Anne Arden MacDonald

+ I've just had a lovely stay at my Mum's cottage. We've been having delicious breakasts in her sunny garden, sunbathing by rivers, wandering in woods filled with romantic follies, searching for a secret garden, listening to folk music whilst glugging pints of ribena in the sunshine in the quaint village of Dent, having pints in pubs and eating the most delicious food - strawberries from the market, amazing homemade pastries with peach jam and goats cheese, grayling and sea trout caught by Mum and her boyfriend and lots of home baking. We even made elderflower cordial with flowers picked from the hedgerows! It is scrumptious. One day we went to see a baby Little Owl that Ray had found in one of his barns the day before. But something had beaten us to it and the poor little soul was lying dead when we got there.

+ “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” — Og Mandino


Tim Walker

+ I'm donating my brain to medical research and you should think about it too. They may find that mine is empty.

+ Other mini-adventures I've had recenty have included crashing a breakdancing party and attending a Highland Show. Exciting things coming up are a meal at the Witchery tomorrow to celebrate Jackie's PhD, a trip to Manchester to see the Jo, seeing Will Self at the book festival - and the Fringe guide is out so lots of fetivalling!

+ Larkin Grimm was a lovely recent discovery via Coilhouse.



+ I read Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities recently and it was just beautiful. Currently reading Borges's Labyrinths which is fricking amazing. Next on the list is A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by the Work of Joseph Cornell by Jonathan Safran Foer and A Country Doctor's Notebook by Bulgakov. Excited!

+ You can view the original manuscript for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland here. Lovely illustrations.


+ Dave has been selected to be an Anthony Gormley Sculpture on the Fourth Plinth at Trafalger Square so we're going to spend a couple of nights in London for my birthday. We've got tickets for Romeo and Juliet in The Globe theatre!

Dave and I spent a glorious week on the West coast of Scotland staying in a 21ft tipi. Each evening we sat on sheepskin rugs, cooking our meals on a crackling open fire drinking wine and reading till our heart's content.



We camped under towering beech trees on the side of a hill which had the most tremendous views of Loch Craignish to the sea.



Ardfern is a harbour village with hundreds of beautiful boats moored at the shores of Craignish.



The place seemed tobe a bit of a hippy haven where city folk had upped sticks and escaped to the wilderness to live in circus caravans and cobbled-together shacks.



I loved the ramshackle feel of the place, with beautiful abondoned cabs and caravans displaying the most wonderful layers of decay.









Strange sites too including this cross, apparently in full working order ready for a crucifixion - complete with foot rest and 6 inch nails. Very bizarre.



Many adventures were had on our holiday - castles, whirlpools, ancient standing stones and lamas! More on that soon.

I am soooo loving our hammock. Lying in it you feel weightless, it really is heaven. Best naps I've ever had.



So that's how Ive been spending my days, lying in the hammock reading...



...and eating lots of juicy cherries.



I've been desperate to be outside, really outside in the countryside surrounded by greenery,for so long and on saturday I got my chance. It really is good for the soul. I can feel myself getting scrunchy and crotchetty when I've been couped up indoors for too long.


So on Saturday I took myself off to the verdent glades of Colinton Dell.



What a joy to picnic beneath towering beech trees, listening to the river.



I'm really looking forward to some outdoor living on our holiday on Sunday. Tipis, bike rides, maybe some horse-riding, canooing, relxing in the hammock, camp fires, hot chocolate, BBQs! Huzzah.


Had a lovely day on Sunday too. Saw Madam Whalen and her mother run in the Edinburgh Marathon, sunbathed on Leith Links with Bex and Keith, delicious lunch in Bex's garden with puppies, and wine and babies, lovely cycle ride and a few cold ciders in the pub with Dave, David and Nora. Perfect except for the horrific burning on my face. Not clever.

Rodney Smith

Feeling a bit out of sorts lately and rather low, so going to focus on the good things I've been up to:
Lounging in our new hammock; baking a gooey chocolate cake and licking the bowl until I feel sick; hysterical laughing and getting far too drunk over dinner with a bunch of lovely friends; a tremendous performance of His Dark Materials; Edinburgh's best falafals; drooling over outfits and interiors of La Belle Epoque; wearing my new red boots; the first barbecue of the season with Dave's delicious homemade fayre.


Rodney Smith

And there are things to look forward to coming up - tipi camping, canooing, visit to Manchestoh, weekend in the Dales, tea party - what do I have to complain of.


Tim Walker

+ Strange sights there are near where I work. Polar Bears in Spring in Edinburgh. See how he stares wistfully out of the window yearning for his icy home. Very odd.

+ Last week was a week of much cooking and baking - cakes and soups and bread. And I've been munching on delicious food made by Dave too - Tuna Nicoise salad, japanese rice balls and fish pie. Mmmm. Had lovelies Jackie and Maureen over for lunch and fizz on Saturday, went to see a play about Quantum physics and the atom bomb, had a nice run with Alex along the Water of Leith and spent some time pottering around my lovely wee garden.



+ Watched the incredibly wonderful 'Life is Beautiful' again. so sad, so lovely.



+ I'm reading about the Stasi at the moment after watching The Lives of Others (fantastic film) and chatting to my colleague who was living in Poland when the Wall came down.

+ I'd love to get my hands on some of the treasures from the
Gloucestershire Shambles Museum Auction - the box of glass eyes is particularly appealing.

+ I met Ian Rankin at an event last night and he was nice.

+ My beautiul bootses arrived! Sooo happeeeeee. Are they not beautiful.


+ Check out some amazing pictures of space walks.

Summer is a-comin’ in,
Loudly sing cuckoo;
Groweth seed and bloweth mead
And springeth wood anew
Sing cuckoo.
Ewe now bleateth after lamb,
Low’th after calf the cow.
Bullock starteth, buck now verteth,
Merry sing cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo,
Well now sing thou cuckoo,
Nor cease thou never nu.

Celebrated the coming of summer at the Beltane Fire Festival high above the city on Carlton Hill.



The May Queen was fierce and beautiful.



Here she is with her partner the God Bel.



The Red Men







So Winter's hold was cast off with fire and drums and this weekend has seemed to confirm that Summer is here. It has been spent sitting in the sunshine in the Grassmarket with Maureen listening to jazz and eating delicious Tiramasu for breakfast, making chocolates, watching the Good Life and catching a Woody Allen double bill in the Cameo cinema.

Last night Dave and I went to see the incredible Polly Jean Harvey performing with John Parish. Fab show. Some observations: I love her. She has incredibly narrrow shoulders. She looks a little bit like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She has the most incredible vocal range. Her bassist wore red and white spats.



This weekend I made the most decadent chocolate cake - essentially just a giant chocolate truffle. It gave Dave and I cake coma.



I've been reading about the Russian Revolution. It's a subject I've been desperate to learn more about for a long time. It's quite interesting seeing how such a radical, idealistic political idea gets compromised almost immediately.

This is amazing.



I'd never heard of the Georgia Guidestones but it's an incredibly strange story. Even without the usual conspiracy theories, it's quite an intriguing landmark. Satanic? Apocolyptic? Eugenics? What do you think?

This week we're going to see The Specials - woohoo! - and then it's the Beltane Fire Festival up on Calton Hill on Thursday. That's all for now.

There be witches and devils round these parts.



We didn't see any witches or devils on our travels, but we did see a fairy - in the quaint little town of Kirkby Lonsdale.



We found a lovely little shop there selling exotic teas, wine and handmade chocolates.



As we ventured down the stairs we were to discover that the shop was sat upon a chocolate seam which was mined by faeries to supply the shop. Tis true - lookie...





See! I must say the chocolates were delicious and we also treated ourselves to Port & Elderflower and Sloe liquers. Magic indeed.

Bit delayed in posting about this, but I had a wonderful Easter break at my Mum's cottage in the Yorkshire Dales. We had glorious sunshine and it really felt like spring had sprung.



We had breakfasts outside looking out over the fields. I ate my first duck egg. Lovely Dave gave me a lovely spotty egg cup and egg cosy for Easter and my Mum made me the most delicious ammeretto chocolates and peppermint creams. Wee lambs were being born and gamboling about in the sunshine!



We met these very cute donkeys after a pint in a gorgeous beer garden by a river.



Earlier we'd been to the ever beautiful Newby Hall Gardens where spring really was busting out all over.



We had a particularly successful trip to a car boot fair early one morning where many bargains were had - I do love my silverware - these will look amazing when I've polished them up. I really am such an old lady.



One particulalry glorious day we set off for Janet's Foss where legend has it, the Queen of the Faeries, Janet or Jennet, rules her domain from a cave behind the waterfall.



Such greenery!





We left offerings for the faeries. Twas only polite.



I'll post some more later about our visit to a fairy chocolate mine. Yes indeed. I am a grown up - honest.

Pretty cool weekend. Went to see a band that a mate plays bass in - Gideon Conn. Gideon is truly a unique being. He was hilarious and weird and brilliant and the band were ace. They were filming a documentary about him on the night. Look out for him - I reckon he's going to be a huge cult figure. He sings songs about The Man Who Drives Around Selling Fish and a song about electrcity. We spent the rest of the evening chatting to Joe and his friends who were lovely and then called in at Natalie's party to find her dressed as Slash - ace!

On Sunday we went to see this little guy - ASIMO - a very cute robot who can run, climb stairs and recognise objects by sight. It's the future!

So lots has been happening - not had much time for the old livejournal.

+ New job - almost 2 weeks in now and it seems to be going well. I won them over with homemade cookies - how sickening am I. Huge task ahead of me but I'm particularly heartened that we can listen to music in the office and that my co-worker has cats and likes Eddie Izzard - woohoo! Met a lot of the kids at the schools on Monday and they were fab. And I got to meet photographer to the stars David Eustace which was pretty cool - he's directing a film for us. Ooh, ooh, ooh, AND can't say any more than this at the mo, but I may get to meet Stevie frickin Wonder later this year - unbelievable!!!

+ I've started running. Well, trockling at any rate. I've been out a couple of times - not for very long, but I'm actually quite enjoying it. I also was incredibly virtuous and went to the gym for a class at 7am yesterday! I'm just sick of exercise taking up so much of my evenings so I'm trying to make better use of my before work and lunchtimes. And I'm a beast and must get fitter.

+ The delectable Dylan Moran was a guest at a charity do for the Back Up Trust that I went to a couple of weeks ago. It was fab. I 'not-very-subtly' followed him about all night. Yum!

+ I absolutely have to have these boots. Really. They are beautiful.



+ Finished my Dark Fairy Tales course which was just fab - was particularly pleased to discover authors Tanith Lee and Robert Coover. I was hoping to take an Existentialsm course this term but the bleedin thing has been cancelled for the 3rd year running. So gutted - I've not done any philosophy courses for over a year now and my brain needs stretching. So I've signed up for a Saturday course at Glasgow on Sartre later this month. I've also signed up for another tap term - Intermediate this time - eek!

And that's all I've got to say about that.

My Mum come up to stay a week ago so we celebrated Mothers' day a week early. Such treats and excursions we had! Saturday we had brunch to the sounds of an incerdibly earnest singer and guitarist followed by an exploration of the charity shops on Leith walk. Bargains were had!



Then just to cram in as much food as was humanly possible to consume we went for a late lunch at the ultra-gothic restaurant - The Witchery which is just opulence on a plate. We made our way past this beautifully witchy twisted wreath to a beautiful space complete with towers and turrets.



The evening took us to a harp performance of Debussy and others, followed by folk music at Sandy Bells.

Sunday we took a drive to East Lothian through the pretty villages of East Linton and Tyninghame and then wound our way through twisted woods of an old country estate to the beautiful Tyninghame beach where we ate a delicious picnic of a salmon my Mum had caught (master fisherwoman she is).





My Mum as Little Red Riding Hood.




We came back to mine out of the cold where I gave her a proper tea complete with homemade victoria sponge and some German Rosewater Sugar biscuits which I made for her (my first atempt at biscuits which is quite pathetic at my age).



So a thanks to my lovely Mum who is the most positive, kind, energetic and thoughtful person I know.

After 6 years, Friday was my last day working for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. I'm sad to go. I had a walk round the Garden on Thursday to say goodbye and came across Captain Hook - that's the kind of random thing that happens here.



Working here has afforded me some amazing opportunities - I've had tea with the Queen, met the First Minister of Scotland, held a herbarium specimen collected by Darwin on the Beagle voyage, explored a ruined victorian fernery, I've opened some mail to find a cheque for a quarter of a million pounds inside, climbed to the top of a victorian palmhouse, seen incredibly rare orchids, had drinks with people who've been held up at gun-point in the jungle and have helped organise some amazing events in fantastic settings. I've also made some bloody good friends who I'll know for a very long time I hope.



Had a fab leaving do on Thursday night and got some amazing pressies - this gorgeous leather weekend bag that I've been coveting for forever and this beautiful wooden box in which I'm going to keep all me little mementos and cards and things.











Life is moving quickly at the moment - lots of changes and very busy. I like it like that. I've felt to static for a long while. It's good to be moving forward.

I'd love to see this one day.

I was brave and got my hair chopped. Bearing in mind that six months ago my hair was almost waist length (as it had been for over 20 years!), it is quite drastic for me.

+ Last night Dave and I went to see a lecture called Einstein's Universe which looked at particle physics but also the influence that music had on Einstein. The lecture was punctuated by a solo violinist and was followed by a beautiful concert where Jack Liebeck & Katya Apekisheva played Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov on violin and piano. Wonderful!

"I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music."

+ I was thrilled to learn the beautiful story of a woman becoming a Mermaid via the fabulous Coilhouse.


Richard Unwin

+ My reading this week has given me a host of new fabulous words (glumpish, spoffy, bullyrag, clapperdogeon and slubberdegullion!) from Angela Carter and the origins of phrases such as 'the bitter end', 'not a sausage' and 'nineteen to the dozen' thanks to some fab finds on a charity shopping afternoon with Jackie - Red Herrings and White Elephants and the much coveted Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

+ I baked a cake for Dave's birthday and we ate some last night and it was goooood.

+ I tried in vain to see the two tailed green goddess Lulin in the night sky. Darned city lights.


Richard Richins

+ This weekend we're having a party at our house and I'm having all my hair chopped off - woohoo!

We spent most of our days during our little soujourn in the Highlands exploring the forests of the area, on foot and on our bicycles.



The Muckle Burn which was swollen with the melting snow, carved a route out through the dense dark woods near our cottage.




One day, we discovered an old abandoned cottage deep in the forest. Perhaps a witch house?



Culbin Forest grows on sand dunes and as such ends right at the shore's edge and conceals frozen lakes within its midst. They race sled dogs there.





We explored ancient beech woods in search of the elusive Darnaway castle. But it remained concealed somewhere in the woods.



We did find a couple of fairytale castles though. These are Brodie and Cawdor (as in Macbeth).



I was lying in forest reading one afternoon and two fawns came springing past me. I lay unnoticed and watched them graze. I also saw boxing hares. It was magical.

Valentines was spent in a little cottage on the edge of a dark forest.


After a hectic few weeks I was delighted to find myself in a land of snow and pines with a wood burning stove and quiet.



Our cottage was just lovely and our kind landlords even left us valentines treats and bedecked the woodshed with a pretty wreath.





This is an acient land of snowcapped mountains...





...stone circles...



...and thick forests where wolves once reigned...



When the nights drew in, we would retreat to the comfort of our little cottage to drink chocolate in front of the fire and prepare magnificent feasts for only us two to enjoy.





One evening, Dave prepared a delicious barbecue which we ate outside by candlelight, drinking mulled wine and listening to the hooting of the owls. We had sparklers too and wrote our names on the darkness in fire.



We ventured into the blackness of the forest one night, our torches searching for wolves, ghosts and witches but I think our prescence must have scared them away.

All in all, it was a wonderful adventure. Forests and castles and more wolves to follow...

Miina Savolaine

The snow-flakes grew bigger and bigger, till at last they looked like large white hens; suddenly they parted, the big sledge pulled up, and the person who was driving it rose. The fur and the cap were all of snow: it was a lady, tall and slender, shining white - the Snow Queen.


Eugenio Recuenco

He gazed up at the immense spaces of the air, and she flew on with him, flew high among the dark clouds, and the storm wind whistled and roared as if singing old ballads. Over forest and lake, over sea and land: below them the cold blast whistled, the wolves howled, the snow sparkled; above them flew the black cawing crows, but over all shone the moon, large and bright; and by its light Kay watched through the long long winter night; by day he slumbered at the feet of the Snow Queen.



The walls of the palace were of drifted snow, and the windows and doors of cutting wind. More than a hundred halls there were, just as the snow had drifted. The largest was many miles long; all were lit up with the bright Northern Lights, and they were vast, empty, ice-cold and shining.


Tom Corser from here.

Little Kay was quite blue with cold, nay almost black, but he didn't notice it, for the Snow Queen had kissed the shivers out of him, and his heart was practically a lump of ice. He went about dragging a number of sharp-edged flat pieces of ice which he was arranging in every possible pattern and trying to make something out of them...To his thinking, these patterns were most remarkable and of the very greatest importance: this was the effect of the grain of glass that was stuck in his eye. He put together patterns to form a written word; but he never could succeed in putting out the exact word he wanted, which was the word "Eternity".


David Boyer from here

Excerpts from The Snow Queen, by Hans Andersen

Is this not adorable??? From here via here.

Dave and I are escaping to a little cottage up north for valentine's day, armed with rugs, jumpers, hot chocolate, mulled wine and many provisions. Excited!