[*Scroll down or click here for the update about Ba's meeting with a distant relative.*]
Deary me, we haven't written anything on here for just ages. Not that we've been idle, by any means, just extremely busy with other really interesting stuff. Hee, hee - just you see!
But Ba, our nature-loving partner, insists we start with the arrival of Spring. It is still extremely chilly here, but the iris bulbs have come up and flowered nicely in our window-box.We've had this year's Equinox, which astronomical phenomenom we've written about and explained before - as well as pursuing various fascinating related interests, of course.
See our first post on it, Equinox, was it? in 2013, and another: Equinox, Eclipse and all that stuff in March 2015. We didn't address the subject in 2014 as poor Alice was "underground", which is thankfully no longer the case.
Ba had a great time exploring the local park, a bit later on, where the crocus were bright in the sunshine.She even got into climbing the birch trees! What a beautiful blue sky there was that day.
Don't forget you can click on the images to see them larger. Alice took zillions of photos as ever, but we'll have to be more selective here, or we'll never get round to our recent activities.
We have been making a movie!! Yes!
It all started because Alice has this bad habit of reading in bed when she really should be getting some sleep, so she wakes up later to find herself looking something like this most unflattering (and rather poor quality) photo here. . .The very first selfie she took on a whim one night. And then we deliberately set up a few more. The original idea was to turn them into a sort of cartoon comic strip. But recently she's been putting together some old bits of video with a previously un-installed editing program that had been lying in its box gathering dust (no, really) since the unfortunate 2014 Underground period.
[ Now Alice is complaining about all the brackets I keep getting her to type. But I say it helps you (our readers) get a proper sense of what I want to convey. She's sniffing. Loudly. ]
Anyway. So I said, Let's make a proper film with us all in it!!
As Director, I had a fine sense of where the project should go, and got Alice to produce a draft story-board. It has involved an awful lot of hard work for all three of us in the filming (and re-filming) and many, many late hours at the computer editing our stills, choosing the takes, re-arranging sequences and discussing every single little detail. 
[ She's just as bad with my blog posts here: continually revising the layout in Preview, checking the grammar, not repeating phrases too often and suchlike. No wonder it doesn't get done very swiftly. But I depend on her for the typing, with my lack of human fingers. Sigh. ]
Ba thoroughly enjoyed the vital role of clapper-board operator. She wasn't quite so good on continuity, although I hasten to add that some of the weirdnesses you may wonder about are actually quite deliberate. You'll have to wait for the Extras video, still in pre-production, (*update* progressing very well) where we explain our influences and filmosophy.Alice's friend Joy, who's really into film, became our Distributor (check out the "pages" at this link) and kindly posted our creation on her own YouTube channel for you to enjoy. In fact, there are now two different versions, the later one with a voice-over. Try them both and see which you prefer. Alice had to do all the voices, as I can't speak aloud, only psychically with her. Which mostly works - near enough.
And do click on this image, we had a great deal of fun thinking up all the details for our own special brand of classification.There's lots more to add to this post, about our other recent activities (and the answer to the "bellows" mystery) but we're going to publish this much right away, and update it later on.
So now you won't have to wait to see the Monkey Movies very first production!
* Here is the update on Ba's recent meeting with a distant relative. *
Just opposite the bus stop we often use is this old fire station, a listed building. It's now a branch of the Scotmid Co-operative Funeral business.This is their Angle Park branch.
[Click on any (or all) of these images to see them somewhat larger! Yes, I know some of you are well aware of this, but we do get newcomers to our blog as well.]
From accross the road we could just make out something bizarre in the window. Can you spot it? [CLICK! and look.]He or she is obviously a relative of Ba's, but still rather obscured by the window frames and the reflection of the street.
So Alice just went inside and asked if we could take a picture! The staff were very helpful and friendly, and delighted to meet their sheep's smaller relative. Thereupon followed the photoshoot depicted below.
It turns out he comes from New Zealand, where an awful lot of the family can still be found.Ba managed to work out he must be her Great Uncle!
Both parties were excited to make each-other's aquaintance, and promised to keep in touch.
We conclude with this portrait of Ba's Great Uncle on his own. He looks very regal, and appropriately solemn, don't you think?His important job is to sit and meditate on this bio-degradable woollen coffin, and encourage people to plan more ecological funerals. We heartily approve.
