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Monday, November 30, 2015

me on Monday back home

a big wave to Sian and fellow Monday wavers and other blog visitors. 

It was a weekend of re acclimatising to several layers of clothing and total cloud cover and cold rain – quite a change from the blue skies of last week – here is one of the photos I’d hoped to use for my Monday wave last week – I was using my tablet on front camera but couldn’t see the screen due to sun glare so framing was potluck

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This weekend started wrapped up in many layers to walk through town with several thousand others on the climate change march – interested to see the wide range of groups represented by banners – too wet to stay around for the speeches.

Saturday evening was a pleasant blend of friends and curries to celebrate the birthday of one of my crafting friends who recently went on a curry making workshop – very tasty.

Sunday marked another key stage in my big crochet project – it is looking great. 

Sunday also saw delighted response from my sister of the reindeer jar cover I made (plus chocolate puddles inside the jar)

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Hoping you all have a good week – I’ll be starting on the mince pie consumption and putting up some decorations and getting to grips with cards.

Friday, November 27, 2015

missing pair and anteaters

Back at my computer and looking through my holiday photos.

Here is my missing photo pair – looking left and right from the path above one of the coves in town – taken with my tablet (because I hoped I’d then be able to load the photos onto blogger).  They were taken at the same time but the colour of the sky looks very different – I’m guessing because I was looking towards the sun when looking left.

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And one other peep into my holiday shots – by popular demand – the anteaters

I first saw the big fringed tail of something big disappearing behind a bump in the landscape

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as far as I could tell the tail is always displayed like that.

They were constantly on the move – I think there was food hidden in their enclosure – and this is the most complete photo I managed

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there were several of them – here I got one head on and another walking across the background

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and one of the them nicely stretched up the tree – I suspect looking for food rather than posing

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They really were unexpected -  in how big they are and how small their head is and how a big hairy tail goes with a smooth muscled front and how fast they move around.

I’ll be sharing more photos of Tenerife over the coming week, as I organise them into stories.

Have a great weekend – lots of rain forecast here but not cold enough for it to be snow.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Pairs on holiday


Greetings from Tenerife.
Fabulous views of crashing seas and buildings covering the hills.
Three different seafronts where I am.  The harbour in the middle,  a long black sand beach to the left and to the right rocky coves then a surf beach squeezed between jaggy rocks.  All the rocks look volcanic.

My photo pair is from the paved walkway above one of these coves.  Looking left to the old town and looking right to the water.

You will have to imagine them for now.  I'll post them when l am back to my computer and reliable signal -I'm not sure which is stopping photos loading.

I'll be round to see all your pairs from this week and last week too once I'm back and unpacked.






Monday, November 23, 2015

Me on Monday in Tenerife

waving to you all while on holiday.  You will have to take my word for it as I can't load the photo of me with palm trees, nor the one taken from a sun lounger, nor the view down the hill to the sea taken from my balcony.

It was a weekend of lots of walking.  Along the waterfront on Saturday, watching surfers and swimmers and other strollers.  And looking in shop windows wondering who buys thise souvenirs. And sampling yummy cake - an advantage of the dominance of German tourists.

Sunday was a day of walking again but around a parrot park / zoo and dodging rain showers by taking advantage of the aquariums.  I was suprised by the herd of anteaters - they are big, like a red setter with a long nose.  Lots of colourful birds too and they were noisy, perhaps grumbling about the rain.

Enjoying walking aroundin a tshirt and shorts, even if I needed my rain cape on Sunday.  Overcast but still around 20C forecast for the rest of the week.  Could be a shock getting of the plane to 5C.

Hope you all have a good week

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Pairs with light

Yesterday I actually saw some blue skies and the sun - welcome after days of rain and clouds.  I was enjoying the long shadows from the low light - the only time I have really long legs is in the shadows at this time of year!

So for my pairs an old one but a good one

I'll be off on my holiday by the time this posts - my ability to comment on your pairs will depend upon the reliability of the promised wifi at the hotel.


Monday, November 16, 2015

me on Monday mid November

another blustery and wet day but  a warm wave to you all.

It was a weekend of contrasts

- watching the dreadful news from Paris as new details emerge and people try to deal with what happened - while crocheting cute Christmas items and periodically switching channels to something light and frothy.  A reminder in so many ways of how connected we all are.

- hearing the rain and dressing in wellie boots and waterproofs to go out

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while making piles of sunglasses, shorts, t-shirts and sandals for a week in the sun.  I always find it hard to imagine that the temperature will be so different that I’ll need different clothes and one cardigan has been added to the pile then removed then added again several times. 

hope those of you in the UK have not been flooded – my local river was very high but stayed within its banks – but the ducks and geese looked put out that the island they congregate on was mostly submerged

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wishing you all a good week – if I manage to post from my tablet then I should be waving to you from a sunny balcony next Monday!

Friday, November 13, 2015

5 in 5 needs a soundtrack

Please imagine crashing waves for this post – they sounded fabulous.

Usually the waves hit the beach I walk alone gently with some white but no great noise.  But the combination of wind making the sand steeper and a high tide meant that there have been bigger crashing waves – I couldn’t resist getting out my camera.  But with the constant movement and each wave cresting differently it really is a matter of click a lot and hope I got some good ones – which made this a perfect subject for Sandie’s lovely monthly meme of 5 in 5 – take photos for 5 minutes then share the best 5. 

This month I put them all together on on big sheet – enjoy

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

polished pair

Two of the statues in the middle of Edinburgh are showing signs of people rubbing them - its seems to be an increasing habit in many cities.  Once an area has been rubbed a few times it changes colour and invites others to rub it and so it continues. The council has blacked over one several times but the rubbing persists.

I wasn't at all surprised that people were stroking the nose of Greyfriar's Bobby - the statue is a common stop on walking tours and the story is told in guidebooks.  The statue is of a dog which remained by the grave of his owner for years after he died and so he is known as a symbol of faithfulness. Plus the statue is sweet and the nose easy to reach.

But I was surprised at the other statue that has been receiving strokes - the toe of David Hume.  I don't think most of the people stroking his toe have any idea who he was - they just stroke it because it has been stroked.  The plinth only says 'Hume' - no first name and no indication of who he was.  I always point out the statue when I'm walking past with visitors and only my former colleagues know who he is.  David Hume was an eminent philosopher who worked in Edinburgh.  He has been described as the most important philosopher who wrote in English.

Recently I mentioned the 2 stroked statues to a former colleague when I met him for dinner in the middle of town - a professor of Political Philosophy from my old university.  He was delighted with the story and he went to take a photo of Hume's stroked toes and said that Hume would appreciate the contrast because one of his 'revolutionary' theories was that we should not assume that all decisions are based on logic and need to also think about the impact of emotion and context.

Given that these 2 photos will no be used in introduction to political theory lectures in Auckland, I thought I should feature them as a pair here too.

Looking forward to all kinds of pairs - whatever the decision making behind them was






Monday, November 9, 2015

me on Monday

waving to you all on a third wet and windy day and a special big wave to our host Sian hoping her bad cold is better.

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Despite the weather I made it to the local monthly farmer’s market for veg and bread (the yummy cake lady wasn’t there). 

Plenty of fun and laughter inside at my parent’s house with my sister, nephew and his girlfriend all visiting.  So lots of laughs and ‘remember when’  and tasty top your own pizza.

And I made progress of the other item I’m making for my craft group to sell for charity

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the one of the left looks rather menacing but they are cute individually!!

Hope you all have a dry and fun week

Friday, November 6, 2015

October was

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October was visually definitely autumn with lovely low light and lots of colour in leaves and berries and hips.

October was milder than it often is and early on no rain or wind which was nice and meant that there were times to sit on the wall by the beach even though I was wearing boots and a scarf

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October was full of rugby and getting used to short hair and lots of apples – all of which I’ve shared on Mondays.

October was a busy crochet month – good progress on my big project I can’t share photos of yet plus some cute wee things for my craft groups Christmas stalls – a herd of baby guinea pigs completed

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October was a good month of novels with some authors I know I like and finally reading The Martian which I’ve had on m shelf all year and finally read when I saw the movie trailers and I loved it.  The David Mitchell I enjoyed in the end but found the second story hard to connect to the first until I looked online to discover the overall structure of the book (annoying that it wasn’t obvious but an interesting structure in the end).

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October was a month of thinking about some winter sun and booking a holiday and using google maps to investigate where I’ll be and how to walk to the supermarket, cafes and other interesting places.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

pair in sunlight

on a lovely sunny walk I was taken with the colour of the few leaves still on the tree and then a few paces later noticed that the raindrops from overnight showers were catching the sunlight like jewals and so I had my pair of enhanced autumn leaves

Hope you are all getting some sunshine - I've seen photos of snow already!



Monday, November 2, 2015

me on Monday in November

a big wave to everyone and can you tell I have a big grin on my face?  Still smiling at the decisive and stylish rugby world cup win by the All Blacks.  Mostly I watch sport as a form of live entertainment but with this game I cared – I was cheering them on and applauding and on the edge of my seat.  Now no more international rugby until February!

Which meant I could go out for a walk on Sunday afternoon to enjoy the lack f rain and wind and the blue skies and fallen leaves

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Halloween passed me by – the only thing I did was enjoy the fabulous costumes for the Strictly Come Dancing Halloween special. 

Hope you all have a good week