Finally!

There are going to be some good exhibitions this summer in Edinburgh!

Tiptoeing

We are having unusual guest (or rather guests), therefore the whole family in Haddington is tiptoeing around this bit of the house:

Overeating?

With M&S promoting pupil's uniforms for obese 8 years olds, let's have a foodie post. Here are some things we had in Poland - a dish my mum made for me (remember it was +35 degrees in Lublin) of yellow fasolka, unavailable in Scotland, the tastiest combination of a vegetable and some breadcrumbs.

Then a perfect coffee at our most favourite cafe in Krakow  - Camelot. We are trying to get there for a meal everytime we are back in Poland's former capital. Best to be consumed accompanied by a brilliant and witty Przekroj magazine.

In Edinburgh I have a special penchant for cheese sandwiches at Falko bakery in Morningside. Sometimes a girl just has to have a sarnie like that. You should be glad it is not deep fried!

Iceskating

Not that we would need much of a cooling off these days! Our holidaying children simply needed some entertainment so we went to do some iceskating in Murrayfield. I have never seen a place like that before: the building itself has an art deco outside combined with Thatcheresque era interior decorations in an unchanged shape, just like time have stopped in 1970s . Their cafe area is worth of a photoproject!

In the image below Simon presents a difference in the shoe sizes of Liska and Lyovka - Liska with her size 2 feet on the right and Lev with his L shape silhouette of a proud owner of a size 10 at 12 years old:

Sir Walter does not live here anymore

Last week we took our kids to the Sir Walter Scott's residence of the Abbotsford. It was a gloomy, rainy day and to get there we had to take a long ride on an X95 bus throught the Borders and then walk for quite a while to get to the house from the bus stop.

However when we finally got there we were really surprised at the welcoming atmosphere of the whole venue - it is run by an independent trust and has really devoted guides almost ready to summarize all Sir Walter's novels just for you. It must have been a spectacular residence to live in (and so did Sir Walter, though he finally went into serious financial trouble because of the lavishness with which he built and decorated the house.) My favourite bits were a Chinese motive wall paper and a little stone crucifix on display in the library. Little grey item, apparently belonging to Mary Queen of Scots (which she was said to be carrying to her execution) with its spacious rooms, library stuffed with 9000 volumes and cozy armchairs.

My favourite parts were the little walled garden and a dog's sculpture at the entrance. Sir Walter looks in all the portraits like a nice, firendly guy, though a little bit grumpy - oh, I can imagine how grumpy it would make me to know that I have to write all these long novels about rainy Scotland in the Middle Ages! I came accross some of his novels in a posh house library and sadly some of the pages were not even cut open..

Will they ever learn?

I made a conscious decision of not changing my maiden name when I got married. Though I am considering that change more and more when observing an ability of the Scottish people to rework and reinvent my name and my surname...

Two recent examples - a notice on my college portfolio box for the graduation jury - how do they manage with all these Asian and Indian students? Are these people ever able to find themselves on any of the ECA's students lists?

And now an exaple from this week - I went to reheel my shoes and when lady who was filling the receipt asked me about my name I decided to skip the complicated bit and here is what I ended up with:

I would not have been surprised if these were just two examples but it happened already so many times that i have lost count. So this is my rant for today. Sincerely yours, Slivia Kowalozyk.

Introducing my friends

I know that Sejin is an avid reader of this blog (I will try to keep it more regular I promise! Though honestly, I have no idea how people are able to post regularly once a day, it is a full time job to be able to write something significantly interesting every day?!) and she has been featured here before alas not personally. It is the time to catch up and here is my talented friend in action.

She is currently working on her series of large format photographic portraits of women in modern societies and I have just learned that I am going to be one of her future subjects (if I understood correctly)! I am chuffed and I cannot wait! One thing is that I just hope that her artistic idea does not involve me being photographed in my home/studio as it would require a week worth of cleaning and arranging the space. If you reading this, Sejin, please consider my portrait perhaps somewhere OUTSIDE? If you reading this, Simon, clean your side of the desk just in case, please!

Warm / cool

Cannot believe that I am here wearing an autumn coat while they have +35 degrees in Poland! Image from our latest summer trip to Poland - spot Simon (Simons?) in his summer gear! Jasio patiently travels in his buggy - what a nice day it was! We are so glad you were able to meet us despite the temperature!

R.I.P. Beyond Words

My life recently revolves between work and sleep without much time for anything else, so when I spotted that one of our favourite Edinburgh bookshop is closing down, it did not improve my already grumpy mood.
Beyond Words was a very special photographic bookshop where one could spend hours browsing (let's face it, I have never managed to leave empty handed...) through the latest photo publications of classics like b&w Paris by Doisneau but also the same Doisneau book full of colour photographs from his road trip through America. If I have not flicked throuth that book I would have never known that he took brilliant colour pictures as well!

And I think that is the point - flicking through first 5 pages of a publication on Amazon does not give you the same flavour for it as it would if you were doing it in a bookshop. Simon and I, we actually made a conscious effort to buy our photography books from this particular bookshop, not from Amazon or big highstreet retailers. They were 10 £ more expensive there than on line, so what? You got the pleasure of seeing them all in real life, appreciating the quality of paper and print, comparing them with the other publications, having a reason for a little trip into town, to be dragged out from in front of our computers.

Pity that even people who worked for BW could not sometimes understand what is the purpose of such business. When I asked a guy who worked for them if he buys his books from BW after being able to browse through them at work (well, I was secretly hoping that maybe he has some kind of dicount I would be able to join in) he replied that no, he gets them from Amazon as even with his work discount they are still cheaper on line. Yes, but you would not have even known about them you fool, without having a place like Beyond Words as a reference point!

Our last buy at Cockburn Street shop premises was a beautiful book of Jeff Wall's work, now Beyond Words could be accessed on line, HERE.

Simon's new toy

Here we are, now I want one and Monika as well. Olympus EP1:

I am back!

We are back from our short summer trip to Poland. I was helping my mum with her international young ballet dancers meeting while Simon was taking pictures for his backstage project during the performances. We have managed to meet lots of our dearly missed friends in Krakow (thank you so much for even cancelling your previously arranged plans to be able to meet with us! We were extremely touched because we really miss you, guys!), we even have managed to oil a wooden kitchen top in our old flat between one tenant moving out and another moving in. It was nice and weird to be able to stay there - like stepping into a very happy past.

Meanwhile today I went to Edinburgh's Film House to finally see Il sono amore, a very powerful, sensual film featuring my favourite actress of all times - Tilda Swinton. It is good to see such film after coming back to your home in a foreign country. To me it was not about being true to your own feelings, decline of burgeoisie or capitalism but about not loosing your identity when moving to live in a foreign country.

Oh, and I even have a very similar hairstyle to Tilda in pringle of Scotland advert now since managing to book an appointment with miraculous hairstylist of mine in Krakow. He said I should be safe from the Scottish haidresseres for at least 3 months. I wish I knew who does Tilda's hair! Though I bet she does not cut it in Scotland...