THE BIG 80 BIRTHDAY and A YEAR OF CATCH-UP

Another milestone this year.  A year has elapsed; it's time to resume this blog and get back to the habit of posting the occasional story of life in this part of the world.

Yes, I am alive and well and, as so many of my generation report, "I'm still above the ground".  Yes, the hills get steeper and the ground is harder but, on the whole I enjoy good health and am surrounded by very good friends and family. C'est tout!

I still live in the same house in Milngavie, Glasgow. The  hall table hasn't changed much. I still enjoy Narcissus flowers and this is the time of year when they are out along with the Bluebells, the small blue Omphalodes cappodocica and the green Euphorbia.

Wonderful cards arrived in the post.  Ken was over to coffee this morning so we lit one large candle and toasted our health (especially in his case as he is recently out of hospital).

Maggie and I attended the opera 'LaTraviata' on Wednesday as Ken's guests (as he was unable to go).  I dropped in to the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society Clubroom  on 5 Bath Street (members only) restaurant/bar/tasting room. I use it from time to time when I am in town for a quick meal before heading off to the evening's event (usually a concert). I absolutely love it: quiet, subdued conversation, and I know the staff ... "Would you like your usual place (at the end of the bar!)?"!!!

We were delighted to find we had the best seats in the house. As is my habit I got chatting to the man beside me and found there were people we both knew.  I guess when you have lived anywhere long enough this is bound to happen.  Glaswegian audiences are always a delight and this audience was no different. Always enthusiastically enjoying and applauding at the end of the evening.

Scottish Opera mounted a fabulous production; I counted 40 in the main chorus. The stage was sumptuous; the orchestra on top form and I was able to recognise a few people (stage and orchestra) who I recall from being students in their 20s are now salt-and-pepper haired 40 year olds! (It has just occurred to me that there must be others in the audience who know someone in cast, production side or orchestra. There are a large number of people in involved in putting this on and I notice there is also a 'stability' i.e. they're still there from years ago.)

Last week was a trip to Cumbrae just to have a walk around the upper part of the island.  The gorse was glorious yellow and the Clyde was all the shaded of blue.

Two recent photos of the grandchildren:  Alastair (16), Harriet (nearly 11), Ellie (9) and Ishbel on the window ledge (17).

Mairi

John and Alastair recently.

Alastair and Indy (12) in area north of Los Angeles (their home).

ANOTHER YEAR; ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

79 years young....

Narcisuss for the hall table

After school Ellie (8) and I shared a candle-lit cupcake. 

She and I took this selfie to send to Don who sent a text with birthday wishes (which I read out to everyone at dinnertime).

Iain getting dinner ready and Ellie showing us her gym bag which she sewed herself on my sewing machine

Ellie modelling her sewing project

A last look at the flag before it comes down.

 

FEBRUARY ROUND UP

A quick round up of February photos before the month is out.   

Harriet, aged 9.75 years.  

Ellie, aged 8 years.  

A good concert this month.  I am enjoying meeting a greeting a few people I haven't seen since before the pandemic.  Certainly, we are all getting out and about more.  Trips into town concerts are not so popular now as we can attend these concerts locally.

Iain, young Alastair, Ishie and I drove into Glasgow University to attend the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow lecture given by Sally Beamish, composer.  (We parked below the Glasgow University tower as seen above.)  The lecture was, as is too often the case, a disappointment: couldn't hear for all the usual reasons mainly to do with technology; interesting person with interesting subject was boring, i.e. did not talk to advertised topic (emotional responses to music etc) but just gave a "next slice please" type of list of her compositions starting from the beginning..... boring.

Spent a day with Ellie who is off school with the teachers' strike out and about doing a Nature Walk.  She kept a journal; I took photos.  The birch bark reminded me of many times in my childhood I admired it, peeled it off, tried to make things out of it etc etc.

Gavins' Mill in late February sunshine.

Harriet eating the pancakes we made on the day she was off school with the teachers' strike.

Ellie in Lennox park midst the snowdrops.

Snowdrops I planted in the park behind our house. 

FLOWER POWER

I have discovered a new 'search' facility on my iPhone.  It is Google Lens.

Instead of downloading an app to identify, for example, a plant, I found that the job can be done in Google, by clicking on the right-hand image in the screenshot below.  It is located on the far right of the Google 'SEARCH' field. See arrow in photo.

Using the photo you have taken with your iPhone, you simply find it in your iPhone and it gives you the answer!  Amazing! 

This was the flower in the garden that I was trying to identify.

The answer is that it is Sisyrinchium Sapphire or possibly Vellum; I can't see the difference. 

 It is a member of the iris family, quite tiny and the flowers I have open and close with the morning and evening light respectively.

SUMMER SOLSTICE: TREE PLANTING, BIRDS AND BEES

Tree planting at Balloch Castle Park.  Loch Lomond can be seen in the distance. Chivas Whisky put up money to have trees planted here.  Employees were given a day off with pay to do this and other projects in the park. We who are regular volunteers were there to help them along... great fun... nice people!  60 trees went in!

This means rowan tree.

 I have been following several osprey nest sites where webcams have been installed.  This nest is in Perthshire and the 3 chicks are surviving so far.

* * * * * * * * * * * THE GARDEN * * * * * * * * * * 

A busy week, all in all.  The last of the beech trees are now green so the lovely, vibrant lime green is everywhere. There's a wonderful fresh spring colour to the countryside, parks and streets.

Lilacs from our garden.

Liberton Golf Club in Edinburgh where we gathered for a post-funeral tea.  Anne B who is from Northern Ireland says that this particular post-funeral repast is called a 'bun worry in that part of the world.  I wonder if the expression 'bun fight' comes from a similar source?  In Scotland sausage rolls are always served. At this event I noticed they were 'vegetarian'.

I was impressed to see the Scottish Saltire sitting a half mast at the entrance to the Club building (a grand house of last century).

Litter picking at the mouth of the River Leven where it flows into the Clyde (top right in photo). Interesting history, e.g. Denny's shipyard was here and there is still evidence of huge industrial bits and pieces about the place (iron rods, chain links the size of your arm). I thought they were industrial junk until I tried to lift them - solidly fixed.

I was shocked to see how high the tide could come in, say, High Springs and/or in a storm.  Clearly stuff (flotsam) from the Clyde was left in a field which was many feet above the present height of the River Leven.

* * * * * * * * * * * 

FROM THE ASHES: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless and Finding My Way, 

by Jesse Thistle

It was the top-selling Canadian book in 2020. Blurb says "debut memoir, Jesse Thistle—once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar—chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is."

I have only just started it and it is not sitting right with me.  I am of the same mind as Thomas of GoodReads who gives a long explanation why, as a Metis, he found it a less than satisfying read.  Here are a relevant few sentences from his excellent contribution:

"From the Ashes communicates Thistle’s experiences without necessarily offering a lot of reflection on them beyond how horrific and wrong they were. It is a book full of anecdote, but any argument it makes must come from its reader rather than Thistle himself. It feels like confession more than memoir.

My gut tells me that a lot of the fault here can be placed at the feet of the publisher. I think they saw how sharp/brutal Thistle’s writing and personal history were (I notice some of the writing from the book used to be a on a personal blog) and wanted as many pages of shocking prose as they could get.  

....Simon & Schuster’s decision to market this book as a distinctly indigenous story feels like a calculated one, as a way to pitch the book in a topical way and to add an interesting angle to the popular 'addiction memoir'.....  "

BLOG ANNIVERSARY AND ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

It's that time of year again when Iain and I have the 'mileometer' turn over one more year.  I turn 78 years today; he turned 83 years old last week.  We are wearing well, all things considered!

Birthday meal of homemade pizza complete with candle and fire extinguisher (for fun).

* * * * * * BIRTHDAY CARDS AND FLOWERS * * * * * * 

This photo reminds me that I started this blog on this day in 2007 and used a narcissus image in my first post... fourteen years ago!

* * * * * *  ELLIE (7 years old, after school)  * * * * * * 

Some years ago I made some extra pages to go along with the 'Quiet Book' by Deborah Underwood.  Ellie enjoyed looking at them and choosing some new photos to be added with appropriate new 'types of Quiet' captions.

No calm in the kitchen with the budding gymnast doing cartwheels while I try to get dinner ready!