MUST GO DOWN TO THE SEA AGAIN

Yesterday, Sunday, we went down to the boat in Bowling Basin. The sun was shining as we sat in the cockpit and drank coffee with Peter. Lots of folk were out walking their dogs and generally having a look at the boats in the basin. One fellow came up and wanted to look through the boat as he had admired Seol na Mara but had never met the owners. He was amazed that this is the boat's 31st year and still the same owners!

The west entrance to the basin has not changed much: old hulks still lie in the mud at the entrance. What an eyesore! There is nothing sadder than a derelict boat lying rotting in the mud. (Well, actually there is ... I think a violin with its strings all loose and the bridge fallen over is a very sad sight to my way of thinking.)

Just to prove the sun was shining I just had to capture the mid-day shadows behind the wooden millenium posts (put in when they did up the Forth and Clyde Canal in 2000).

One of the rings at the edge of the canal. Lots of original bits and pieces are still in place around the basin including rings, hooks and bollards for tying warps.

WHO'S GOT THE BUTTON?

Another spring day so Iain was outside with Craig digging drains and barrowing earth back and forth.

It's Saturday: Ishie was with us this afternoon. You would not believe how content she was playing on her own with a simple, humble jam jar she found in the cupboard! Add to that a most wonderful source of treasures: Grandma's button box!

Is it because it isn't just any ol' button box but one full of stories, in fact, every button could tell a story! Think of all things that you can do with buttons! Someone should write a paper on Button Box (Mathematical) Sets!

I also recall a game for pre-schoolers where they sit in a circle and a button is passed behind their backs to each other. The person in the middle has to guess whose hand it is in by asking "Button, button! Who's got the button?" Once found that person takes the place of "It" in the middle.

She was fascinated with the neighbours' "flags" hanging on the washing line. Ah yes ... yellow dusters (washed and put out to dry)! So I found one for her very own to keep her industrious hands busy!

SEEING OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US

Jane, in Canada, sent me this today:

A first grade girl handed in the drawing below for her homework assignment. 



The teacher graded it and the child brought it home. She returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Davis, 



I want to be perfectly clear on my child's homework illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint surrounded by male customers with money. I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This drawing is of me selling a shovel.

* * * * *

It reminded me of the time Mairi brought home her schoolwork at the end of the year when she was in Primary 2. Browsing through her book of written stories I came across a story she had written at the start of her school year:

My Summer Holiday

"We sailed to Arran in our boat. Mummy went up the mountain with Auntie Iseabail and Curly. Daddy and Ricky took Alastair and I to the beach where he bought us ice cream and then went to the pub." !!!

COLOUR AND CONSTRUCTION

This was the day the roofers were scheduled to put the tiles on the garage and porch roof and ... would you believe it ... the sun shone! We have had really dreary weather for about 2 weeks and today we had a good few hours of afternoon sunshine.

So for the first time I got out with the camera and took a few shots of the new structure. I am really pleased with the look of the building(s). The asymmetrical roof of the garage means that it is not so imposing a building for our neighbour. I feel it puts the weight of the building in our side which is where it should be.

There you can see the adjoining porch leading to the garage. I have already found that it functions as a larder or 'cool room' for big cooking pots, vases of fresh flowers. I can now see the line of the roof in respect to the house roof. Again, the building is low and so it is deceptive as to the square footage of room inside (which is much bigger that I had imagined). We will be able to get a car in the garage and have room for Iain's workshop.

And so with the spring weather today all the good folk in the neighbourhood were out having an end-of-winter inspection of their gardens. Yes, there has been frost damage but amazingly some plants and trees have actually survived!

These are the crocuses that grow along the little garden between us and our (very patient and tolerant) neighbours on the east side of our house. I derive enormous pleasure from seeing the little dabs of colour that these flowers bring at this time of year! We know that it will be another 8 weeks before the trees turn green but these are the first ... well, the second after snowdrops ... to inject colour into the greyness of our winter climate!