from Burns's ending of his poem To A Louse

from

O wad some pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us....

Here's some scenes the camera tae gie us

To see for ourselves how Scott might see us.

BRIGHT EYES

2012-02-03T13:12:00.000Z

Take a look at this!

BEFORE

AFTER

The clever people in Vancouver where Dawn and Alastair live are preparing a new eye for Indy! And what a good job they are making! The blog of Indy's story is here and these photos are taken from it.

He is now 6 months and if he had anything to say it might be: "Mom... I'm only 6 months and I'm doing my best learning how to eat solid food ... and besides my gums are sore with teeth starting to come through."

INSTALLING MORE MEMORY IN iMAC 10.5.8

2012-02-02T19:05:00.000Z

My iMac 10.5.8 computer which was bought in October 2006 has been running rather slowly. "You experience poor performance in everyday tasks. For instance, a program doesn't respond or seems to take forever to open."* This is because as upgrades of software keep getting added they require more memory to run (at least I think that is the general idea). Anyhow both Alastair and the Apple store lads said "You need more memory [RAM]." Now it took me awhile to get my act together but I am here to say that I have purchased and installed the equipment successfully therefore anyone can do it!

[1] You buy a piece of equipment called a memory module and put it into the back of your computer replacing one of the two that are already in there. It is that green thing mid-photograph below. It is purchased from * Cruicial.com. It arrived in an envelope by post. The description on the delivery note states that it is Quantity = 1 of "Upgrade for Apple iMac 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Due (24-inch) System 2 GB 200-PIN DDR2 SOSDIMM 256Mx64 PC2-5300".

[2] To intall watch this video showing how to put it into the back of this type of "white Intel" type of iMac. (It's a shame about the hellish rock music but the demo is spot on.) There are other excellent videos which can be found by searching "upgrade Mac memory or "to install RAM in an iMac".

[3] With a Phillips No. 2 screwdriver and a good source of light it is exactly as described in the video.

I don't know if it matters which slot the new one goes in, i.e. I took the top one of two out and replaced it with the one which is lying on the glass table top in the photo. (It was quite difficult to get out! The white plastic side clips are stiff, as described, but snapped as they were supposed to.)

So now the MEMORY has gone from 1GB to 2.5 GB. (Screenshot on top is BEFORE; Screenshot below is AFTER.)

ALASTAIR'S 4TH BIRTHDAY

2012-02-01T22:27:00.002Z

Alastair's 4th birthday today!

SKI MOUNTAINEERING BADGE

2012-01-31T20:06:00.000Z

This blue metal badge has been in our possession for 40 years! It was left by someone who came to a party we had in February 1975. It is 2.3 cm by 3 cm and would appear to be a badge of a ski mountaineering club (3 alpinestocks or ice-axes and one pair of ?bear-trap style skis). The colours are blue and turquoise and white enamel. The letters on the top right might stand for Civil Engineering. Is it yours? The pin on the back has a simple, rudimentary clasp. Do you recognize the design? Click on About Me in the side-bar and it will give you contact information. Leaving a comment would also work.

GLASGOW LIGHTHOUSE

2012-01-30T19:33:00.002Z

Today Maggie and I met up with Inger and Agneta who are here from Sweden for some visiting and shopping and also Christine and Neil. After we had a pub lunch we spent some time exploring the Lighthouse located in the city centre. I took these photos with my iPhone (!!!) from the viewing platform on the top of the building. They actually are quite stunning viewed on the Mac computer screen!

The Lighthouse is a Charles Rennie Mackintosh building (1895) which in former days served as the premises for the Glasgow Herald, the city's main newspaper.

Here is the Lighthouse Gang. While I like to shop in Stockholm they like to shop in Glasgow: e.g. things of good design in the Lighthouse shop, plus Marks and Spencers and Boots the Chemist.

A view of the rooftops of the city. On the right background is one of the few remaining examples of how the red sandstone Victorian buildings used to look, i.e.black from coal smoke.

NORTH FACE MOUNTAINEERING VIDEO

2012-01-29T18:10:00.002Z

Iain borrowed a video from John and Mairi in order to sit with a friend who had a stroke 10 years ago. The gentleman was a very fine climber in his day and edited many books on Scottish Mountaineering (for example this one.)

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!

The film is called North Face and is German with English sub-titles. The German title is Nordwand and came out in 2008, directed by Philipp Stölzl. It is based on an attempt in 1936 to climb the Eiger north face and the basic story of the climb is true, incredible ... but true. Added to this, and off-setting the mountaineering drama, is the social situation in Germany - again, very well done. It also highlighted the role of newspapers in their push to get a story (e.g. Stanley going out to search for Livingstone.)

The story is about 2 climbers, Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas) from Berchtesgaden, Germany. For a trailer the link is here.

Back cover

EVERYTHING STOPS FOR TEA

2012-01-26T21:02:00.000Z

Now that the holidays are over we are back to our normal routine. We all headed out to Dobbie's Garden Centre on Sunday for tea and scones.

Meanwhile back at our house Iain is showing Alastair, who will be 4 years old next week, how to work our video. The idea is that once Alastair learns - and he is very interested in on/off buttons and knobs that twirl - he can show me!

Ishie is now 5 years old and every Thursday I collect her from shool which is nearby. Today a heavy snow shower came over just as school finished so we came in quite wet and ready for sustenance - milk for her and tea for me with scones that I made earlier.

As the we cannot get out to the park at the back of our house we sit at the dining room table and spend some time together with paper, scissors and felt pens. Today we made great mileage out of our many Christmas cards.

Tomorrow she is to recite Lollipop Man by JK Annand (Scottish poet) at school so we all got to hear her rehearsal.... more on this anon.

BURNS' OFFERING

2012-01-25T17:52:00.002Z

It's Burns Night ... we're awa' .... like this fella ... another Tam o'Shanter? ... gettin' fu' and unca happy!

We attended a most interesting lecture at the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow tonight: Liberty and Common Values by Shami Chakrabarti. She is the Director of Liberty and talked about civil liberties and promotion of human rights.

After the lecture, over a glass of wine, I chatted to a wonderful lady who was/is a member of the Communist Party. She was telling me of happy days singing in the Young Communist Choir in Glasgow (for many years). She said that in 1959 the choir sang in the St Andrews Halls for the Burns Bicentenary (of his birth in 1759). The concert was rapturously received and was apparently the only time a recording was made despite years of performances. She said the BBC refused to record the choir presumably because they did not approve of their philosophy.

She was a lady who also performed in Burns's play, The Jolly Beggars. As we raised a glass to the memory of Burns she quoted a few apt lines from the play:

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.
________________________________________________________

Photograph source: Wikipedia: Adrien Brouwer, The Bitter Tonic, Frankfurt am Main

VANCOUVER - NEW YEAR'S DAY 2012

2012-01-23T23:59:00.001Z

Scenes of Vancouver on our New Year's Day walk following the shore around the city centre and Stanley Park.

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.

PLANTS AND PLANT HUNTERS

2012-01-22T19:57:00.011Z

When in Vancouver between Christmas and New Year we visited Queen Elizabeth park. These sculptures are strategically placed at the viewpoint over the city.

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.

ENDERBY, BRISITH COLUMBIA

2012-01-21T23:06:00.027Z

Between Christmas and New Year be had a tour in the area to the south of Salmon Arm - Enderby. The sun shone and so did the Shuswap River which flows into Mara Lake.

And around the corner ... near the bridge....

DOG-GONE GOOD WINE

2012-01-19T19:47:00.007Z

When visiting Salmon Arm between Christmas and New Year we were treated to visit to a couple of wineries in the Shuswap area.

This photo of Salmon Arm is down at the bird feeding area adjacent to the wharf and CPR railway tracks.

A similar view more to the right, i.e. from Don and Carol's house looking toward Mt Bastion on Shusway Lake with the wharf being on the left out of the photo.

Don drove us all to Granite Creek Winery (website here) in Tappen for a visit and a chance to buy some bottles.

Despite being mid-winter they were open for business and very welcoming. We spent an enjoyable hour hearing the story of the resident golden retriever's encounter with a cougar. (There is a photo of this dog on their website.)

While being the most northerly winery ... on the continent? ... (Latitude of Tappen is 50° 46′ 59″) located in the Shuswap which is adjacent to the Okanagan Valley (north end) in British Columbia, they also have become a source of interest because of this dog's adventure.

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!

WINE IN THE NORTHERN LATITUDE

2012-01-18T18:23:00.006Z

In Salmon Arm there are several wineries. We visited the Larch Hills Winery between Christmas and New Year. Therefore these wineries are in the general region of Salmon Arm which is latitude 50.6 degrees N. (Think of the US-Canadian border which is latitude 49 degrees N.)

The location is the very northern end of the wine growing area which is mainly in the Okanagan Valley. Broadly speaking, this is a fertile valley between the mountain ranges eastward to the Rockies and the ranges of mountains comprising, broadly the Coast Range.

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).

The grapes they grow are mainly the type you would see in Germany, i.e. for colder climate. The acreage is not large.

It was a lovely day when Don took us there to sample the wines and buy some bottles.

WINE LABELS

2012-01-17T20:27:00.009Z

I buy wine for the label ... well not all the time but I make no apology for the fact that I do purchase a bottle if the label appeals. ~~Men~~ People gasp with incredulity but I am here to say I seldom buy a duff bottle.

Between Christmas and New Year we had a lovely meal in Salmon Arm with all the family gathered from the airts and pairts. The hotel served a good selection of wine including a range of Okanagan wines.

I fancied the name Rigmarole and we quaffed a few bottles. Look at the labels - lovely! They are a British Columbia winery and are based in Oliver (website is here) which is very close to the USA border, i.e. located in the south of the province.

This Sunday I was reading in the Financial Times an article by Jancis Robinson. It is here. This highly respected journalist/wine taster of many years states that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) did a study which showed that the alcohol content of many bottles of wine was greater than that printed on the label. While there is always room for a slight variation the difference, in some cases, was considerable. And then she goes on to look at the reason for this. It is to do with the wish for greater sugar content in grapes, i.e. later picking, and as a consequence of this the alcohol level is higher.

"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."

EYE CANCER SUCKS

2012-01-16T20:55:00.003Z

Thanks to the internet sites of Facebook and blogsites we are kept in the loop of all developments in the care of Baby Iain David - Indy, for short. Having had his left eye removed November 6th because of a retinoblastoma, today was the day for his first (of regular) monitoring in the form of an examination under anaesthetic to see if there is any early appearance of the cancer in the other eye.

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:

I think this is a lovely picture of Dawn and Indy! He is now 5 1/2 months and is coming along just fine, i.e. developing as one would expect for a child of his age.

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.

THE ROCK MOVED

2012-01-15T15:47:00.007Z

SCENE THE SECOND OF AN OLD STORY

1. Anyone who sails knows about rock-dodging.

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? *

SCENE THE FIRST THE SAME STORY

6. That's our boat (drawn by Peter on his Christmas card entitled Scotched on the Rocks)

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!

MUGDOCK

2012-01-14T13:37:00.011Z

In an effort to overcome jet lag we made the most of a lovely day to walk on Mugdock moor adjacent to where we live in Milngavie (north-east side of Glasgow).

Our house is just out of the picture on the left hand side. This is looking south-west with Milngavie houses below left.

Storm damage was still evident with limbs and branches everywhere and the odd tree uprooted.

Looking south and eastwards that is the city of Glasgow below us. The white marks left of centre are the high flats (high-rise apartment blocks) which are next to the motorway that goes east to Edinburgh (45 minute drive).

JANUARY TURNAROUND TIME

2012-01-12T13:04:00.005Z

We're back! Unlike most towns and cities which are expanding ever outwards I am here to say that the global village is definitely getting smaller.

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.

Great piles of lovely mail to be opened ... and on a lovely sunny morning! Heaven!! ... well that along with having a sleep in one's own bed and an Only-Tastes-Good-in-Britain cup of tea!

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.

Christmas card season (which we welcome as having moved house and being the age we are some people are sadly coming off our mailing list) is closely followed by Burns Season.

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.

OUT AND ABOUT IN VANCOUVER

2012-01-06T00:11:00.007Z

Alastair and Iain drove back from the Okanagan to Vancouver with a load of wood on his Jeep. Nearing Vancouver they stopped to let Nessie, his lovely Australian blue heeler, stretch her legs.

Alastair and Jeep

Being in the movie business Dawn and Alastair got us all to turn out for a photo-shoot in Queen Elizabeth park. There is a viewpoint there with a stunning cityscape for a backdrop. However also there are some sculptures of Tourists. Here is one of them having a close encounter with Dawn.

JANUARY GALES

2012-01-03T20:37:00.003Z

New Year has come and gone and I am still in Vancouver enjoying get-togethers with family and friends.

Photos are going to have to come later. In the meantime I have been following John's posting on Facebook about the gales in Scotland. This link shows photos sent to the BBC news desk illustrating the damage across the coast and country.

It is here.

CHRISTMAS VANCOUVER STYLE

2011-12-25T22:48:00.008Z

PURPLE PROSE

2011-12-24T15:53:00.008Z

Captain Vancouver discovered a lovely inlet
on the west coast of Canada a mere 200 years ago.

I discovered this wonderful garden across the road
from Alastair and Dawn's house
where we all went last night
to enjoy the Festival of Lights:

The VanDusen Gardens in Vancouver

(o - gremlin ....

Callicarpa dichotoma
or
purple beautyberry shrub ...
or maybe
it is the Callicarpa americana?

Anyhow it is my
Christmas wreath this year!

(Watch this space!
Now that I have learned about this winter-flowering plant
I plan to grow it
as it is thriving in the same micro-climate
as my Glasgow garden.)

"When you are old
You can ~~wear~~ ... grow purple!"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

VICTORIA

2011-12-24T00:48:00.007Z

Just quickly ... some shots taken in Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) earlier this week. Catch you later.....

BABY IAIN - PROGRESS

2011-12-22T05:41:00.005Z

Here are some photos of wee Baby Iain. He is doing very well - putting on weight and becoming quite animated.

PAS DE BABA

2011-12-17T00:17:00.005Z

Alastair and Dawn's wee boy, Baby Iain David - Indy for short - is now 4 months old and is a wee pet! After seeing him on Skype all these past 4 months we now are delighted to meet the Real Boy! He is very like Alastair when he was that age, i.e. peach fuzz for hair and fair of skin.

Also he is temperamentaly like Alastair (and, apparently, Dawn) in that he is a quiet and contented, an Easy Baby! He is doing all the things that babies of his age do, beginning to grasp things in his hands and will chuckle if tickled or chatted to.

He has completely recovered from his recent eye surgery. The doctors are very pleased him and, of course, they are monitoring him closely. He will be getting a prosthesis for his left eye in January.

So here he is modelling his wee kilt which he is keeping in readiness for the New Year. He has a couple of rather stylish Pirate outfits, plus a Santa Claus red outfit - all necessary rig-outs for the wee celebrity-person that he is!

BIBLICAL RESONANCE

2011-12-13T16:52:00.007Z

And they came from the east bearing gifts for a baby .... Not three wise men but Iain and I preparing to enjoy what he maintains is his favourite view, namely, "looking back".

I found this wonderful painting depicting a caravan heading out, called The Magi Journeying (Les rois mages en voyage) by French painter, James Jacques Joseph Tissot, done between 1886 and 1894; an opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, Brooklyn Museum.

He spent time in Paris and in London. "In 1874, Degas asked him to join them in the first exhibition organized by the artists we call the Impressionists, but Tissot refused." Wikipedia.

RED ALERT

2011-12-12T15:14:00.006Z

In Scotland we get a lot of "weather". Several people have asked me about the bad weather we had last Thursday (December 8th). Apparently it was on the news in various parts of the world that we had a Red Alert for "hurricane" weather. They elaborated that this "storm force" could results in structural damage.

This is where we live on the west of Scotland and yes, the weather reports on television and the radio did put out a Red Alert and, in my opinion, gave very good notice about a gale immanent and that it could reach "storm" force with gusts of "hurricane" force.

This shows the isobars and yes, it did arrive as predicted. Schools were closed. (I was due to collect Ishie at 3 pm which was to be the peak of the bad weather arriving from the sout-west heading east.) So I had her all day ... which was just fine.

People were let off work early (noon or mid-afternoon) to go home (and lose holidays over it). The news programmes showed how they were ready with teams of workers with chain saws to deal with fallen trees, railway staff to clear lines of debris (garden sheds, trampolines etc), several big bridges closed and fire and flood patrols to the ready.

As Ishie and I were having our lunch about 1 pm a strong gust whistled through our garden and took off the corner of the glass-house of our neighbour. We did not sustain any damage other than plastic buckets being blown around the garden. (What often happens is that roof tiles get loosened and then you begin to notice damp patches on the wall or ceiling.)

This wind turbine did not fare so well.

Basically, I felt the weather forecasting and public precautions were well done. After 2 bad winters (more to do with snow and ice) we are getting better at not going out unless absolutely necessary, in really bad conditions. (It only creates problems for public thoroughfares.)

In the past we have been in situations like this - it was July and we were anchored (2 anchors down) in a harbour on the west of Scotland ... so it is kind of "normal"!

On this occasion no major accidents occurred: one school bus was blown over but it was empty at the time and the driver was unhurt.

IS IT CHRISTMAS YET?

2011-12-10T22:21:00.004Z

I went into the city centre of Glasgow to do a bit of Christmas shopping today. The place was buzzing in a pleasant, seasonal way. My route took me from the train station at Queen Street through an alley to the Buchanan Galleries.

On the steps of the Royal Glasgow Concert Hall was a choir singing. No name and no collection being taken .... very pleasant listening to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing".

The window displays vary: childrens' toys, wanna-be celebrity outfits to the fun and funky. I liked this one in a window of John Lewis's department store. (I used to love gazing into the store windows - Hudson Bay Company or Eatons in the big city- as a kid. I loved it if there were elves hammering at the workbench or Rudolph's red nose blinking on and off!)

The Salvation Army were out today in Buchanan Galleries as I had a coffee and mince pie up on the cafe level listening to their carols. Again I have many memories of small groups of Salvation Army playing or singing carols every Christmas.

One particular memory is of visiting a home for unwed mothers that they had in Vancouver somewhere out near Grace Hospital (Shaughnessy area) as I recall. A sister of a friend was there just before her baby was due. That would have been 1963 - 64. To think of it now... the present generation simply would not believe what it was like to be an unwed mother in those days! (Come to think of it you never even hear that phrase used any more!) And it was the Salvation Army who provided a practical solution to a big social problem.

The lights on Buchanan Street highlighted the Victorian buildings in the late afternoon as people headed home.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC: THE WORK OF IT!

2011-12-09T14:02:00.008Z

'Tis the season of Christmas carols and concerts. Christmas is particulary busy for those who have been practicing all season for their seasonal choir or orchestra performance dates looming ahead.

This man's music is being played a lot this week. He is John Rutter and this video is the King's College Choir, Cambridge, singing one of his arrangements: Oh Holy Night.

Our youngsters' orchestra has now had their final concert. This is because, living in Scotland, we get involved with the St Andrews (Patron Saint of Scotland) season the end of November. Therefore, for us, it works to have our final concert early in the season as the children get very busy with their school or community Christmas activities.

Here is one of our youngsters (aged 10 years old) patiently waiting in rehearsal. (They rehearse from 6 - 7 pm and it makes for a long day.)

This is our practice "room" which is local and easy to get to for all the children.

WINTER RITUALS

2011-12-06T12:18:00.007Z

Now that the yachting publication is away to the printers it is time to turn to Christmas preparations. It is like finishing exams; a weight is lifted off and I float to more pleasurable activities and also attend to things which were, of necessity, neglected.

I am quite please with the new working arrangement re. the 12 page publication now done at a graphics outfit. I simply send the material along and check over the proofs. It means a lot less eye strain for me and also I get to turn my attention to more creative stuff e.g. articles, notices, photographs.

First thing to do is bake some shortbread. It was very wet for days on end, so nothing for it but to get stuck in to the baking. Also Ishie comes after school so it gives me a "project" for her (cutting out cookies).

Ishie unpacked the Christmas decorations. Not having a tree to hang things on we did the next best thing - hung the (Canadian Tyre outside) lights of 110 volts on the clothes pulley and plugged them into the transformer under the sewing table (which runs my mother's Bernina sewing machine).

The first mail has arrived. I make a ritual of sitting down with a cup of tea and a letter opener and take my time reading the cards and perhaps circular letters, poems, etc that get enclosed.

Ishie walks around the house giving orders to herself about where things could be draped. "Now I think the best idea is to put it here but if you don't like it you can change your mind." I see a headmistress or hospital matron in the making.

We have now had our first fall of snow. However, this year, especially after the last two years, we and the public works department are much better prepared for it!

YACHT CLUB PRIZEGIVING

2011-11-27T00:26:00.008Z

Last night I attended the Clyde Cruising Club's Annual Prizegiving and Dinner Dance. This yachting organisation is one of the few groups of people who are still running these big events.

This year it was in the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow's city centre. This big hotel is typical of the ones built in the early days of railway travel. Last year it had an expensive refurbishment and it really is lovely! Modern hotel ballrooms can really be a bit like dining and dancing in an airplane hanger; not this place. It was tastefully decorated to highlight the Victorian elegance of the building.

Furthermore it is located in the Central Station itself so I was able to travel to it by train and not have to go out into the lashing rain and high winds tonight by simply walking through the concourse. I don't know the cost of the rooms or conference arrangements but I was very impressed with the service, food, and all the facilities.

One of the winners of the photography competition was Shona who gave me permission to print this photo (which is done as a cut-out). It was my favourite of all the photos submitted.

PRECIOUS PROGRESS

2011-11-24T11:09:00.004Z

Here's Baby Iain now fully recovered from his operation. He certainly has emerged a star from having had his left eye removed 2 weeks ago. Friends and relations of Dawn and Alastiar have been sending him rather fetching pairs of dark glasses with which to pose for his (many) photo-opportunities!

Iain will be receiving an artificial eye in January. One of the cancer charities in Vancouver is offering to help pay for half of the cost of this.

We are now getting over the shock of all that Dawn and Alastair have had to deal with. Friends have been most kind and understanding. As one young mother from the children's orchestra that I am involved with pointed out "He will be all the more precious because of what has happened to him." Quite so.

FROM THE QUILL TO THE PEN TO THE COMPUTER

2011-11-23T18:38:00.005Z

I have spent much of the day, indeed week, preparing material for the yachting publication that I (voluntarily) put together. There have been some stunning photos coming in and all by amateurs taken on their digital cameras.

Recently a decision was made to move to a different firm to produce this 12 page A4 publication as the previous printer went out of business. (It is folk like me ~~that~~ who do this work for nothing on their Macs at home that are ~~bringing about~~ continuing the demise of the printing industry.)

Well, I am absolutely astonished at how technology has moved on! I now send images and text to a graphics outfit and they do all the work (that I used to do on QuarkXpress which, I gather, no one uses any more).

It means less eye strain for me and they do a hugely better job, e.g. we are now doing full colour and lots of clever graphic stuff.

A couple of hours of having dragged and dropped files in Dropbox - another form of very helpful technology - and the whole job was turned around with a draft proof back to me as a pdf file.

We are not finished yet but while I wait for the last of the material to come (AGM minutes) here is a lovely photo a friend, coincidentally, sent me today. I think the photo is a Fyffe boat Hallowe'en which was on the Clyde in 2008.

So instead of hours of close reading and cropping images Iain and I are heading out for the evening for dinner with friends. The hostess is a wonderful cook! Once, when I asked her how she enjoyed a cookery course she attended several years ago, she responded "M-m-m-m ... I could teach them a thing or two!" Quite so!

STUCK RABBIT

2011-11-22T16:15:00.004Z

I enjoyed a discussion on the radio (Andrew Marr on Monday) where artists were collected together to look at the role of Art and Politics. One inevitable topic was about trying to find a solution to the present (dire!) economic situation.

The discussion was about the difficulties of sorting it out, i.e. everyone has their own solution.

Evona Blazwick (art gallery person) ..... talked about how people are trying to deal with the whole history of capitalism, how it is not like the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s...how things are much less black and white; of how "we are in a land of euphemisms ... in a place where language has abstracted the issues ..."

Rory Bremner (comedian) highlighted the fact that we are told that we are stuck in this situation; there also are no alternatives... It's like the rabbit that has been caught in the headlights in the middle of the road: what do you do with it?

George Osbourne says: "Let's bang it on the head."

Vince Cable says: "Let's take it to the vet and do it humanely."

Ed Milliband says: "We have to put it down but let's do it slowly."

Chris Huhne says: "It's not my fault. The wife was driving!"

Photos are from the garden today.

(THIS YEAR'S) LAST ROSE OF SUMMER

2011-11-20T16:47:00.003Z

Today is Sunday and the family are coming for dinner. I reached into the cupboard for some wine and found a bottle of my favourite Fitou and noticed that it wasn't an unopened bottle ... ooops... nothing for it but to check that it was still OK as it must have been there for many months!

Well ... one thing leads to another ... While boiling the lamb bones for the soup I headed out to the garden and picked, quite literally, the last rose of the summer. It was quite beautiful! and the perfume is lovely! (For months I have been looking at bashed and pathetic roses ..!)

Then waiting for the pie in the oven I doodled around taking photos of this lovely rose. It has got to keep me going just now as we head into the darkest of the winter days.

As is the way of things, I got side-tracked looking for some music, i.e. sheet music, on the internet. I found what I was looking for, namely, Bridge Over Troubled Waters by Simon and Garfunkle. The trick is to save the pages as pdf files and then printed out the given page, I got a perfectly useable copy (about 3/4 page size). Who puts this stuff on the web? Answer: The Chinese (I think from the Chinese symbols above the title).

MID-NOVEMBER

2011-11-18T13:24:00.005Z

The weather has been mild all week so it has been good for getting out to the garden or the countryside.

These are some recent photos of the grand-children, taken by John last weekend when they were out in the Blane Valley which is a couple of miles from us on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Alastair (3 and 3/4 years) very much a running, jumping, climbing boy

Ishie (nearly 5 years old)

I collect her after school every Thursday and we spend time together until dinnertime. Today she was humming (not entirely in tune!) repeatedly "There's no room in the inn ... there's no room in the inn"!

Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond are in the distance

TWO PART REMEMBRANCE

2011-11-13T15:03:00.011Z

SURVIVORS

PART 1: This is Remembrance Sunday. There are ceremonies taking place at 11 am at cenotaphs and other places of public gathering all over the country. (Two minutes' silence was also observed last Friday, November 11th. I was in a church hall at the time.)

Iain's father was in the First World War and survived. He lied about his age to get himself accepted into the Scottish regiment: 4th battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. Iain tells the story that he learned from an old man some years ago. This man was his platoon sergeant and told the story about looking for a man who could shoe horses. "Is there a farrier here?" "Yes" said Iain's father. "Right. Come with me" ... and he missed the Battle of the Somme.

He is on the far right, front row. There is no date nor location on the back of the photograph which is actually a postcard. On the back, which is blank, is printed in large lettering "Carte Postale".

This is another postcard. It has no title. I think he is in the second row seated in front of the short man in the back row. Again no information about place (with Bell tents) or date. The stamp is British. Postmark is Kingussie.

The note to his mother reads "Dear Mother, I hope you are well. I am well here and am enjoying myself fine. I am writing this PC asking you to send me that pair of trousers I left. I want to get them before I go so that I will have the suit. If you can't send it by return don't send it at all as I won't get it before I leave. Yours, Donald"

............ move on 90 years to this man's great-grandson (who has the same surname) .............

Part 2: It was exactly a week ago that we waited anxiously for the outcome of the operation that had to be done on our wee grandson's eye. Doctors in Vancouver successfully removed his left eye due to a retinoblastoma. Only one eye has been affected.

Like Churchill's battle command in his bunker ... it is time to re-group.

STOCKHOLM

2011-11-12T18:19:00.006Z

While the focus of the media is on the European Union, particularly Italy's rising debt, the rest of us go about our daily lives. To that end Maggie and I headed to Stockholm, Sweden for 3 days to visit friends and do a bit of shopping.

One advantage of living in "Europe" broadly speaking is that travel is so much easier than it used to be. Borders are easy to cross and there are these low-cost airlines operating (often using former military airfields) which have established a whole new economy related to movement of ordinary people back and forth. We flew RyanAir from Edinburgh to Skavsta (1.4 hours' bus ride from Stockholm) and it was absolutely great both ways. Yes, you have to obey the rules about luggage size and weight and have all your internet booking print-out in order but ... for a low-cost airline the 2 hour flight could not be faulted.

I am basically a Northern Latitude person. Apart from the lovely people that we know in Sweden I like the fact that I am simply "part of the wallpaper". Maybe I have Scandinavian genes somewhere in my background? Being tall and of light of skin and hair I don't stand out as a tourist. In the street I look just like all the other women. And I love Swedish cuisine: pickled herring, rågbröd (rye bread), cod roe paste and, of course, all those trees!

I took these photos on my iPhone... amazing! The time of day was 3:30 pm with the most glorious golden pink sky as the sun set.

The last of the sun just hitting the top of the clock-tower of Saint Jacob's Church (not far from Marimekko - my most favourite shop!)

Walking to the Gamla Stan (Old Town) from the city centre over the Riksbron Bridge.

THE GLOAMING

2011-11-10T21:45:00.004Z

Ishie and I were in the swing park at the back of our house this afternoon when we noticed the full moon rising. We were just high enough to see it and also to watch the wonderful pink sky as it started to get dark.

The leaves are now all away from the trees. Last week there were still a lot on the trees as we had to stand under them to avoid the sudden short showers passing over. Here she is in her pink jacket pointing to the moon as she sits astride the monkey bars. And as she pointed out to me she likes pink "it is for girls".

Maggie and I returned from Stockholm yesterday and here is a photo taken at exactly the same time of day in Tegnérlunden Park opposite our hotel. The lighting was a similar pink and taking about the same time to get dark (i.e. half an hour after the sun went down).

BABY IAIN'S EYE

2011-11-09T20:08:00.006Z

Nearly a week has past and the waiting is over. Wee baby Iain of 3 months was taken to the doctor a week ago because Alastair and Dawn were worried about his left eye which appeared cloudy.

He was diagnosed as having a retinoblastoma, i.e. cancer of the left eye. On November 5th he was admitted to hospital in Vancouver and after an MRI scan he underwent an operation for the removal of the affected eye.

It appears that the other eye is not affected and for that everyone is so very grateful. He has come through the operation and is now back home recovering.

Thanks to the modern technology of the internet and Skype video communication as well as text messaging we have all been kept up-to-date as events unfolded. It has a been a worrying time but the worst seems to be over.

THE WAITING

2011-11-03T21:43:00.005Z

What is it people say ...? "Feel the fear and do it anyway?"

How, tell me, does that work if one is worried?

All day long I am saying to myself -

"I'm not worried... I'm NOT worried ... I'm not WORRIED."

Our baby grandson of 3 months has to undergo a serious operation in 3 days' time. He is at home with Dawn and Alastair and we only wish we could be closer to them. We are in contact over the internet, thank goodness, but all the same I am finding it hard to get over the shock of this recent turn of events.

One thing to do is to keep busy. Fortunately it was my day to pick up Ishie from school. We made a card for her wee cousin (after we talked to Alastair on Skype which clarified the situation) and she printed her name inside it: "Ish ..." then a squashed "b" and then on the space above "eL". The crosses are kisses.

Food for comfort is tea and toast. For Ishie (and wee Alastair when he arrived) I make "soldiers" by cutting the hot toast with melting butter. (I have never adopted the British preference for cold toast.)

And so we all are thinking of one wee baby who is going to have to be a very Brave Soldier.

A HAUNTED CAVE?

2011-10-31T21:17:00.003Z

To-night is Hallowe'en and the neighbourhood youngsters have been to the door tonight. We listen to their jokes or songs and then, this year, we gave them biscuits from the supermarket. Last year I baked cupcakes but they were not interested in any of them!

This is John's photo of Ishie, Alastair plus a little friend, in a local cave last weekend. Actually it is the entrance to an old mine which is on the edge of the city of Glasgow, near to where we live. I added the cobweb and spider but the waterfall in the background is for real.

ARGYLL AUTUMN

2011-10-30T18:53:00.007Z

We spent the weekend with friends at Ballachulish, Argyllshire. The weather was misty-moisty but we enjoyed meeting and greeting and getting a long lie-in on Sunday morning as it was the day for putting the clocks back.

While the men headed off for some hill walking in Glencoe Maggie and I dawdled our way home down the coast stopping as and when we pleased. Port Appin caught my eye: it is off the beaten track and a corner I have not visited for many years.

We discovered this lovely place, Druimneil House. On the roadside we spotted an Open Garden sign so, being on our own with no one to tell us we had to be heading down the road, we decided to explore.

After chatting with the owner we learned that this was the last day for being "open" so Maggie and I were privileged to have a walk around the walled garden and grounds. We departed, agreeing that it would be a perfect place - set back from the road in lovely country - for a weekend retreat. Details of their accommodation are here. As it is the owners' home they keep the B&B going throughout the year (though the garden is closed until spring).

The dampness lasted all day but made for atmospheric photos: Connel Bridge with the tide running at the Falls of Lora under the bridge into Loch Etive. In the past we have sailed through these narrows at slack water inching our way under that steel bridge into the placid loch which is out of the picture on the right hand side. Yes, we knew there was a metre of clearance above the mast but it was extremely nerve-wracking as we approached the bridge thinking for sure the top of the mast was going to BANG into the under-deck of the bridge!

Same place but looking left, westwards to the open sea: boats on the winter moorings on the west side of Connel Bridge in wee bay opposite Ards House.

WHERE DO CHILDREN COME FROM?

2011-10-28T21:30:00.004+01:00

Ishie and Alastair (4 and 3 years) on holiday last week in Perthshire.

PLUS FUN WITH SON ET LUMIERE

2011-10-26T09:04:00.004+01:00

This is what we did not see in Reims, but makes me want to head of to Paris for this "Contraexpérience"!

5 WAYS TO SPEED UP YOUR MAC

2011-10-25T19:57:00.007+01:00

As of this month my computer is 6 years old. It is an iMac with a 24 inch screen.

Lately it has been a bit slow and I have been on the internet to see what measures can be taken to either see what is causing this and/or speed things up.

Naturally, my first step is to find a youngster who talks the lingo! U-Tube has lots of videos. This youngster, apart from talking rather quickly, gave a good demonstration (6.21 minutes) of how to speed up your Mac in Five Steps, namely:

1. Install more RAM
2. Keep files and folders to a minimum
3. Use a maintenance tool [App] once a month
4. Remove unwanted System Preference panes from System Preference list
5. Remove unwanted logon items

For the record: until I get around to Number 1 which involves purchasing this stuff (called a module RAM memory) here I can report that Number 4 worked well. He talks about it at 3.34 minutes into the video. He demonstrates the method: go into System Preferences then go to the bottom of the screen where it says "Other" (If it is not there at the bottom of the list showing: Personal, Hardware, Internet & Network, System, then there are none.) To remove them, right click on the icon (having put in your password when asked).

I found that I had a Flash icon there. I removed it and it has made a big difference! When talking to the lad in the Apple store today, he says to me "Flash is memory-hungry". So now I know....

IMAGES OF SCOTLAND

2011-10-24T20:22:00.010+01:00

I really like this photo that John took of a deer beside a highland loch. Just look at the light behind!

It reminded me of Edwin Landseer's oil paintig of The Monarch in the Glen painted in 1851. I see from Wikipedia that "The painting was eventually purchased by the Pear's soap company and featured in their advertising. It was sold on to John Dewar and Son's distillery and became their trademark before similarly being used by Glenfiddich. The original is now part of the Diageo collection ...."

That pretty well sums up how this painting is preceived as it has been on every tin of shortbread, tea towel, and coffee cup a well as being the brand image of the firms above.

The season for big displays of these biscuit tins is now upon us. A modern example is Marks & Spencer's simple 4 colour tin pictured here.

WIND FARM PROLIFERATION

2011-10-21T21:08:00.002+01:00

Wind farms are springing up everywhere. Hillsides and horizons now have whirling blades dotted all over the place. People are wondering about the effectiveness of this particular type of energy source. Will the contribution to the national grid's energy requirement be of enough significance to merit the cost and impact on the environment?

Iain and his colleagues in the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS) believe that an engineering dimension is badly needed to be introduced to the assessment of the adequacy of wind farms. He and Colin Gibson will be giving a talk on this subject at a conference on wind farms in Ayr on 11th November. The website listing the speakers is here. A rather good map showing one area of wind farms in Scotland is on this blog here.

Meanwhile I have taken the liberty of using one of John's photos, taken a week ago, of wee Alastair on the rocks at Kinghorn (east coast of Scotland, across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh). Presently there are no wind generators on the horizon; but this is what it might look like if there were!

POPPY POWER

2011-10-20T20:19:00.004+01:00

Autumn is truly upon us. When the previous day of constant rain gave way to clear blue skies and sunshine I ran out with the camera to catch the light shining through the last of our flowers in the garden.

A bashed and broken-stemmed poppy still gives splashes of deep red colour in the flower beds.

I planted these seeds from a left-over supply I had in the cupboard which I normally use for making lemon (and poppy seed) loaf or possibly throwing in the mixed seed bread dough.

They are not big, there are not a lot of them but they certainly last well into the autumn season!

GOOD-BYE MR McKIE

2011-10-17T19:35:00.007+01:00

Mathematics was never the love of my life but I will say one thing: I was taught very well and it was by this lovely man who has died at his home* in France.

Mr McKie taught me Math in high school. That I got through at all was largely up to him (and Mrs Jeffries).

Is there such a thing as "good luck"?... because I certainly had "good luck" in the teachers I had at school. I graduated from Salmon Arm Secondary School in 1962 aged 18 years and then stayed on for a year of Senior Matric (which is first year university in British Columbia). In order to get accepted at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing in those days, I was required to have first year university Mathematics. (Yes, honestly! You wouldn't credit it nowadays but that is another subject!) Anyhow, I achieved the necessary qualification and graduated in 1967.

However, what really made an impression on me, in those very formidable years, was his great love of his subject.

For example, one day he put up on the blackboard a pattern of numbers. I now recognize as Pascal's triangle:

At the end of his explanation, he turned to the class and beamed "Isn't that a thing of beauty?!" While I did not share his love of numbers, their patterns and relationships, I could see what he was getting at. It was only many years later I realized he instilled in me what might be called an appreciation of aesthetics.

Furthermore, in 2002 Iain and I (and Marie-Belle T.) visited him and his wife in France at their home. We had 2 wonderful days together and at that time I was able to articulate how his love of his subject made such a big impression on me (and also how grateful I was to have had him as a teacher)! The photo of him above was taken at that time.

I have been unable to find any obituary so far but see that his death is noted on UBC Lowering the Flag website for the passing of a member of the campus community here .

"MCKIE, Professor Doug Mckie, former Associate Dean, Education passed away in France on August 28, 2011. For more information, please contact the Faculty of Education."

* I am in touch with his wife.

CALEDONIA

2011-10-14T22:43:00.008+01:00

Our friend, Willie, is back from the Jura Music Festival. He sails there from Ardfern and drops his anchor for the weekend taking his fiddle ashore for the sessions in the Jura Hotel or village hall.

He mentioned that he met Dougie MacLean who was over for the festival. Now there is a blast from the past! I have never met Dougie MacLean but admire him as being a fine musician.

This song of his, "Caledonia", is still sung a lot; it's a real classic.

Hearing that song again after so many years reminds me of a conversation I had with a young gal on the Greyhound bus in Canada about 20 years ago. I was traveling west from Calgary (having just landed from the UK) and about 4 hours later we stopped in Sicamous at the bus station. This 12 year old girl got on with her pillow and settled down for her trip to Vancouver. As I was getting off at the next stop I had a short chat: "What's your name?" "Caledonia." "Oh really! That's a lovely name for a girl" sez I. "How did you come to be given that name?" "It was the name of my grandparents' farm in Ontario" sez she. "Do you know what it means?" sez I. "No...."! So I told her it was the old name for Scotland. (Actually I see that it is Latin, i.e. the Roman name for Scotland.)

This song turns up from time to time; here it is in this TV advert - good ol' Tennant's lager - and, again, a favourite advert of mine (not sure how long ago...). Whoever made this advert really got the right "feel" ... just watch this guy leaving his office ...

KITCHEN CREATIVITY

2011-10-08T13:25:00.007+01:00

When the weather is wet outside there is nothing for it but to get the baking tins out.

Alastair spent 2 hours with me this week. It's amazing how much easier it is with one less child! So we got out the cupcake holders and the cake mix from Tesco's.

Since I was in the kitchen and in the mess I decided to make a fruit loaf. However, I found I did not have any butter/margarine and ended up making a fruit loaf from the Scottish Woman's Rural Cookery book of 40 years ago. This, I was told, was a wartime recipe, i.e. a basic fruit cake with no butter and no eggs. Alastair helped me spoon it into the loaf pan.

It was also very easy to make - you just stir everything into the saucepan of boiled raisins and sugar. Come to think of it, there was no sugar either! (It's basically a dumpling I would say, and best eaten warm.)

Well, that white snow on top of the fruitcake batter was not quite what the recipe called for ... and all that dark stuff which freely poured out of the little Lifeboat pepper shaker all added that bit of Je Ne Sais Quoi!

Meanwhile Ishie and I arrived home from school last Thursday afternoon quite wet from the downpour that seems to be its heaviest this week just as children are coming out of school.

Grandpa put the fire on and we enjoyed her batch of cupcakes (made with red colouring so that they are Pink for Girls) in front of the fire with a pot of tea and, for Ishie, many glasses of milk.

GETTING TO THE CORE OF THE MATTER

2011-10-06T13:18:00.005+01:00

As an Apple Mac user for ... however many ... years I was very sorry to read of the death of Steve Jobs, the fellow behind Apple and all its innovations. I, for one, joined his huge following early on as a user of the iMac and the iPhone. (To put it another way, I long ago eschewed Microsoft and Nokia.)

Working with images is the sort of thing that I chose to do, i.e turn away from typing text, letters, doing spreadsheets and working with databases like names and addresses. So I can genuinely say to people, "No ... I can't do that ... I do not have the software."

This puffin photo is a current example: this wonderful photo came in as an offering to be used for the yachting newletter publication that I edit. I took one look at it on my screen and said "Wow!" Such colour! Such clarity! And taken by an amateur with his digi camera on his sailing holidays.

Well I placed it in the publication and then ... ah-h-h ... it went to "the committee" for checking. Do I need to say more? Yes, it got pulled and an "improvement" photo was offered for replacement. Fine. Off it went to the printers and, indeed, the publication is none for worse for the loss.

But this little puffin and I shed a tear (with the aid of Photoshop).

I offer it up to you (with the permission of John Douglas who took the photo) at this sad time when Apple has lost its ... core.

A PENNY PAPERBACK

2011-10-04T16:45:00.003+01:00

A book I was wanting to borrow from the library was not available as it was out on loan so I went on the the UK Amazon site to see if I could get it there. Well ... (apart from having a new one for sale) there were nearly a dozen used books for sale for 1 pence plus £2.80 for postage and packing! I bought one at 1 pence and it came 4 days after I ordered it on line. It actually was postmarked as coming from Dunfermline, a city on the east of Scotland.

What puzzles me is ... what is going on here? One pence! Well, even at £3.00 I can't see how this works.

SLABS 'N' SUNFLOWERS

2011-09-28T20:56:00.007+01:00

The weather today was absolutely glorious - hot, hot, hot - so it was out to the garden to get on with some autumn jobs.

Iain has taken a break from solving ~~the world's~~ ... Scotland's ... energy crisis and spent the whole afternoon digging away a bank of earth and then laying slabs behind the garage. It really is the last "landscaping" job to do.

I planted these sunflowers late June as it was so wet and cold all through May and early June. I did not think they would flower ... but they did!

This gives the basic idea of how the garden has shaped up. That is the kiddie's park in the centre distance.

And this sums up the total bean crop harvest. Like the potatoes ... it is a not-to-be-repeated exercise!

KOOTENAYS ON LITERARY MAP

2011-09-26T21:21:00.008+01:00

I happened to catch a programme on the radio announcing the winner of the 2011 BBC Short Story Competition. The contenders are all listed on the Radio 4 website here.

To my amazement, and delight, the winner turned out to be D W Wilson, a young Canadian writer from the Kootenays (south-western corner of British Columbia near the American border). The prize was £15,000!

The title of his entry is The Dead Roads and is set in the Kootenays. The website reference above gives link to hear the podcast (and other material).

Wilson "was born and raised in the small towns of the Kootenay Valley, British Columbia. He is the recipient of the University of East Anglia’s inaugural MAN Booker Prize Scholarship–the most prestigious award available to students in the MA program. His stories have appeared in literary magazines across Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, including the Malahat Review, Grain, and Southword. He lives in London." [Amazon website blurb]

He has already written another selection of stories Once You Break a Knuckle to be published this autumn by Penguin Canada.

"Set in the remote Kootenay Valley in western Canada, he tells stories of good people doing bad things: two bullied adolescents sabotage a rope swing, resulting in another boy’s death; a heartbroken young man refuses to warn his best friend about an approaching car; sons challenge fathers and break taboos. " [Amazon blurb]

EDINBURGH BOTANIC GARDENS

2011-09-24T22:19:00.008+01:00

On the spur of the moment a friend and I hopped on the bus to Edinburgh and spent the day there enjoying the lovely autumn weather in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

This famous garden (actually it feels more like a park when you walk around) has been known for several centuries as a place of seed and plant collections. In the days when plant hunters searched the far corners of the earth many specimens were brought back here some of which form the basis of plants we buy in nurseries which grow successfully in our northern latitudes.

An example of this is Pieres forrestii, a Himalayn shrub named after George Forrest the plant collector associated with this particular botanic garden. "The specific epithet forrestii occurs in more than thirty genera and thousands of hybrids have been bred from Forrest stock."

Today these gentians were giving a wonderful display as I caught the last of the sunlight about 5 pm.

And similarly with the autumn crocuses.

The John Hope Gateway building was built 2 years ago to provide a visitor centre with various facilities on offer to the public. I was greatly taken with this staircase. Details of the architects and structural engineers who did the work are here on the RIBA website.

I had never heard of John Hope (1725-1786). Apparently he was was a Scottish physician and botanist. He is best known as an early supporter of Carl Linnaeus's system of classification. [Wikipedia]. However there are many other botanists associated with this Botanic Garden as seen from the Scottish Plant Hunters list here. (Anyone who lives in Western Canada will recognise the names.)

HIS AND HERS ALLEN KEYS

2011-09-21T19:04:00.006+01:00

Retail therapy comes in many forms and guises. For me, it is a trip to IKEA. Iain hates the place ... if he really must go he enters the revolving door with his head down (as if diving into deep water) and goes straight for the purchase, through the till and straight out the door, only raising his head once he is back in the fresh air of the car park.

Mairi and I headed there on Saturday to indulge our fantasies and partake of the excellent coffee and Scandinavian treats in the cafeteria. The children get one hour to play in the Smaland Supervised Play Area and love every minute of the colourful, well organised creche.

Back home we arrived with 2 kiddies chairs to be assembled. Mairi, who is a dab hand with the screwdriver and a set of IKEA instructions is now bringing the children up in the faith. No discrimination here. Ishie has her Allen key and Alastair has his.

Teddy lies abandoned while Himself gets on with more important things.

Grandpa has put together a good few IKEA purchases in the past but his preference is to build shelves to his own design from scratch. He is presently fitting out shelves in the garage for all his bits and pieces.

THE MIGHTY CLYDESDALES

2011-09-19T20:37:00.007+01:00

Doors Open Day allows the public to access many parts of the city of Glasgow that are not normally open. One such place is the studio workshop of sculptor Andy Scott. He is the man who has created some wonderful works of public art now dotted around the country.

It was the Garden Festival of 1988 that made people aware of how nice a place can look with a bit of colour, or works of art situated out in the areas people live, work and travel.

This man has done a lot to contribute to the Feel-Good Factor that such works instill. His website is here.

His big warehouse of a studio was full of work-in-progress. Outside were these 2 magnificent horse heads awaiting their journey to their final destination. Originally it was supposed to be on the Forth and Clyde Canal near the Falkirk Wheel where they were to be placed on platforms which rocked back and forth in water so that when you viewed them from afar they would look like water sprites moving in the canal.

However it seems there has been a change of plan due to the fact that the canal folk found they did not require so much water to be displaced as they had originally estimated ... the Kelpies, as they are known, are to go elsewhere.

Inside the shed were finished sculptures (in poor lighting for photos) which are heading for destinations out in the countryside or highway areas.

Meanwhile this huge Clydesdale Horse sculpture is also by Andy Scott. It is on the edge of the Glasgow to Edinburgh motorway at the Glasgow Business Park, Easterhouse and is mighty impressive. I like it because it means one has arrived in the west after driving from Edinburgh (which is about a 45 minute drive from city centre to city centre.)
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Bottom Photo: © Copyright Chris Upson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. (I found it on this website here; there are more photos - all in the public domain- here.)

SMILE - YOU'RE ON THE CAMERA(S)

2011-09-17T21:17:00.013+01:00

Cameras are everywhere in our lives ... and no more so today than in the city of Glasgow. Mairi drove the children and I into the city centre to take advantage of Doors Open Day when the city lays on guides to various buildings and establishments to let you look around places that are not normally open to the public.

We had a great time in the Police Museum before we moved on to George Square and the Glasgow City Chambers building full of Victorian carved marble from the days when the city traded in tobacco, sugar, cotton and other things that people don't teach you in the history lessons.

Here are Alastair and I at the foot of one of the Great and the Good who adorn the main square of the city.

After they headed off I took advantage of the open access to the city's traffic control department. That is the place which monitors - all day every day - those cameras that are used for speeding checks; bridge, motorway and tunnel traffic flow; information signs; all traffic lights both road and pedestrian, The staff make adjustments to ease congestion and help buses (which are linked to a satellite) to keep to timetables by adjusting light changes.

The biggest screen in the room above was looking at something that was happening in the city centre and which happened to be, literally, right around the corner.

What is going on? Halle Berry is in town ... they have blocked off this (hilly) street to allow filming of the film "Cloud Atlas" for which this bit is supposed to be San Francisco. (The traffic people said that the blocking off of this particular fairly quiet area caused more congestion in adjacent areas than they had anticipated.) Can it really be economic to film half way round the world and not in California? (Brad Pitt was here a month ago ... weird!)

However ... I was fascinated to see the big American cars brought in for props, also a half-ton Chev truck and some sort of armoured vehicle, all of the 1950s or 60s. (Heavens! I used to drive one of those cars,.. oh yes, and Chev half-ton!) I mean ... do they ship these things in for the filming? Really?

So great numbers of camera crew are gathered - along with the public behind a barrier - to make the shoot. They even had water spraying up in the air. It must have been about the only time it wasn't actually raining!.

When Alastair first went to Canada he spent some time in the States working on the animation for Halle Berri's film "Cat Woman". I did see her in the distance, Ali, but I did not get close enough to say "Hi"!

And here are newspaper boxes with San Francisco newspapers "for sale" and another big black car used for the film - maybe it is for the bad guys.

So this is me taking pictures of people ... ?paparazzi? ... taking pictures of people taking pictures. Poor Halle Berry ... what must it be like lying on top of a "crashed" car waiting for the cameras to roll .... with zoom lens - both official and unofficial - homing in on you from every direction!

Oh dear ... filming in Glasgow canny be that much fun! Now if they would just build a roof over the city ....

THE SMILING ANGEL OF REIMS

2011-09-15T21:54:00.010+01:00

A wonderful way to extend the summer is to go to France for a week and spend time in the wine producing areas, in our case, Reims, where champagne is made. We joined our Swedish, German, Scottish and French friends for a very pleasant time speaking various languages depending on who was trying to improve which language!

The activity level was fairly low-gear meaning we spent time in cafes, touring vineyards and champagne houses and generally easing ourselves into autumn with food and drink. These 2 photos were taken in the vineyard of Pommery brand champagne.

Alain and Francois were our hosts and I am pleased to say that every day passed most pleasantly without any hitches given that we are all of a (rapidly) advancing age! A friend of Francois's, Jean-Claude, spent time giving us a tour of Reims Cathedral and then joining us for our canal boat restaurant meal later. On our last day we enjoyed a son et lumière cinema projection on the outside of the Cathedral which was all to do with the fact that this year is the 800th (!!!) anniversary of the building of the Cathedral.

The following 2 photos I took showing the wonderful sculpture on the outside of the Cathedral. So why the black borders to the pictures?

Sadly, 2 days after we returned from our week with our Pan-European friends we were telephoned to say that the eldest of our party, Arlette, had just died. What a shock! She and I had spent time figuring out how to pay and travel on the lovely modern tram that runs from the city centre to our hotel by the railway station. (I found the phrase "M'aider" most useful!) Such adventures are my last memory of her and now she has gone. Well, we all had a good time; I wonder if the Smiling Angel at the main door of the Cathedral knew something we did not?

CONSPIRATORIAL COOKS

2011-09-02T09:28:00.009+01:00

Time for a ceilidh (that is Scottish term for a party which in our case is a musical evening with friends).

Iain bought a large salmon from the fishmongers in Milngavie and baked it whole in the oven in a tin-foil envelope having filled the salmon with lemon, butter and our garden herbs.

"This is my Baker's Hat"! Every Thursday I collect Ishie at mid-day from her primary school not far from our house. This afternoon she helped me in the kitchen to prepare for our party and she even helped me cut the grass with our brand new hand-mower (which cuts much better than our old electric machine ... now taken to the dump).

Earlier in the day I baked a coffee and walnut cake (Scottish Women's Rural Institute recipe which is simply a basic Victoria Sponge or White Cake to North Americans). She helped me ice it and arrange the walnuts on the top.

Da dah! She is great fun to have "helping"! We are very conspiratorial ... sharing secrets like "Cooks get to lick the spoon/bowl."

I borrowed the cake stand from Mairi. Ishie and I also made chocolate cupcakes ... again another secret we share: they are made from Tesco cake mix packets for 12 cupcakes costing 45 pence, i.e. next to nothing. We break up pieces of a really good chocolate bar (72% cocoa solids) and dump it in the mix.

We did a double batch: one for her to take home and one for me for the party. She carefully went through the packet of patterned baking cups picking out the pink ("for girls") ones. Then we had to ice the cupcakes with pink icing just to keep everything right!

101 NASTURTIUMS

2011-08-28T11:49:00.006+01:00

Flowers for a quite Sunday. While the east coast of North American braces itself for the arrival of a hurricane 500 miles across as demonstrated in the TV satellite pictures, we are feeling the first touch of autumn with dry north-east winds instead of our usual (Gulf Stream) wet south-westerlies.

Flower pots are blowing over but not the nasturtiums tied to the fence or stakes. They give so much colour outside; nothing is easier than bringing a bunch in to brighten up the window ledges.

CLOUDSCAPES

2011-08-25T20:30:00.005+01:00

Today is our day to collect Ishie after her morning at school. As it was a lovely day we decided to have a train trip to see the new Transport Museum which has opened on the Glasgow city waterfront (old harbour area).

I did not have my camera so took a few photos on the iPhone. I will go back and get some of the building which is very impressive. Here is a skyscape over the Clyde. The Glenlee is lying along side. This ship was brought to the Clyde as a rusting hull 18 years ago by enthusiasts who little by little restored her enough so she would float alongside the quay. (I remember going over her when they were re-rigging her with those big horizontal yards (spars) on the huge masts. I talked to the guys doing the job; they were from Nova Scotia. They had to be brought over especially to do the job as there was no one in Scotland to do it ... so they said!)

The Glenlee masts are reflected in the west facing side of the Transport Museum.

This is the veiw last night at 8:15 pm from the window at my left elbow as I sit at my computer. The direction is north-west. Every morning and evening ... indeed much of the day ... sees a sea gull sitting on the chimney of the house across the street. (I think someone feeds them; there are days when they make a heck of a racket!)

POTATO EATERS

2011-08-24T20:35:00.006+01:00

We lifted the first of our potatoes today. It is the first time I have ever planted potatoes; we put in earlies, middle and late ones... can't remember the varieties. It is very satisfying work to dig in a potato patch! Oh boy! Growing our own food!

The soil is not great but this planting should help things along.

They were remarkably good looking, i.e. not full of slugs or diseased. And the yield was about 1/2 a bucket for one row... acceptable, I reckon.

They scrubbed up well.

I boiled them up and also boiled some frozen peas with mint from the garden.

The results: the spuds were very watery and tasted of nothing at all! Oh dear ... I am afraid the supermarket ones are a whole lot better!

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Bottom: The Potato Eaters by Vincent Van Gogh

"IN" TROUBLE

2011-08-22T19:24:00.007+01:00

We thought that when Ishie went to school, as she did last week for the first time, she and Alastair would miss each other quite badly. (They are only 13 months apart in age and are always doing things together.) Wrong! Now that Ishie is away every morning, young Alastair is making himself much more vocal! He has become a right blether (as they say in Scotland, i.e. chatterbox).

They are both very good at language but occasionally a bit of straightening out is needed. For example, Alastair likes to tell us about his new cousin, baby Iain, who was born August 4th in Vancouver.

In the long flow of this story he tells us how his new cousin was born in Vancouver and lives in August!

Ishie, similarly, was practicing what I think are her stock responses to questions people ask: "I live in Primary One" and also at the same time says "I live in Glasgow." It must be really difficult to learn all these "in" phrases ... just think about being "in a hurry", "in bed", "in a muddle" etc!

But we always have a few laughs! The other day Mairi said to both of them "If you are not behaving you won't get ...." to which Alastair responds, "It's not fair! I am 'having!"

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Photo is John's holiday shot taken in Wales 2 weeks ago.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

2011-08-17T21:43:00.004+01:00

A big day for a wee girl ... Ishie started school today. She goes to the local primary school. In June she attended 2 short sessions to get familiar with the building and the other little people starting at the same time. Also the very friendly staff, and there seem to be a good number for this young age group, were all on hand so they were known faces today.

All children in all schools wear a school uniform of their chosen colours. At this age they haven't yet turned them into fashion statements; you should see the teenagers! You would be amazed at how they can jazz up a white blouse with school tie and dark skirt especially the 18 inch long ones worn with black tights!

She likes to be busy so is going to really enjoy getting stuck into all the activities and projects that are part of her new life! (I don't think she quite realizes that she has to do this every day for 5 days in a row!)

EXIT ART

2011-08-16T17:28:00.010+01:00

I was telling Alastair that I really like Bansky's street art. He told me to see Exit Through the Gift Shop which is a film made, I discover, by Banksy. I finally watched it on TV; I loved it! It spoke volumes!

What's it about? I am going to stick my neck out here because having read a few reviews of it and also the Banksy website for the film I have not found anything which, to my way of thinking, addresses what this film is actually about ... namely, how art in the form of painting, has become a commodity.

This really well-written Guardian article written when the film came out over a year ago (!) says lots of things about what goes on in the film and concludes that Banksy "could be an important artist or just a silly fad – either way, in the street and with this film, he's providing pleasure while he lasts." He just doesn't get it!

I love this artist's irreverence! To me his creations (let's be clear: the guy can draw and his work is highly original!) are about throwing metaphorical ... well, visual, actually ... custard pies at the arbiters of style and taste that are in our culture ... I suppose they could be any culture. He is like the wee boy in the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. (This Hans Christian Anderson moral tale is about an Emperor who loved beautiful clothes and was told by his weavers that the invisible ones they made for him were very beautiful. Everyone went along with this. This was fine until a wee boy shouted out upon seeing him "but he's not wearing anything!")

So who are these people who decide what is art, what goes into art galleries, what has value and commands high prices in the art shows and sale rooms? Who buys "art" by whatever definition you want to give it, and why? It's all in the story line.

The best bit of all is the title: "Exit Through the Gift Shop", i.e. viewing works of art are about "come and see stuff in the gallery and we have made sure you cannot get out of the building without buying a mug or a mouse mat en route".

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Images of Banksy website.

here

http://www.banksyfilm.com/press.html?reload

THE ZOMBIES HAVE ARRIVED

2011-08-15T20:45:00.004+01:00

The Duke of Wellington (or "The Jooky" as he is known) is looking in the distance at a sight due east of where he is astride his horse: it is an American film company transforming some Glasgow streets in order to make a Philadelphia street film set for the Brad Pitt blockbuster £80 million zombie movie World War Z. BBC TV coverage of it is here and here. American cars, street signs and lighting have be specially brought in. Can you credit it?!

It is going to bring lots of money to the city and furthermore local people have been drafted in for some of the parts. A friend of Mairi's is one person, for example. I am afraid that when she told me about this in June all I could respond with was ... "Who is Brad Pitt?!!!!

Never mind ... I might just pop in to the city centre to see The Jooky and take a few photos on my blockbuster iPhone (like this one I took on a wet day in May)!

SCOTLAND'S OTHER FESTIVAL

2011-08-14T22:36:00.010+01:00

The World Pipe Band Championships are taking place this week. So some of us headed off to Glasgow Green to soak up the atmosphere, follow the bands and marvel at all the kilted colour. My goodness, these (230!) bands come from all corners of the world and with them come individuals who either play or are interested in bagpipes (of all shapes and sizes). The park was full of bands warming up, drums practicing their routines, men and women, boys and girls all in their band uniforms meeting, greeting and competing.

Big screens were mounted in several locations in the park. In the main (Grade 1) competing arena there was a BBC team filming (live-streaming apparently) giving us both a bird's eye view plus close-up sequences. We have known the days when this event hardly ever got as much as a mention in the Scottish newspapers or if it did it was along the lines of a child fallen asleep on top of a bass drum.

St Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band, Eire with their green kilts and Celtic logo.

Suddenly, to the side of the main area, we recognised a familiar face in the centre of this circle of red kilted players. It was Willie McCallum, THE Champion Piper of Pipers, hard at work tuning up their instruments ... of ... the Heidelberg and District Pipe Band! He is a Glasgow man who lives locally. He has many roles, one of which is his business which makes bagpipes. One of the band told me that he is tutoring them in Germany. Now, that is what I call having The Right Idea! I can confidently predict this will be a band to watch!

I am always amazed that so many folk compete every year. Of course, the Edinburgh Festival is on now and also many players take part in Highland Games that are being held all over the country.

Then there is the pub culture that must be an attraction for so many North American visitors. And for those who aren't attracted to the pubs which are doing a roaring trade in the city, there is always a chance to partake of Scotland's Other National Drink ... shown by that empty can on the grass: Irn-Bru!

A RAIN-SOAKED FLOWER SHOW

2011-08-11T19:17:00.009+01:00

The rain hasn't stopped for 2 days. Apparently it is the worst since records began! (I thought they said that earlier this year in May and June!) Be that as it may, I picked some flowers today.

Rain-bashed cornflowers in a vase on the sideboard. I like their really strong blue colour.

The sweet peas were very late going in but are finally blossoming ... though a bit soggy from the rain!

I managed to tidy the garden before the deluge but did not get a chance to plant the blue agapanthus and white gypsophilia. They sit in their pots alongside Mairi's chrysanthemum plant she gave me last week.

The tomato plant my neighbour, Jack, gave me is doing well. His are growing in profusion in his greenhouse; my single plant is ... well ... holding its own quite satisfactorily! (I give him lettuces from my garden in exchange.)

And lastly our Canada Goose wind-sock is still thriving on the lawn in front of the nasturtiums.

FINI

2011-08-09T19:48:00.004+01:00

The house is now finished! Well ... the main outside and structural work is now complete. Tonight the men finished laying the paving slabs for the driveway. We are mindful that we have had some very cold weather the last 2 years and as a result there is ice on the driveway; it is simply a fact of life! So we laid slabs that are rough in texture to help with slipping and secondly we did not opt for full paving as the only possible way to navigate from down the driveway (on an icy slope) is to walk on the stones or "chuckies" as they call them in this part of the world.

The is the garage opening at the top of the driveway. The door is a remote control up and over arrangement - the best invention after the washing machine!

This is the view looking down the driveway from the garage door to the street, i.e. the entrance to the garage along the east side of the house.

The arrows point to a helicopter that was hovering overhead all the time the men were working. What was it doing? A bank robbery? A car chase?

The only good thing about the noise of the every-present helicopter (which is a sinister sort of thing to my way of thinking) was that the noise of its blades drowned out the noise of these guys with their Black and Decker concrete slab cutting machine!

NICE ONE SKIPPER!

2011-08-07T21:17:00.002+01:00

Cowes Week (Annual Yachting Regatta) has started and this means lotsa boats on the water in the south of England. We forget how crowded the waters are and also how you have to remember that those big cargo boats won't give way to you! The trick is to get out of their way when they (repeatedly) blast on their horn!

Have a look at this!

A NEW PERSON IN OUR LIFE

2011-08-04T10:16:00.001+01:00

INSTILLING THE WORK ETHIC

2011-07-30T21:36:00.005+01:00

Agnes, a neighbour, was over today and joined us for some lemonade as we all took a break from our digging and weeding. Accompanying her was Isabel, a friend who often visits on a Saturday to help her with the garden chores.

We all agreed ... it's wonderful to have help in the garden! "Yes" I said "unlike like the hen in the story of The Little Red Hen." They looked at me blankly. Neither had heard of this children's story.

Of course, I now see that it is a very North American thing. Popular in my youth (I suppose when I was first beginning to read) were the Little Golden Books series of children's books first published in the 1940s. Their most attractive feature was that they had gold foil along the spine!

The Little Golden Book version of The Red Hen is taken from an old folk tale, most likely of Russian origin. These books were written by Harriette Taylor Treadwell and Margaret Free whose aim was to take old fables and adapt them for young readers. It seems that The Little Red Hen marked a transition from "blatant religious and moralistic tales while still emphasizing a clear moral"1. I clearly remember it making a big impression on me! But nowadays they have a new take on it!*

The story:

One day the Little Red Hen found a grain of wheat.
She asked her farm friends, "Who will help me plant this grain of wheat?"
"Not I," said the Goat
"Not I," said the Pig
"Not I," said the Goose
"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen.
And she did.

Soon the wheat grew to be tall and strong.
"The wheat is ripe," said the Little Red Hen. "Who will help me cut the wheat?"
"Not I," said the Goat
"Not I," said the Pig
"Not I," said the Goose
"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen.
And she did.

When the wheat was cut, the Little Red Hen said,
"Who will help me thresh the wheat?"
"Not I," said the Goat
"Not I," said the Pig
"Not I," said the Goose
"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen.
And she did.

When the wheat was threshed, the Little Red Hen said,
"Who will help me take this wheat to the mill?"
"Not I," said the Goat
"Not I," said the Pig
"Not I," said the Goose
"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen.
And she did.

She took the wheat to the mill and had it ground into flour.
Then she said, "Who will help me make some bread?"
"Not I," said the Goat
"Not I," said the Pig
"Not I," said the Goose
"Then I will," said the Little Red Hen.
And she did.

She made and baked the bread.
Then she said, "Who will help me eat this bread?"
"I will," said the Goat
"I will," said the Pig
"I will," said the Goose
"Oh no you won't!" said the Little Red Hen.
"I will do that."
And she did.

* A current take on it: The farmer claims that the hen is being unfair if she does not share her bread with the other animals and forces her to share her bread with those who would not work for it. This in turn removes the hen's incentive to work resulting in poverty for the entire barnyard. [Wikipedia]

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1 Wikipedia: Golden Book version book cover - qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. The text is Wikipedia and modified, i.e. not out of Golden Book.

BEETING A RETREAT

2011-07-29T21:21:00.007+01:00

I love beets so today I made beetroot chutney. Happiness for me is retreating to the kitchen with jars to fill. I use Maggie's recipe and it is simplicity itself.

Maggie's Beetroot Chutney

3 lbs beetroot, boiled, peeled and diced
1 1/2 lb apples, peeled and chopped
2 large onions
1 tsp salt
1/2 lb sugar
1/2 tsp ginger (I omit this)
1 pint cider vinegar

Put everything except beets in pan and boil for 20 minutes. Add beets. Boil for 15 minutes. Put in sterilized jars. QED!

FORGOTTEN MUSIC

2011-07-28T20:44:00.010+01:00

Summer reading is about summer listening as well. BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour has a gem of a story running just now. It is light-hearted and has lovely accompanying theme music. The radio story is "Martyn Wade's dramatisation of Ada Leverson's The Little Ottleys, a witty and wonderful social comedy... set in Edwardian London".*

Apparently there was a series in April 2011 which I missed. This title is actually a triology: Love's Shadow, Tenterhooks and Love at Second Sight. This is the Virago edition of 1982; 528 pages. The April series is not available on BBC iPlayer any more so I think I'll need to head to the library or Oxfam. I see the Gutenberg Project has them here.

This was used as the Theme Music. It is Forgotten Dreams by Leroy Anderson. I did not know this piece but it is very much of its age, i.e. 1954. It was only when I looked on YouTube at some of the other music by him I was astonished to find I knew most of them because we played them in the school band!

He born in Massachusetts, USA of Swedish parents: his father, Bror Anton Anderson, was from Övarp, Norra Stro, near Kristianstad in Skåne and his mother, Anna Margareta (Johnsson) Anderson was from Stockholm. More information is here.

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BBC Radio 4 website here.

SUMMER HOURS PASSING QUICKLY

2011-07-27T21:13:00.008+01:00

Another glorious summer day and we spent the afternoon sitting under the gazebo with Frances F., Mairi and the children. They played with the hose and we drank fruit punch while catching up on all the news.

Frances was a like a sort of "auntie" when Mairi and Alastair were small. Her mother was our adopted grandma. So the generations move on - lovely to see her again!

It is always good to have a few back-up activities should there be any squabbling. Nothing is better than shelling peas ... or in this case broad beans. Alastair is very dextrous for a 3 1/2 year and he is also patient. So this proved to be a successful diversion from the hose pipe.

Ishie has only 3 more weeks to go before she starts school. School, in Scotland, starts August 17th. (They break up the end of June.) It means life is going to be easier with one at school and one at home. Life is always easier with one less child, no matter what the number is!

British rosé wine with marscapone and smoked salmon on my own scones. The wine really was not very good but for a hot afternoon it managed to be just passable. No indication of the grape on the label, either.

Broad beans for dinner.

ON YER BIKE

2011-07-26T22:22:00.007+01:00

John passed along this video which is on youtube:

Even better ... put it on full screen. It is 7:43 minutes long and the background music is as good as the Scottish scenery!

[http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Cj6ho1-G6tw&vq=medium]

It is a lad's cycle trip from Edinburgh to Dunvegan in Skye and is quite amazing! In my day cycling was a means of getting from A to B; now it's an extreme sport or, in this case, a display of skillful acrobatics!

He says this is what the children want to do once they get rid of their stabilizers!

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Photo: steps below Walter Scott monument in Edinburgh when I was visiting several years ago. BMX biker sillouette from Wikipedia.

ECHOES OF THE PAST

2011-07-25T23:10:00.004+01:00

We have all been following, horrified, at the shooting of innocent people by a man with a gun on the island of Utoeya in Norway. We have sailed in Norway; we have Norwegian friends both here in Scotland and over there. Our thoughts are, first and foremost with them, and their families and friends. Being a small country they are bound to know people who know people.

Sadly, if there is one country in the world which can relate to this sort of event it is Scotland. In March 1996 another madman went on a shooting spree killing 16 children and one teacher in a primary school in Dunblaine (40 minutes drive from our home).

Life has never been the same after that. By that I mean security in schools, offices and public places has completely changed with entrance door locks, outside buzzers, sign-in/sign-out forms etc. (And then there was the whole business - legislation, custom and practices - related to dealing with children in community activities, schools, play areas etc etc.)

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This is my photo-montage of a flag at half-mast with Dunblaine Cathedral in the background.

SHADOW OF THE WIND

2011-07-24T21:15:00.006+01:00

I am not what you would call a "reader". You would never find me curled up on a window seat with a book; even as a child. While there were plenty of books in the house, I was more of a "doer". Still am.

Of course I read when I am forced to sit still as on a long journey or whatever. Curiously it turns out that the books I have enjoyed most over the years have been what other people call "heavy books".

I do read along with a book group on the internet which I find most enjoyable and gets me reading stuff I would never choose and quite often have never heard of.

Anyhow ... a couple of weeks ago Peter McA. was visiting and told me about a book he had just read. He goes to Barcelona regularly to be with his daughter and came across this author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon and one his books called Shadow of the Wind.*

I got it out of the library and have just finished it (400 pages!). It is absolutely wonderful! What do I mean? I reckon there are people who write books and there are people who tell stories. And sometimes you get both, i.e. a story-teller who can write. This man is one. In fact, he tells stories within stories within stories much like a stack of Russian dolls. (Other story-teller authors I would suggest are Emily Bronte e.g. Wuthering Heights and Karen Blixen e.g. Out of Africa.) He has been compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez e.g. Love in the Time of Cholera.

So what is the story about? Well, it's about books, or more exactly, a book and also a bookshop and a library. All good stuff for avid book lovers.

The author's website says:

"Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out LA SOMBRA DEL VIENTO [Shadow of the Wind] by Julian Carax. ... But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find."

And what's more, he says of himself exactly what I had already picked up (as above), namely, "I am in the business of storytelling. I always have been, always will be. It is what I've been doing since I was a kid. Telling stories, making up tales, bringing life to characters, devising plots, visualizing scenes and staging sequences of events, images, words and sounds that tell a story. All in exchange for a penny, a smile or a tear, and a little of your time and attention."

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* First published in Britain by Weidenfield & Nicholson, 2004. ISBN 0 753819137.
Translation by Lucia Graves, 2004.

Photo: Hampton Court, wine cellar, June 2011 on my iPhone.

CATCHING THE LIGHT!

2011-07-21T20:08:00.009+01:00

After dinner this evening I strolled out to the garden with the camera because the sun was showing up the flowers rather nicely. The photos are "as is" i.e. no adjustments made by Photoshop. (I'm actually quite pleased with the outcome of this humble subject matter!)

Companulas

Cornflowers

Edelweiss

Gentians at evening time, i.e. closed.

Pansy

Nasturtiums in full sunlight

Nasturtium in the changing light

PEAS IN OUR TIME

2011-07-20T18:59:00.004+01:00

Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics was born 189 years ago today and is celebrated in a pea-themed Google doodle. He was an Austrian monk and every school child who studies biology learns all about his work in his monastery garden where he studied features of pea plants year after year. He noticed that when second generation plants, i.e. hybrid plants, were crossed with each other or themselves, one type dominated the other, Thus he established the idea of dominance and recessiveness in what we now call genetics.

I like the Google Doodle! Peas enjoy.

THE GAZEBO

2011-07-20T10:24:00.009+01:00

We had Canadian visitors here last weekend: Jack B with Christie and Scott plus John and Debbie. The weather was really hot but showery so, as is our habit of years gone past, out comes some sort of makeshift umbrella.

When we had our 60 and 65th birthday garden party 7 years ago we had exactly the same weather watch. Only at that time we got out a huge plastic sheet (maybe it had been draped over the boat at one time?) and strung it up from the roof of the house joining it to the fence (of our other house). I recall water collecting in the corners like big saucers which then overflowed.

Not so this time. We purchased this gazebo several months ago so that Iain and Duncan could do building work in the rain. It has proved a wonderful structure and the following pictures show how we have simply left it up and rain or shine - and it is doing both - we are covered. (Believe it nor, it can get incredibly hot in that corner!)

See that table? That is another design feature of many, many years. I would not thank you for a plastic table and plastic chairs for a hundred reasons. Nowadays, the main one is storage. We, by that I mean, "I", am really, really touchy about gathering clutter. It is now a simple fact that we do not have anywhere to put such stuff! The good news is that we do have space ... and there CONTINUES to be space! ... in our garage ... for ... wait for it ... the car! It is heaven, absolute heaven. I will say no more.

Where was I? Yes, the table. It is 2 saw-horses with a piece of plywood on top. QED! It is stable for the occasions when little people (or big people, for that matter) bump it. It takes heavy weights like a big dish of potatoes.

Last weekend for our party of 11 I covered it with a large tartan plaid that I keep for covering tables for e.g. church/community hall teas, raffle prize table. (It is actually a piper's plaid - you know the kind they wrap around and pin at the shoulder - that I bought in the Barra's. Actually I bought 3 of them...probably ex-stock from some military band.)

Anyhow, where was I? Yes, the tablecloth. Well Mairi arrived and we had a cup of tea while the children played in the garden. I am here to say "The System is Working"! Furthermore, she had the bright idea of going out to buy a length of oilcloth from the local DIY store (a 2 minute drive away). Done! Her gift to us for the Granny and Grandpa sitting! And she got one for herself. Both turquoise with white polka dots.

And to top off the day there was amazing light about 9 pm when I was out planting some stuff I had been bringing on in crockery pots. The photo is "as is": light coming from the west with dark clouds on every other point of the compass.

OPPOSITION

2011-07-17T20:25:00.008+01:00

Opposition is a beautiful Classic Yacht and was moored at James Watt Dock at the Tall Ships event last week. She's a boat with an interesting history mainly because she used to be known as Morning Cloud (actually she was Morning Cloud II) which was the name of Ted Heath's yacht. (Actually that should be plural; he had four others.) She's a 12 metre wooden yacht built in 1971. She had a "complete restoration" in 2008.

There are some interesting sites on the web which tell of her history. One is here and another is here. I picked out a couple of stories from the second reference. It is the 2008 Obituary of Owen Parker, the man who was "Sir Edward Heath's sailing master, one of the best-known yachtsmen of his generation and managed all of Heath's Morning Cloud yachts and their crews."

"Attending the recent relaunch of Morning Cloud II, now named Opposition, at the Clare Lallow yard in Cowes that had built the yacht, Parker recounted how Heath had woken him during the Sydney-Hobart yacht race saying that the boat was surrounded by killer whales. "What should I do?" he asked. Parker answered "Pray, sir, pray", then rolled over and went back to sleep. Parker wrote about his experiences sailing with Heath in his book Tack Now Skipper (1979)."

"Parker remained as Heath's right-hand sailing man for the next 12 years, [after the tail end of the 1969 racing season] taking responsibility for his five Morning Cloud yachts and crews. When Heath became Prime Minister, Parker was given the task of liaising with the Security Services to work out a way of repatriating Heath should a government emergency arise. When a helicopter airlift was discussed, Parker asked: "What the hell are we supposed to do when all this is going on?" When told that the crew would be required to take down the sails and heave-to, he answered: "What? And lose precious seconds? Not bloody likely! If you want the skipper, we'll push him off in a dinghy and you can pick him up from there while we continue racing."

SUMMER FAMILY UPDATE

2011-07-15T21:12:00.008+01:00

These are recent photos of the family. The weather has been very summery so we have all been out in the garden.

Ishie with Grandma MacLeod's midnight blue felt hat found in the loft. It is quite stunning on Ishie; definitely her colour.

Alastair on the garden swing.

Iseabail and kids in the garden. Potatoes coming along nicely in the vegetable patch. That white thing on a black stick is a Canada Goose wind sock.

This gives an idea of how the sit-ootery is looking. Just needs to have some final grouting done and then give it a general tidy up.

It is amazing how much play you can get from the garden hose! We won't talk about the mud getting everywhere.....

BASTILLE DAY

2011-07-14T22:55:00.006+01:00

Today is the day to think of all things French as it is Bastille Day. Iain has been with a group of French students all week and said that they produced a French flag to put on the desk at the front of the lecture theatre.

Me? I have been working in the garden. But as far as thinking French this article highlights how much the French value their trees be it forest or woodland.

John's photo

Dunira arboretum in early spring - John's photo

It is the International Year of the Forest. The article talks about how people in Europe have "a genuine desire to re connect with forests and trees". Furthermore, "French schoolchildren are being bussed out to Forests to ensure the next generation will experience and connect with trees and introduced to the fact that forests are as vital to health and life as the blood within them or food at their table.

There is a strong belief and indeed envy by many French, which has a truthful base that the British continue to have an unparalleled connection with nature and landscapes. This belief has been upheld for many years by the domineering presence of British academics and scientists, continuing a trend of several centuries, within pan-European circles.

Famous British tree men are regularly quoted in France, particularly Richard St. Barbe Baker, Ebenezer Howard & Oliver Rackham, despite their names being somewhat hazy at best in the minds of the average Englander." [by which they mean British-er"]

Loch Ossian - John's photo

Duncryne Hill looking north to the south end of Loch Lomond - John's photo

TALL SHIPS - GREENOCK 3

2011-07-12T20:40:00.009+01:00

Another lovely day! The 60 Tall Ships in the Clyde departed from Greenock at noon. I started out the day by attending a funeral at the Cathedral of the Isles, Millport, on the island of Cumbrae in the Clyde. I got the ferry back to Largs, picked up my car in the car park across from Nardini's (still selling ice-cream) and headed up the Clyde on the coast road to Greenock to see if I could catch the ships coming down.

Millport Bay

Millport Bay with a cruise liner away in the far distance.

Well my attempts to get photos of these three masted ships was not very successful. First of all, they sailed down the far side of the Clyde. Here is one in the distance with mountains of Arran in the background. It was rather hazy so I came away somewhat empty-handed.

But I have to confess that I was sharp-eyed earlier in the day when I departed on the ferry from the Isle of Cumbrae over to the mainland i.e. Largs (a 10 minute journey). I suddenly spotted these fellas in the sky! I shouted to the other passengers to look up... whoosh ... they flew by in a Diamond Nine formation, did a flip still keeping the diamond shape (gasp!) and roared on up the Clyde out of sight!

Wow! It was the best bit of the day! Who are they?

They are The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team and are the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force.

Their trademark is the diamond nine formation that I mentioned. The plane is a BAE Hawk trainer.

But best of all is this video (7 minutes) of them with Freddie Mercury singing Don't Stop Me Now. Great stuff!