A little culture this weekend, my mum is in town, and has finally made it since the pandemic. Beating the lottery of rail strikes and our hectic weekends.
There’s an exhibition down at the dovecot studio, an amazing place of both history and creativity. Once a place of exercise and well being, the first public baths to be built in Edinburgh back In 1885 and in use for approximately 100 years. Fated for demolition the dovecot foundation took the building into its concern and opened in 2008 as Dovecot Studies a working venue and events space. Today we are here for the exhibition exploring Scottish Women Artists: 250 years of challenging perception. I’m here as much for the building, the architecture, the working nature of the building as much as the outcome of the art. I get lost in a seven minute film about the Dovecot and how it’s collaborated with some of the artists on show today. I’m able to get up close to the tapestries and just amazed at the craftsmanship and ingenuity of the use of colours.
Elizabeth BlackadderJoan EardleyThe turnstyle for the poolWork in ProgressBehind the Scenes
In other news I’ve been dabbling with substack notes as a way to just write up a few things, a practice/daily habit around writing and posting something that might peak an interest. The freedom of it being a note opens up the ability to just get on and post something.
The main newsletter hasn’t been touched since August and I know I need to tend to it…..first job to tackle for the week coming. Thanks for reading and thanks for coffee.
The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Natalie the Explorer that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.
The magnetic L plates arrived yesterday and in an effort of comedy we put them on the fridge!
It’s 6:15pm in the kitchen as I’m making dinner. Excitement bursts through the front door, I’ve got about 5 seconds before the kitchen feels a fire ball of energy, a seventeen year old with more energy than Tigger from Winnie The Pooh. I can’t quite match the enthusiasm, it’s there, I’m committed, I was seventeen once. Deep down though I’m scared, an hour and half of scary moments, tense and a loss of control. This is a big moment so I don’t want to dampen the mood, it’s almost like he’s been counting the seconds to the day.
Dinner is a gathering of left overs, the left over curry sauce from the takeaway that we froze for an easy mid week . Quick and simple stir fry kind of fayre. A small onion diced, softened in oil. chicken breast chopped into chunky bite sized pieces. Mushrooms, sliced. Half courgette that was rolling around in the fridge (don’t ask). They all go in the sauté pan, and just a case of building up the dish. Then a tin of chickpeas and the curry sauce gently bubbling away whilst we get the rice cooked through. The boys get a full on carb hit, whilst we have Cauliflower rice.
So the table is bouncing as we eat, bants thrown across the table. Mamma trying to instill some calm and collected advice. Listen to your dad, remember this is a killing machine. There is a field of energy that this kind of talk just bounces off. As we walk down the road to my brother in laws to pick up the keys. The guard is let down, and he gives me the pep talk! A pause and then I sense this is my moment to reciprocate. It’s received, the acknowledgement between coach and coachee.
We agree that I will drive off first, and take us to a safe place. The car alien to me, it’s probably never had a valet in 10 years. PaPa never seeing the need for such a thing and although the mileage is low it’s been well used. I accelerate too loudly, the brakes are spongy compared to what I’m used to and the clutch interchange very light. The transition between a VW van and a fiesta needs to take place quickly as I hit the main road.
We make it to the university car park and started with the basics, clutch, break, accelerator. This I hear had all been watched through on YouTube previously so the theory only need to be light. The reality though is a little different, pulling off gently, the kangaroo hops and then coming to a stop albeit at 5-10 miles an hour a little different. The sensation of being put through the windscreen as the brakes were applied made it all real. His palms are sweaty, the windows need to go down so he doesn’t get too hot. The lessons have started.
In other news, the sun has really turned on it’s charm this week. I need to get my wife to put the winter duvet on more often! As we were heading into colder climes, it was like someone flicked a switch and said hang on there! There is a little more warmth to be had out of the days. Despite opening the curtains to mist and fog, it’s usually burnt off during the day and it’s been welcome to be out in shorts and t-shirt whereas last week I was starting to think about the gloves.
As a result each morning we’ve been greeted with a humid mist that tends to lift around early morning. An eerie spell cast over the city. An early walk into work and I pass through the old town and I can feel what it must have felt like back in the day.
On my cooking journey I expanded out my digital garden, I’m creating a few anchor points to hang my content from. The library, the books I’m going to dip into as I cook over the next few months. The Shed, the base of operations, a bit of a log, the things that will get me through.
The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Natalie the Explorer that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.
