before and after pair

The two chimneys on the power station were demolished on Saturday - the power station was decommissioned 2 years ago and they have slowly been dismantling all the buildings.

Lots of people lined various vantage points to watch the explosion - on land and water. It was fast and there was a lot of dust.

The view will take some getting used to without the chimneys as prominent markers.  i guess 50 years ago when they were built the locals felt equally challenged to get used to the new skyline.

Looking forward to all your usual creative ideas in pairs this week.

me on Monday

waving to everyone on this bright Monday morning and hoping you are all well.

My weekend was dominated by the rugby World Cup – I watched and enjoyed all 6 matches and got a fair bit of crochet done in the quieter moments

I chose this match for my photo as an extra wave to our lovely host Sian – her boys in green are doing well.  I can’t show you much of my current big crochet project until late December but I will say those are half the colours and I’m loving them.

Squeezed into the mornings were unpacking from a midweek trip to Liverpool, sorting through all my photos and watching a local event (more on Wednesday).  I was again very pleased to have a robotic floor cleaner so that I could get the housework done while watching the rugby!

I’ll share some photos of Liverpool for 5 in 5 but for now here are a few from the Anthony Gormley creation ‘another Place’ which has 100 identical statues scattered across 3km of beach north of Liverpool

– it was very windy but I loved the grey clouds and slants of sunlight

Hope you all have a good week

Sumemr Scavenger Hunt - finding the last few

I only had 3 images left to find at the start of the month - people playing a board game; people plugged into social media; an overloaded vehicle.  I didn't have a plan for any of these so was dependent upon keeping my eyes open for opportunities.

I only found one - people plugged into social media - something that we all see all the time but it was a matter of a situation when I could capture an image - this is across a cafe

So I'm two short, but I did find two of the subs, but I think we can only use a sub for one item which leaves me one short overall.  But for me the joy of Rinda's scavenger hunt is the fun of looking for the items over the summer and seeing how items vary from place to place as people post their finds. The range of public toilet interiors was an unexpected pleasure.

Thank you Rinda for another fun list with a nice balance of easy and hard.

And to end, the obligatory selfie for this year

Autumnal pair

Beautiful colours as the sycamore leaves turn and fall

hoping all of you are enjoying the change of seasons however that manifests where you are

me on Monday

a big wave to everyone as we head into autumn

a growing number of yellow/orange/brown leaves on the trees and ground but not so cold I need to get out my boots yet – I do resist as long as I can knowing I’ll then be wearing them for several months

It was a good weekend with plenty of entertaining rugby to watch on TV and plenty more to come with the World Cup running until the end of October.

Plus a lovely afternoon and evening spent with some New Zealand friends who are making a whistle stop trip around visiting friends in the UK – we enjoyed some afternoon sun and lots of chat.

Now I’m looking our the window at the rain and hoping the forecast is accurate and the rain will pass by afternoon so that I can have the planned walk ‘to see my swans and river’ with a visiting blogfriend. 

4 months apart pair

Back in May when I took a photo of the apple blossom on the trees in my garden I though it would be a nice match when I had fruit and I remembered this week to take the second photo

 

I have 2 different apple varieties - the red ones are just about ripe - I have eaten and enjoyed the ones from a branch of this tree with more direct sunshine.  The others are not ready yet.  I do enjoy being able to eat apples from my garden.

Anticipating a lovely variety of pairs from you all this week

me on Monday

a big wave to everyone on a very soggy Monday – looking out the window at the rain and having seen the weather forecast’s rain cloud sitting overhead all day, I’m glad I bought new wellies at the weekend – there may be a bit of testing in some puddles later today!

It was a weekend of sorting buttons (by size, kind of)

brought on by finding a third box of buttons while tidying my craft table so that I had some space to work – sorting coloured buttons (and then ribbon) was a satisfying job for a grey day.  I also discovered a needlecase full of needles and two packets of them so even if I lose one a month I’m set for several years.

It was a weekend of welcoming my cousin’s daughter to Edinburgh – she is starting University here – and looking forward to four years of having her around – and reminiscing about my student days as she is in the student halls building next to the one I was in.

It was a weekend of studying the pools for the rugby world cup which starts on Friday and anticipating plenty of good rugby watching, and hoping that the commentators (based in London) remember that many of us are not backing England to win – for instance those living in Ireland, Scotland and Wales – I’m not holding my breath on that one as 3 of the main comment team are former England players and coach.

Hoping you all have a good week.

5 in 5 by the beach

I was excited to see the launch of a local 3 day artwalk with installations by the sea and was sure this would provide excellent images for my September 5 in 5. I set off with my camera and the map

but sadly it was underwhelming

I think the pieces were just too small – I think this piece either needed enough of these pots to cover the top or have a piece that is massively bigger.  Hopefully they will evolve for next year.

So I was left without a subject for 5 in 5 but the light over the water was interesting and there were only a few people around so I easily captured some good images of a mostly empty non-summer beach then had to choose my favourite 5 -

an empty beach except for 2 boys playing with the tide under looming clouds

a greyhound checking for her person

a woman either enjoying some thinking time with her guitar – or practicing where no one can hear

reflections as the wave gathers

an hypnotic horizon

Thanks to Sandie for her 5 in 5 meme – a lovely monthly prompt to take photos for 5 minutes then choose the best 5 to share.

pair of dogs

Dogs abounded at the craft fair on Sunday - there is a fun dog contest as part of the proceedings and lots of people had brought along their dogs to enjoy the outing - although many were not keen on the marching brass band. Lots did seem to be enjoying all of the dropped bits of cake, burger and buns!!

I was sure I would find a nice contrasting pair amongst all the dogs - there were huge wolfhounds and mastiffs and tiny terriers and papillons.

But in the end the contrast I loved the best was due to the popularity of balloon dogs that were cleverly weighted so they walk along the ground.

 

I love how they book look really alert.  The real dog - Charlie - belongs to one of our crafting group.

Looking forward to seeing which pairs took your fancy this week.

  

me on Monday

another craft fair with my crafting for charity group on Sunday but this one had plenty of customers – we sold everything you see in this photo

plus a lot of other things to make £230 – strangely only £7 different from last year at the same place.

We were at a local faire held in a park with music, lots of cake, places to sit and a fun dog competition so lots of families come and stay for the 3 hours.  Which means lots of people looking at the stalls and it seemed lots of the kids had some pocket money to spend – they were out best customers.

All of the baby guinea pigs that I’d made sold – very satisfying.  The last 2 were bought by one girl who persuaded her Mum that she couldn’t take just one and leave the other by itself – exactly what my sister would say.

Waving to everyone, with an extra big one for Sian who started this lovely weekly wave (the longest Mexican wave ever??) and hoping you all have a good week.

August was

August was full of festival buzz.  I went to 23 shows – mostly theatre but also talks, drumming, acrobats, comedians, illusionist and singing.  My top three were Adam Hills the comedian; Japanese drummers; and a play about women prisoners on a boat bound for Australia.  I saw some fabulous acting and some plays that made me want to get out a red pen to send notes to the director.  I was in audiences of less than 10 and some of several hundred.  I saw plays with a message and plays about family and plays based on a book and plays that made no sense to me. Altogether another good fringe.

Weather wise the rainbow above says it all really – never sure when leaving the house if I would need my sunglasses or raincoat or both.  But only a few days which felt as summery as this photo looks

Even with all those shows I still read 5 books – all those bus journeys into town help.

4 are by authors I’ve read and enjoyed before:

-  I love Andrea levy’s descriptions of life in Jamaica and for Jamaicans living in London

- Christopher Brookmyre and Ken Macleod create thriller / crime stories that keep me guessing to the end and entertain with excellent characters and funny reflections on life – both are based in Edinburgh so tend to have lots of nice local references

- Home features on several ‘must read’ lists I’ve seen but I found it a bit slow

I was also busy with my crochet hook – having seen some patterns for making espadrilles I searched online for soles and found a shop selling felted soles for slippers so ordered some of them – lets be realistic, given our weather I’ll use them more that espadrilles.  The soles have holes for sewing

already punched which makes them very easy to use – I’d recommend Joes Toes if you fancy making some.

I also made some more baby guinea pigs to sell for my crafting for charity group

and I still managed some walks by the river – some fabulous light of water and reflections with the sun getting lower in the sky – my favourite photo of the month that I haven’t already shared

Pair of pyrotechnics

The last event of Edinburgh's festival summer is a big firework concert - a band plays in the park below the castle and there are accompanying fireworks over the castle.  The music is transmitted live on the local radio station.  As the castle is on top of a hill it is visible from many places around the city and lots of people congregate in them to enjoy the pyrotechnics spectacle - including us.

I do enjoy fireworks and always try for some photos - always a matter of take a lot and hope for a few good ones whilst remembering to enjoy the spectacle too.