Saturday, October 29, 2011
Guitars, Pumpkins etc.
Many long moons ago, back in the last century, I laboured under the delusion that I could learn to play guitar. I bought a cheap(ish) Jim Deacon, affectionately known as Joey. A Damascene revelation of my musical ineptitude (and a shortage of the readies) prompted me to sell it to Dave. Fast forward 20 years or so, and Dave has recently upgraded, so Joey came home. Holly loved "playing" it, as ever with more emphasis on the performance than the technique. Hopefully my cloth ear is not inheritable...
Monday, October 24, 2011
End of (Holi) Days
Helen was back at work today, but the rest of us were still off. After hanging around in the morning for the gasman, we popped out on the bikes in the afternoon to do some shopping via the BMX track and recently-reinstated playpark at Drylaw. The sun shone, the roundabout spun, and I (as ever) caved in and bought sweeties for the kiddies.
Silvery Sunday Stroll
The rain and wind of recent weeks abated at the weekend, leaving an overcast but mild and calm day, ideal for taking a stroll/ride along the prom at Silverknowes. So we did.
Blinded by Science
I have very fond memories of the Ontario Science Centre (circa 1977), and the kids always enjoy the Edinburgh Science Festival, so last week we finally made it to the 10-year-old Glasgow Science Centre. Predictably, it's fabulous. Similarly predictably, it was heaving and in one full day we barely scratched the surface. Between us, we built a spinosaurus skeleton, went to a lecture on forces and laid on a bed of nails, built a rocket, played with dams and turbines, blew huge bubbles, gasped at optical illusions and won a tower-building competition with a handful of straws. An amazing day out, and we'll definitely be back.
Sugared Almond
The sun shone at random one day, so we headed down to Cramond and took a wee stroll up the River Almond Walkway to the weir. On the way back, we stopped at the Cramond Mill coffee shop nearby for a wee refreshment. It was very nice, and a nice gentle start to the October Week.
Devout followers of the Jesus Phone and Social Networking may wish to download and install Instagram for even more pictures. Here are a few recent ones.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Fairy Footprints
This afternoon, Helen popped out with Paula to do a bit of house shopping. To entice the children away from CBeebies and as a wee surprise for mummy, we made fairy cakes based on a recipe found by completing a game on the above-mentioned website. They turned out really rather well, you can try the game (and recipe) yourself here.
Landforms & Craggs
Between our collective late night out on Friday, the crap weather, and the children's increasing ability to amuse themselves with no parental intervention, it's been a relatively calm weekend. In an attempt to at least get some fresh air, we popped out to the Gallery of Modern Art for a stroll around the Charles Jencks Landform and the Tony Cragg sculptures in the grounds. Like a moth to the proverbial flame, Louis was drawn to the water inlet and proceeded to soak himself. All good stuff.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
On Assignment
Once in a while, I take pictures of something other than the children. Lastnight, I was at the Voodoo Rooms for the launch of The Sunshine Delay's new album, Keep It Together. They'd used some of my pics in the sleeve artwork, and asked me along to get some pics of the gig. It was dark and intimate, and I didn't want to use flash, so shooting was tricky. The Nikon coped though, by pushing the ISO to 6400 and using spot metering to leave the background dark. Here are a dozen or so of my favourite shots. Buy the album!
As if one media launch wasn't enough, before the gig I was at Waterstones for the launch of our pal Clare's debut novel, Polls Apart. It is, according to the quote on the cover, "a wildly addictive political thriller from a stunning new talent. You won't put it down", and the reading certainly left me wondering what was going to happen next to Anna and Richard, whoever they may be. Luckily, I wasn't required to take pictures so I was free to sip (ahem) wine and hob-nob with the Edinburgh literati. Or at least the small subset thereof with whom I am personally acquainted. I bought a copy of the book (it's jumped straight to the top of Helen's reading list), and you should too.
As if one media launch wasn't enough, before the gig I was at Waterstones for the launch of our pal Clare's debut novel, Polls Apart. It is, according to the quote on the cover, "a wildly addictive political thriller from a stunning new talent. You won't put it down", and the reading certainly left me wondering what was going to happen next to Anna and Richard, whoever they may be. Luckily, I wasn't required to take pictures so I was free to sip (ahem) wine and hob-nob with the Edinburgh literati. Or at least the small subset thereof with whom I am personally acquainted. I bought a copy of the book (it's jumped straight to the top of Helen's reading list), and you should too.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
If You're Going To San Francisco...
...be sure to wear some flowers in your hair, says the song. In the week that Peter, Kirsty and family return to ol' Fog City (tonsorial arrangements uncertain at time of writing), I came across these pictures while trying to clear up some hard disk space. They're from our last trip there, in the distant pre-children days of the 2002-3 festive season. According to my journal (no, really) we spent a couple of days in SF before driving south on Highway 1 to Costanoa, where we strolled along the rugged coastline before celebrating Hogmanay in the hot tub. We started the new year with a hike into the forest in sunshine and shorts and a visit to the elephant seals at the Año Nuevo State Park. Back in SF (the return journey the scene of the now-legendary Graceland singalong) we went roller-skating in Golden Gate Park, took a cable car over the hills to the tourist trap of Fisherman's Wharf, and a barbecue to end the day. Other pics show our trip to the Sonoma valley for wine tasting, our bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and the ferry back to SF. We rounded off the touristy stuff with a trip to Alcatraz. What a busy trip, it's hard to remember having so much energy!
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Evidence
Proof, if any were required, of my exertions on Sunday. My official time (as recorded by the chip attached to my shoe) was 2s faster than the time I recorded myself. Woohoo! The GPS track tells the whole sorry story, minute by minute. Note how, as the race progresses, the pace goes down and the heart rate goes up. To 101%! As if that wasn't enough, the organisers have also seen fit to publish pictures of me suffering in the final metres. They might at least have taken some of Holly too, but don't seem to have bothered. Harrumph.
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Run and Become
Today was the Bupa Great Edinburgh Run. Despite a week of balmy blue-sky days, the cloud - and then the rain - descended on Edinburgh with a vengeance over the weekend. When the time came for Holly's mini run this afternoon, the clouds didn't exactly part but the rain at least let up a little to let the huge number - there must have been hundreds - of 4-8 year olds take to the streets for 1.5km. The atmosphere was excellent, with smiles and healthy glows all around, kids and adult helpers alike. Holly took it all in her stride - pun intended - and ran the whole way with Helen, and still had the energy for a sprint at the end. She was - rightly - really pleased with herself and we're really proud of her. Maybe Louis will come along next year too. For my part, I did the 10k in the morning after a month of half-hearted training. I pulled a calf muscle in the second kilometre, but managed to finish 4s inside my target of 50 mins. It was hard work. I'll post my Garmin GPS/HR track in due course for all you fans of excess data.
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