Saturday, 28 February 2026

Glasgow in sunshine!

 Lesson day again! 


Food truck with art 





I was early so took a walk around the block and along the back lane. This is looking up at the back of Park Circus.

I was lucky to meet a man who lives in the house in the lower photo, walking his dogs...that, and the white house above are the originals....not the big fancy houses

To be learnt....

LOVE is part of the artwork...

I found a chip shop...opposite the Travelodge . The Oxford. Proper chips...proper mushy peas...perfectly fried egg...bread and butter and proper coffee, all in the price.  I was tempted by the Italian ice cream...but resisted ...this time!

contrast...new cinema, old theatre

more contrasts


and reflections....just before the bus gets on the motorway, over the Kingston Bridge and homeward bound

Friday, 27 February 2026

Studio time

 This morning was dry but cold....I ventured out mid morning having waited for the sun to warm the studio a little! 

It was the turn of the tiny bowls and vases/jars to be finished...turning and stamping and marking. 



Lunch followed...then throwing ..three boxes and three vases.


and of course, leaving tools and wheel clean and ready for next time!




By four o'clock it was getting decidedly chilly so pack up and retreat to the house to warm up...and do a bit more basting.  Second quarter started!


I'm gradually discovering more about the phone. Unfortunately I can't have Instagram or Threads on it..which is strange as like fb and whatsapp they are both from meta!

There are some ways around....I can use the tablet (and probably the old phone) to share a fb post to threads. No joy with Insta as the sd card with all the pictures is in the new phone..although that needs investigating as it hasn't had one in it for a while. It wont take photos from google pics..a competitor!!

This will take more figuring out. Possibly taking photos with the old phone.....we'll see!!

Onwards!

 After a second visit to the ee shop, the problem was solved. It takes someone wuth the knowledge of what buttons to press..and the confidence to do it!

The camera app on the phone was talking to all the other apps ... but not recognising my account or phone number. How that solved it neither of us knew why, but it did, thankfully!!

Which made life worth celebrating with a hot chocolate!




Then a walk back through Ayr past the oldest inhabited house in town, once the abode of a certain Mr McAdam of road surface fame.

and home on the bus with a friend from the next village up, again...with views of Turneresque skies.  The best had moved on by the time I got home. But as she said, people don't look up and see them 

Too late to do more claywork, so it was time for the needle and thread. Basting a quarter done.

Back to clay this morning...pots dry enough to finish...hopefully...and more to make.



Wednesday, 25 February 2026

technology!!!

 I have a new phone...thanks bro....I haven't worked out how to get the camera working...but I'm getting there. These things don't come with instructions!!

so...no pictures...

I went to turn the pots over to dry this morning...they were only just dry enough. I could have brought them to kitchen. However...it was raining so no point!

This afternoon I went to Ayr with my new phone....and got the EE shop to get information from my old phone to the new. 

I haven't figured it all out....but I'm getting there. Why it has to be different to do the same thing with the same systems I do not know!!

I just managed to catch my preferred bus home...and a friend was taking the same one..she takes it right to the end of its route in a small village a couple of miles further on. 

A lovely chance for 40 minutes chat!!

Then out to a village hub further along the main Edinburgh road for an evening of music.  It is a club that meets once a month, people who want to sing and play do...and the rest of us listen! A nice change anyway.

The main singer is an acquaintance of my friend in France too.

Tuesday, 24 February 2026

Tiring

 Getting back in the groove....I dodn't make much, but my body needs to get used to working again!!



After lunch I got on with getting all the quilt layers together ready for basting before (hand) quilting.


Tonight's Duolingo French is going to be short..and I need to look through the homework for Saturday ...tomorrow!

Monday, 23 February 2026

springclean

 Despite being wet initially and windy...the sun occasionally came out from behind the clouds every now and again!! It stayed dry..

if a trifle chilly....until after 5pm..


Today was sortout day in my studio.


I did a bit of trimming to two homemade saw horses that are being a table with a pallet screwed to the top of them. Now the small  chest freezer that is In The Way in the kitchen can move in by there and be s vlay store. No need for power for that.

I'm sorting out the studio contents..well..trying to!  Some things have been "temporarily" parked there.

A door...wrong size, but the handles and me hanism are needed to mend one in the house. A large bag of reeds....given to us..overkill as we just needed enough to mend a stool thst Pirate made at school...

and a 3 metre 100m Rough Sawn timber..what DID we buy that for!!





Some sorting out in the kiln shed as well...finding things!!.seven ware boards!!
Good..I wont have to make any more.
And bad light stopped play...there is a wotkshop light running off a car battery...but that was found to be flat two months ago!!

Tool sorting tomorrow 🙂



 

Saturday, 21 February 2026

Glasgow..week #4

 A wet and windy day, but fortunately only when I was in a bus or in a classroom!

I'm aiming to have a different route each week.




This is the Hindu cultural centre..using an old building beautifully...and next to.it a glass and concrete box....l

Glasgow is most definitely built on hills!



to the right of the spire in the distance, looking across over Finnieston, you can see the last big crane left ( no longer working)


Backs

and fronts of Park Circus
and the park in the middle

In the Goethe institute/Alliance Française...I go up those stairs to the second floor

a mural of things French

and the view from our classroom window

newer flats across the back lane.

I didn't wander much after the lesson..it was harder work today! More brainwork.

One of our classmates was there who'd been to London sorting his childrens' passports.

He is a Ukranian, already speaks seven languages. He has been given asylum...but is learning French properly so that he can emigrate to Canada.  You get the feeling that his and his wifes abilities and qualifications are going to be  accepted there....

A smooth journey home, apart from making my way through a very crowded city centre to the bus. five minutes wait there...a snooze on the way to Ayr, five minutes then the bus to here.

Then just metaphorically crash!!

I have had supper...soup, bread, cheese...then fruit and yoghurt...but nothing else really active for the past six hours!

All that brainwork...and peopling!!