So that was Christmas . . .

We do love getting Christmas cards, even if it is a bit old hat. Oh deary me, Alice just checked up on that common phrase, and it turns out it used to be rather rude in the 18th century, as described in Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. In fact Blogger had a bit of trouble loading it to be checked. You can see it here, however.

Anyway, this was our favourite card, from a very dear friend we've known for simply ages. It arrived among the last batch the postie delivered. Don't they work hard at this time of year!

We liked it so much Alice put it in pride of place on her mantlepiece. Do click to see it in its full glory - and us too. This is slightly a bigger image than we sometimes include, so make the most of it.

On Christmas Eve we had our "lunch" rather late (around 4:00 pm) and watched Scrooge: a 1951 version of Charles Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol. There have been many film versions. The old "Bah! Humbug!" miser, Ebeneezer, is visited by the three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, who show him the error of his ways. Some of it is pretty silly, but some is actually rather scarey!

This image is really a cheat, since the TV screen doesn't photograph well, and we kept getting the flash reflection in it. So Alice found an online still from the film, and made it the right size to fit over the original. These are the sort of tasks she just loves doing!!

The second picture is an illustration depicting Marley's ghost appearing to Scrooge, from the original publication of Dickens' A Christmas Carol  in 1843.

A whole chicken is too much (and too much fuss) for just ourselves, but the breasts stuffed with orange and onion are Alice's own tasty invention.

The stuffing rolls wrapped in bacon are a real treat as well. Alice's father used to make them when she was a little girl, and they do taste most yummy indeed.

And most of it got eaten (very late) on Christmas Eve too!

So Xmas Day itself was given over to relaxing, watching TV or good old Game of Thrones box sets, while nibbling the leftovers, enjoying a tipple and a selection of delicious chocolates.

Here's hoping you enjoyed the holiday in your own way, too.

Christmas is coming (soon)

This version of Christmas is Coming (which Alice tidied up a bit from the original) is based on the same Stark sigil from good old HBO's magnificent Game of Thrones. See that one below.

We're quite sad that Season VII is now finished.

[Warning: there are rather a lot of references to Game of Thrones in this pre-Christmas post. If it's not your sort of thing, you can always skip the links.]


It will take ages before Season VIII appears, as they've had to do the filming later than usual, so it doesn't look like summer, when another Long Winter has just started.

Meanwhile we've been watching the whole thing all over again from the very beginning. So far we've just finished Season Two. Well, that's me and Alice: Ba finds the fights upsetting and the White Walkers far too scarey, so she has a snooze instead.

We've already had our first Xmas pressies.

No, we didn't cheat and open them early! They weren't wrappped up, just innocently lying in the jolly red bag.

Our good friend down the road - who's very into the Game of Thrones dragons - coloured this picture for us. She loves colouring, and finds it a most soothing occupation.

The pen (if you click to look at the full size image) says "Winter is Coming" together with the Stark house direwolf sigil. Aren't they magnificent beasts? In G-o-T they are real Northern Inuits breed.

Yes, it's now officially Christmas Tree time! We went babysitting (child-sitting really) to the grandchildren's and admired their huge tree and vast collection of presents. Ba! look up!

They had lots and lots of presents - some to give to friends and relatives, and some waiting to be opened by themselves on Christmas Day. Maybe there were some for us, too - but we didn't cheat and hunt for them.

I coudn't resist joining in with the decorations. Ba just thought it looked a rather long way down. You can see my super Xmas jumper properly too - it was a present last year from our Game of Thrones fan friend down the road. This year Alice gave her three different dragon bookmarks she made herself, and a surprise book. Not this one: she's ordered it for herself!

Here's our trees (plural) at home.

Please note the careful colour design of the decorations. The bigger one is Alice's, and the small one is the responsibility of Ba and myself.

If you click (oh, go on) to see properly, you can admire our outfits and the little manger scene, which is Ba's favourite decoration.

We like to have the day itself with just the three of us, so we can laze about and eat whenever we like.

The presents are all to take to Glasgow after Christmas proper - but it will still be the Festive Season, when we'll get ours from them, too.

Plus there's a special card from a friend. There's a much better view of the fold-out card and the manger scene in this carefully posed version.

Hoping you all enjoy the lead up to the Festivities in your own way, whatever that is.

Getting into the Festive spirit . . . 

We're already feeling Festive, what with decorations in the streets, advertisements on TV, and glittering gifts in the shops. So we persuaded Alice to have a mini photo-shoot, and create a pre-Christmas card for you all to enjoy.

Even if you mutter Bah! Humbug! and how it's all much too early, we hope it takes your mind off some of the more depressing stuff in The News nowadays.

This is a good time of year for the cinema too.

I'm looking forward to seeing The Last Jedi with Alice, who is certainly keen enough. She enjoys well made SciFi movies, as well as the artsy makes-you-think ones (such as Wind River.) And anything Andy Serkis does is usually worth a watch. He's to play the villainous-looking Snoke. 

[Click on these to see them larger.]

Ba wants to see Paddington 2, as it won't be so scarey. Alice is sorry to disappoint, but she'll have to wait for it to come on TV, as it's not really her cup of tea (or mine) and we won't be paying to see it this side of New Year.

A Diversion

Alice has been a little unwell recently, and suffering from stress for a variety of reasons. Not that have been any sabre-toothed tigers in our vicinity of late. [See the previous link.]

So we haven't done anything very interesting for ages. Sigh.

After we pleaded for a diversion - almost anything for a change - she took us along with her to visit a very old friend, not an ancient man, just someone she'd known for many years, going back in time. Long ago he had defected to live "Down South", but has recently returned to Bonnie Scotland. He was complaining of the cold, but I think he should just wait for the long and balmy summer nights!

Those of you who know Alice and are familiar with some of her friends may be a little confused. In fact she has two "old friends" in this situation - but the other one hasn't completed a return just yet.

This friend has an absolutely wonderful cabinet in his sitting room.

Ba says it's just a glorified book-case, and she knows The Cabinet is something else altogether. And I didn't think she ever paid much attention to the political scene. . .

Alice insists that as the shelves are so tall, it is intended to hold objects of special interest, like the Victorian collectors used to do. She just spent half an hour Googling photos to prove her point, but most of the examples had glass fronts. And I thought I was the pedantic one!

So we had to check with a dictionary, and it turns out both are correct.

Of special interest there was a-plenty, too.

I felt drawn to make the acquaintance of this very serious-looking Angelfish (Pterophyllum to the experts) on the top shelf. Apparently the nomenclature, when roughly translated from the Greek language, means 'winged leaf'.

He told me that his personal name was Cedric, and that those of his kind were not at all "angelic" but carniverous creatures, and fierce fighters.

He had many adventures to relate, so we cosied up, and I told him most of my life history, as well.

The two of us got on like a house on fire.

Ba, on the other hand, was curious about these three striped or spotted creatures. Their owner told us they were two giraffes and a zebra. But there were no long necks! I think they must be some kind of antelope, impala, or gazelle. Alice concurred.

They were very shy indeed, and Ba couldn't get them to communicate with her. All four were quite contented, however, to simply sit and watch the two humans chatting away.

We all enjoyed our visit a great deal. I hope this was an interesting diversion for you lot out there, too. And don't forget to click on the images to see them at a larger size.

P.S. Pressed Begonia

This really is the very last post about our beloved Begonia. Alice says, For this relief, much thanks. [D'you know that quote?]  She almost added, Tis bitter cold, but resisted.

What are we going to find between the pages of these weighty tomes?  Something we put there seven weeks ago, you might remember . . . Ba is almost overwhelmed by her mounting anxiety.

It's the pressed Begonia flowers.

She's rather disappointed that they've become so pale, after being such a lovely yellow when they were fresh.

[And yes, that is the Bard's face on the cover of the big red volume. Have you seen the hilarious, yet very clever Upstart Crow, by the way? Alice adores it. Of course.]


On a closer look Ba admits that all the same, they are still very pretty indeed.

Then ensued lots of careful work by our long-suffering helper, who has nimble fingers, but still found the delicate petals wouldn't stay put, and tended to float off as though with a mind of their own.

This is the second attempt to create a pleasing collage. Although Alice admits it's not ideal, and doesn't satisfy her usual perfectionism, it's the best we could manage and will just have to do.

Ba was quite nervous about entrusting it to the laminating machine. But it came out rather well, all things considered.

[Click the photos, do, for larger images.]

I suggested maybe we should try again with a fresh bloom, and go straight to lamination, without the pressing?

Alice just grunted.

Catching up - at last!
[UPDATED OCT 11 2017]

Part 1: The Queensferry Crossing

Here we are (were) on the No. 35, making our way to our "Hub" near the Gyle shopping centre, where the official buses would be waiting to take us to the start of the new bridge.  [This was taken through the window of the bus, and is a merging of two photos!]

Click on the images please, to see them bigger.

The start was very crowded, but the atmosphere was cheerful. An open door into a loo was rather unsightly, so Alice closed it digitally. Hee, hee. [Photo by The Telegraph.]

Near the beginning of the walk. Even this little post had been designed with the fan motif of the huge towers and cables. The whole structure was fabulously beautiful. And it was lovely weather for everyone too.

Further along, some panels had been removed from the wind-shields, so we could have a good view of the Forth estuary.

For information on the building of the bridge, see Queensferry Crossing ARC.

This is Alice's prize photo, with both the Rail Bridge and the Road Bridge framed by the crossing cables, plus a few decorative clouds.

This collage shows views of the towers and cables as we approached the central one (it's 210 metres, the tallest of the three towers) and then looked back. Stunning!

Here's a screenshot from a fascinating animated video by the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation (yes, that is what the organisation is called!) which gives you a jolly good understanding of how they set about building this amazing construction. Do check this one out - it's fun as well as informative.

 
Our bus was waiting for us at the end. We realise now it was to become one of the new 300 airport buses, which have replaced the rumbling old 35s.

Driving back over the Road Bridge, we had a good view of the old rail bridge as we neared South Queensferry.

To finish this part of our catch-up, here's a lovely distant view of the gorgeous edifice, seen on the way back home on the (now defunct) No. 35 - taken through the window of the bus again.

Part 2: "Doing Art" again

We went along to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery recently, to catch their exhibition of historical photos by the pioneers, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson .

They set up their studio in Edinburgh in 1843, not long after photography was invented. They used a process which involved treating paper with special chemicals to make what we would call a "negative" from which prints could be created on another type of treated paper. The first required large cameras, patient subjects and exposure to natural sunlight. Sun was needed for the prints also.

We particularly liked this image, both the negative and the print, of Lady Mary Hamilton (Campbell) Ruthven.

It's interesting that the photographers chose to take her back view, to show off her beautiful cape and over-skirt. See this interesting article about the Calotype process, and another about the different types of photographic process.

The top image here is a photo of Miss Elizabeth Logan, who was the daughter of the Sheriff of Forfarshire. I imagine the doll, and the pretence (was it?) of sleep was a way to keep her still for the exposure required. Notice the leaves in the top left corner indicating the outdoors setting.

The lower photo is called The Gowan, meaning a wild white or yellow flower, such as a daisy. See the Burns reference in the Scotsman.

The two girls were the sisters Margaret and Mary McCandlish. I bet it was hard for the one girl to resist really tickling the other, as movement would have spoiled the long (many seconds) exposure time.

These charming studies of young girls reminded Alice (of course) of those by Charles Dodgeson (Lewis Carroll), who took many photos of children, not just of Alice Liddell and her sisters.

See this article from the Smithsonian musem, which says, Of the approximately 3,000 photo­graphs Dodgson made in his life, just over half are of children. The one on the right here is one of Alice posing as The Beggar Maid: one of our Alice's favourites.
[She says you must click please, and see it bigger.]

The front entrance to the Scottish National Gallery is right on the main part of Princes Street. They often put up huge banner ads here for their exhibitions. This one was due to finish the day we eventually decided to go.

Ba, who doesn't "Do Art", only consented to be included in this photo, because there was some Nature about with the plants in the planter on the street. They used this painting of A Man Singing by Candlelight by Adam De Coster [ not by Caravaggio himself ] as the "Beyond" referred to other artists who followed him in style. The lighting effect is pretty dramatic, isn't it?

As soon as you say "Caravaggio" to Alice, she thinks of the marvellous 1986 film of that name, by the talented Derek Jarman. It had a young Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton in it, plus lots of inventive anachronisms, like a stylus with tablet; a motor bike, and a typewriter.

Get back to the point! There were oodles of dramatic paintings in the exhibition.

We rather liked this one, of Christ in the Carpenter's Shop by Trophime Bigot, with the light source hidden between the two figures.

This one is a real Caravaggio painting. It's of a Boy Bitten by a Lizard. [ Don't forget you can click on any of these to see them larger. ]

According to Wikipedia, there are two versions of it, both genuine.

One critic has proposed it's a disguised self-portrait, as the subject's hands – one stretched out, the other raised up – are in a similar position to those of a painter holding a palette while painting. Well, there you go now!

We just loved this one. Click to look closer and you'll see why!

It was painted by one Orazio Borgianni (1574 - 1616).

Titled St Christopher Carrying the Infant Christ, it features an extremely tiny Christ Child on the saint's shoulder. Maybe his size is supposed to be symbolic? You could read about the legend.

For more on the picture and the story behind it, see the gallery's website here.

Part 3: our beloved Begonia again - really the very last time . . .

Wasn't it doing well! The pot in which its roots must be all curled about, isn't actually very big at all when compared with the stalks and leaves and flowers. A week later, the flowers on what we had called the "baby" shoot have grown and blossomed even more still. Click, click!

Ba can't see them so well here (on the right) but agreed to pose so that you can see the lovely flowers really clearly. Aaah.

Part 4: an exciting cinematic event - can you guess?

Yes, we went to see the terrific Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villeneuve, who made the fiendish Sicario and the amazing Arrival. It's the long awaited sequel (35 years for some of you lot) to the 1982 Blade Runner, or the superior 2007 Final Cut version.

Avoiding any spoilers (because there is a big secret) we can report it is definitely a most worthy successor to Ridley Scott's original. It's very philosophical, too, asking the Big Questions about what it means to be human. Right up Alice's street, in fact. What street?!

Visually it's stunningly beautiful, even when depicting the horrors of the future. It has been meticulously shot and edited, so renowned cinematogrpher Roger Deakins must surely get an Oscar at long last.

How did I get to be  in this poster? Go here and you can make one for yourself, using any name or photo. But you need someone to add the bit about the "cameo". Thank you Alice!

Well, we have finally caught up at long last. I hope you're glad you stayed with us.

Preview: the Bridge, a Bit of Art, and our Begonia (yet more still)

Yes, there are some photos of our wonderful walk across the sparkling, new Queensferry Crossing. Be patient.
[Pease click on the photos.]


And we did see, rather in a hurry I'm afraid, some Art well worth seeing.


Some of which was old master paintings, and some of which was fascinating historic photographs.

Plus a surprise bonus: you've not seen the end of our flowers yet!

The so-called "baby" Begonia produced even more blossoms still.
[You just must click on this one.]

 Alice has been horribly busy (her usual excuse) but we'll get her up to scratch next week - or else we'll go on strike.

Awesome alliteration, ain't it! How many did I manage to get Alice to type in?