Pumpkin industry day

Happy Helloween All!

Autumn leaves are throdden on in new shoes

It will be just a simple rant for my girlfriends today. I am thrudding the streets of Edinburgh in my new shoes from Top Shop! Yay! It took me so many weeks to track down this style that when I finally got my hands on them I could not believe my luck since all the shops were saying that it is not a Scottish style therefore they are not selling this kind of design. When I bouth them a salesgirl in Top Shop commented with a smile 'Unusual, aren't they?' and I got a student discount! Picture courtesy of MDH who says that my legs in these tights look like I had some misterious disease...Is called fashion, dear.

Dalhousie castle - picture heavy

One of the advantages of my work is visiting places that I would have never bothered to visit just for myself . Doing it for a client is a godd boost and a bonus of seeing many great locations in Scotland.

Today it was a visit in 700 years old Dalhousie Castle, situated south of Edinburgh. It has been turned into a posh spa hotel but we were more interested in their falconry than their pools.

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The most impressive and also very friendly bird was a Great Grey Owl known as Navajo with its humanlike eyes. The huge round facial disk works like a satellite dish helping ears to pick up on the tiniest noises. I am sure we must have created a lot of noise with our cameras and boots on wet gravel in front of the cages, but the bird welcomed us with a friendly hooting and fluttering of long eyelashes. I was most impressed with its ability to turn its head literally 360 degrees!

Dark and getting darker

The winter time change has made it - it is getting dark at 5 pm here and a thick layer of clouds does not help either. It can only get worse when it will be actually pretty dark at 3 pm as we are so far up North! Well, actually we are on the same lattitude as Moscow.

I spotted this carving in a porch of the dorway in Grassmarket's end of Victoria Street.

Tales of the mere existence by Levni Yilmaz

http://www.ingredientx.com/
Levni Yilmaz's Tales of the mere existence - check out his one about proctrastination on youtube under AgentXPQ channel - it is unfortunately so true in my case...

This is exactly how I feel today and it is not about the hair

I have a strong impression that Simon passed on his bug.I need to have some more echinacea drops immediately!

How it was in Glasgow

My college students group and I went to Glasgow last week to have a look at some exhibitions and to do some visiting (I was after all what was Mackintosh). We went on a train with our favourite tutor, Colin and we had a really fantastic day. Even weather was great - it was quite warm and sunny even though the usual forecast for the West Coast is 'drizzle and cloudy'.

Glasgow is a really big, buzzing place, with a strong feel of the former glory of the British Empire, though you cannot really feel it travelling inside of its minuscule underground train system! Especially that I still have in my head memories from Paris or Stockholm, not to mention St Petersburg or Moscow...
There are however things that would make Martin Parr gasp:

We went to really nice photogallery Streetlevelworks and had an infamous 4 pounds lunch at a pub's upstairs in Drury Road. I decided to go for a rice pudding which was priced at astonishing price equalling to a price of a bus ticket! It was extremelly sweet, mushy and very tasty on a cold early afternoon:

As I was after Charles Rennie and we were in the area I went up a very steep hill (and I really do mean steep! I had a real problem with getting down as my Churchs soles are really slippy! Everybody else decided to stay for a coffee at an art center down the road instead so I could have my dose of Art Nouveau) to have a look at his famous Glasgow School of Art building. Ten years ago I was very disappointed that I was not allocated an Erasmus' exchange scholarship programme placement there. I had to go to Paris instead...

The building and the whole concept of such a purpose built premises is truly astonishing, especially that nowadays art colleges, and yes, I am talking about you ECA here! just buy modern buildings built rather for office workers not for creative people). However when one enters Mackintosh's building its size is truly not accustomed to the amout of art students in the modern days! I was admiring all the meticulously designed details of the railing wondering to what extent people studying there actually get excited about a possibility of spending their time inside of such a gem of designer's brain:

It is difficult to believe nowadays that this supertalented designer struggled for commissions and he recived very little support during his lifetime!

Then we took a metro to have a look at Kelvingrove art gallery. I must say it has not changed much since I last visited it 15 years ago! The elephant, giraffe and Salvador Dali were all still there:

As well as some other examples of creepy taxidermy:

So I was hoping to come back for another visit this week, while kids have their school holidays, so that we could all go and have some fun but Simon is having a serious cold at the moment so it will have to be postponed. See you later Glasgow, I have really enjoyed your company!

Glasgow way

Visit in Glasgow

I am completely knackered after a whole day in Glasgow but I had a great time!

Pretty, Sunny and Warm

And Poland has been snowed in!

Heart of Midlothian

The term of the Heart of Midlothian comes from Sir Walter Scott's novel, where he describes the Tolbooth prison, situated exactly in the heart of a county, with that term. Nowadays however it is more connected with Edinburgh's football team than Scott's 7th novel. The Old Tolbooth, originally a place where one should come and pay their taxes, in 1640 became a gaol for debtors. It was demolished in 1817, it's heavy wooden door, presented to Scott as a gift. Nowadays it is just an outline in the cobblestones in front of the St Giles cathedral.

Approximately at the same time as the city municipalities removed Tolbooth, they got rid of small, private shops called Luckenbooths: the timber-fronted tenements of up to 6 storeys high which hosted various businesses, in Scott's novel called 'haberdashers' goods' - they were removed from the north wall of the cathedral creating a modern, wide passage.

Sometimes I like to be a visitor in the city where I live on an everyday basis. I have only noticed the heart shaped pattern in front of the St Giles today! The cathedral is situated behind me while I am taking the picture of the pavement.

Redecoration

I was trying to get to the train station today to get my train ticket for Thursday's trip but I have failed miserably. I got half way and had to return home - I have felt so bad, so weak and so sick!

I do not know if dismantling of the Princes Street Garden's flowerclock had something to do with it, probably not, just the weather - one can definitely feel a wintery chill in the air. The flowerclock was there so colourful throughout all Spring and Summer and all over sudden it was gone, dismantled in pieces, anouncing that colder weather has arrived.

I will have to deal with my tickets tomorrow. After all day wandering around the flat and numerous cups of hot, very sweet tea (dear Monica, thank you so much for your Akazienhonig! It definitely helped to fight back my throat getting sore!) and one of old Simon's jumpers (how clichee) my head feels much clearer.

I am off to bed to meet with Georgiana's world.

Yeah, right

Eyeshight

So the British Prime Minister has two tears in his retina. Welcome to the club, Gordon. EDIT: He actually does not see with one of his eyes after a teenage rugby accident.
After my detached retina operation now almost two years ago, the very first thing I do after waking up is opening my left eye first, to make sure that I can still see with it.

Blue skies again!

Simon is away in St Petersburg

Wet and wild

The Autumn has arrived in Scotland with all what we hate so much - wet shoes, broken umbrallas and lashing wind and rain. One needs to stay well tucked in in bed instead of travelling to do some work!

Girls have arrived

Our children are getting older, we do not

We were celebrating Liska's 14th birthday! I cannot believe that this tiny blond angel I met when she was only 6 is now almost my height and is quickly turning into an independent, beautiful, almost woman. Happy birtday, teenage girl!

Also Simon's sister is celebrating her birthday today - she has just got herself a new, very active puppy. Happy bday to you too, Venessa!