me on Monday

waving to you all with my nicely henna adorned hand

I’ve often thought about having one when I see the stalls at fairs and finally did when I had a gap between shows and there was no queue at the booth.  It took me longer to browse her photos and choose a design than it did for her to draw – she was so adept and maintaining pressure on the bag and keeping the pattern flowing (a lot like icing really).  Then I had to not bend my hand and keep it safe for 20 minutes (when I wondered why I gave her my right hand).  Then picking off the dried bits of henna was fun.  The dye darkened over 24 hours and now I keep catching a glimpse of the pattern on my hand – it should last for 2 weeks.

It was the last weekend of the Fringe and I finished in style with an amazing Quebec based acrobatic troupe – just watching them exhausted me.

Then my favourite comedian – Adam Hills, with the added interest that he has a sign language interpreter for his Sunday shows. Fun to watch the signs as well as listen to him.

A quiet week ahead but plenty to do with crochet projects and tidying the garden.  Hope you all have a good one.

scavenger hunt august finds

each year when Rinda reveals her summer scavenger hunt list I note to myself items that I’m sure I will find during the Fringe festivities (remember unicycle and juggler) and again this year I provided a good source of items.

item 17 – 2 or more people dressed the same – how could I resist these amazing costumes

and unexpectedly 3 flags on one pole (item 15) – not the best photo I have ever taken but I was so happy to spot them

and a fun take on sub b – a person holding an umbrella

and of course plenty of ticket booths (item 19)to choose from – I kept looking for one that was called that but box office seems to be the favoured term at the fringe

and 1 of 2 versions of item 1 – a bouquet of flowers

I also managed to capture 3 items while out and about locally

several versions of item 3 – person walking a dog

so many to choose from for item 14 – traffic signals – but I chose the temporary ones that were up while they were digging up a local street

and finally took one of the river I walk beside several times a week for item 20 a natural body of water

So good progress this month with only 3 items still to find but I do have 2 of the subs so I only need to find 2 of them and of course I need to do the selfie with a sign

Thanks to Rinda for another fun hunt to keep me alert.

pair of fishers

Some weeks I have a pairs subject in mind or an event where I'm sure I will find a pair.  Other weeks I keep my eyes open for a good pair on my Monday walk.  It was the latter this week and as I was walking along I saw a man fishing in the river - not a common sight - and thought that if there was a cormorant at the river mouth then that would make a pair.  Luckily there were 2 cormorants sunning themselves so I give you a pair of fishers

looking forward to seeing your pairs - planned and serendipitous

me on Monday

big wave to Sian and fellow Monday wavers and lovely blog readers.  I’m having a relaxing Monday after a busy weekend.

a weekend of fringe show enjoying on Saturday with my nephew and parents:

– of marvelling at the strength, speed and energy of Japanese drummers

- of laughing and singing along to 6 acts in a Best of the Fest compilation

- of having my brain squirmed by an excellent illusionist

- of laughing at a play based on Terry Pratchet’s Eric and sweating in a basement room on a warm day filled with laughing people

Then on Sunday an afternoon spent talking to several other crafters about what they make and where they source materials and some swapping of tricks of the trade (usually involving the use of PVA glue).  Which was all very nice except that we had all hoped that we would be busy selling items to customers at a craft fair

but it seems the organiser did minimal advertising and chose the venue based upon cost rather than likely footfall.  We did sell some things – to other stall holders.  Oh well, we will know not to sign up for one of his craft fairs again.

Another busy fringe week ahead – the last week.  Hope you all have a good one

more fringe fun

as requested, some more snippets of creative fun from the fringe

another human statue – hard to see but there is a pole from the bottom man’s hand up to the top man’s platform – I could see several groups of spectators discussing how they thought it was done / where the support structure was hidden

I passed 2 performers with a clear ball but didn’t stop to find out how it was used – I was more interested in the reflection of the street within the ball

possibly having a nap?  possibly relating to plot of a play?

lady with the tablet was interviewing people on her pink inflatable sofa – other person was advertising a show

this week’s image for 2 or more people wearing the same thing – from a Japanese dance epic – the tassels are from the head dress of another person from the troupe – and I love the bemused look on the face of the spectator

and to finish a fun monster with massive feet

Pair of cephalopods

Balloon creations are a fun feature of the Fringe street entertainment that I look out for each year.  There are 4 spots and each has their own style. Each year the creations seem to be more elaborate than the last, like the bouquet of flowers I showed last week - back in the day I'm sure a single flower was exclaimed over. Last year big hats seemed to be the thing  but this year I noticed that a lot of kids were carrying the same, unexpected animal - an octopus

it seems an unlikely star although I can see it does lend itself to balloon shapes. And I like how the multi-coloured octopus is under a multi coloured umbrella while the red octopus is on a plain umbrella.

me on Monday

do I have a tale for you today?  Actually I have 2 tails !!

both spotted on fringe performers trying to attract an audience.

On Saturday I laughed lots at a comedy fest to celebrate 30 years of one of the fringe comedy venues with a lineup of lots of comedians each entertaining for 5 minutes (or longer in many cases).  A great variety of styles – thoroughly entertaining.

It was also a weekend of crocheting more baby guinea pigs until I ran out of eyes (visit to HobbyCraft needed this week), browsing autumnal clothes online, and planning more fringe shows for next week with visitors. This week is looking so busy that my meal plan for the week has only 2 days when I’m eating at home in the evening.

Hope you all have a great week

5 in 5 at the Fringe

During August Edinburgh is full of festivals and festival performers and festival goers which all creates a lovely buzz and lots of interesting sights.  As well as seeing plenty of shows I like to wander through the section of the Royal Mile which is shut off to cars and used as a promotion place for shows – lots of performers come here to hand out leaflets and show off their costumes and sometimes perform a bit – there are also street entertainers.  A perfect location for a 5 in 5

the people who entertain by keeping still seem to have reached a whole new level of props and unlikely poses – I spend all my time trying to work out where the supports are

the balloon artists always do well too – this would work for item one in the scavenger hunt

I love bubbles so was as fascinated as all the kids at the giant bubbles – this is not on his head even though it looks like an amazing hat

these little puppets are so cute – part of a children's fairy tale troupe

and my favourite sight of the day, and my entry for the scavenger hunt – 2 or more people dressed the same.  These are two different groups – having just taken a photo together – the ones in pink are Korean and the others are from New Zealand

Thanks to Sandie for her monthly suggestion to take photos for 5 minutes and share the best 5.

Pair of pipers

watching all the pipebands on Sunday provided lots of pair possibilities - pipe and drum, coming and going, various styles and colours but in the end I went for this contrast

I love how all the legs are at the same angle in both images - clearly the marching is practiced as well as the music.

wondering what pairs you will all have captured this week - the creativity and range of subjects is fabulous

me on Monday

August in Edinburgh is full to bursting with entertainment so this weekend was one of watching comedians and a prequel to Macbeth and lots of pipebands.

Having studied and enjoyed Macbeth at school I have been collecting different interpretations of the play and there are always several a the fringe.  This year I didn’t fancy a 2 person, Chinese mime version but a prequel appealed – according to this playwright  Lady Macbeth was the ambitious one and had angered the witches which prompted them to meddle. 

On Sunday there was a pipeband display – 17 groups marching through the old town and then playing together as a mass band – I do enjoy bagpipe music when it is outside (not keen when confined by walls and echoing) and they were playing well known, tow tapping tunes.  The backdrop of Arthur’s seat seemed the perfect setting

Hope you all have some toe-tapping in your week – waving to everyone, especially Sian.

July was

As usual there are lots of swans on the river – unusually they were not just at the river mouth, due to a particularly high tide, which made them easier to photograph.

In July I read 5 books on my kindle – 4 of them scifi and the other a crime but actually all were predominantly about friendship and unrequited love set against different backdrops. 

I read 3 old scifi books from a website that is saving old scifi as e-books before they disappear

Judgement Night by C L Moore (a collection of stories)

The man with 6 senses by Muriel Temple – written in 1920s and interesting as social history as much as for the scifi element

Four sided triangle by William Temple – written in 1940s and again interesting as a reflection of the times as well as the imagined part

My favourite book of the month, which I read completely on my train journey to London was Every Day by David Levithan.  It is labelled as teen fiction – because the main characters are 16 – but I really enjoyed the premise and the character descriptions.  I’ve read reviews of it and people seem to love it or hate it – I loved it and would recommend you have a look if you are comfortable with an unusual situation which is unexplained but provides the basis for the story that unfolds.

I was also busy with my crochet hook and finished my jumper

It is indicative of the cool weather we had throughout the month that I spent a ‘summer’ month making an autumn jumper.  I then went on to make some slippers – but as I finished them in August I’ll show you them in my August summary.

I also framed some pieces of embroidery that had been made by my Aunt which I found when I was sorting through her sewing stash for my Uncle (my aunt died 4 and a half years ago).  I’m delighted to have a piece of her work on my wall (I have the poppies)

And I decorated some terracotta pots for my sister’s birthday gift – she has a large collection of succulents in her conservatory and is always in need of new decorative pots.   I used the fabulous bronze metallic sharpie – the ink went on very easily – they are my favourite metallic pens by a long way as they do not clog or leave blobs and the colour and sheen is great

Overall July was a busy month but I’ve already shared my other exploits – trip to London, crochet at the gallery and crochet chain, jazz and food festival and produce from my garden.

To finish my favourite shot not already shared – I saw these nasturtiums escaping through a perfectly blue fence and just has to stop for a photo

pointing pairs

Struck by this pair while walking by the river and the contrast amused me

and another retro visit to my meme of 2 years ago - look up, look down. I'm hoping the green arrow on the pavement was useful to someone.

Edinburgh Fringe starts this week so hoping to share some festive pairs in the next few weeks.

Every week I love to see all your different pairs pop up and I marvel let again at the collective creativity and great observation skills out there - thank you all for sharing this meme.

me on Monday

Happy August everyone.  Enjoying some sunshine here, although it is also windy (good clothes drying weather).

It was a quiet weekend – missing the German baker who was not at the market this month, but appreciating that the vegetable man had flowers (and the bunch included mint so smells lovely)

on Friday we had a tasty visit to a new food festival, including a talk and tasting session on local smoked fish (hot smoked trout a big thumbs up – smoked squid not so sure) followed by some very tasty filled doughnuts (kumquat ricotta) and happy in the knowledge they are from a shop so we do not have to rely of fairs to enjoy them.  Interesting how filled doughnuts are so popular at the moment – not that they are popular but that it is suddenly seen as something you can devote a whole stall to.  

And to continue the tasty theme – I picked another big bowl of raspberries from my garden but only a few strawberries as most seem to have already been sampled by insects or birds. 

Hoping you all have some sweetness in your week – of the baked, fruit or other variety!