Tag: Edinburgh
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sprung
Surely one of the most satisfying things about any kind of journal keeping is the Gilbert White-like sense it can convey of seasonal continuity or change. At dusk yesterday, Jesus’s plum tree burst into bloom. I note that last year, after a particularly long and evil Winter, it had just started to flower on April…
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another first
Only one ‘bad’ day last week, and as I was feeling OK this morning, I decided to try to expand my peripatetic horizons once again. I don’t think I could ever tire of walking on this path. On a bright Spring day, its shadows are very inviting. I saw a tiny wren dart past me…
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stravaiging
One of the worst things about having a body with limited mobility and energy reserves is how it restricts one’s capacity to be impulsive. It is not that I suddenly want to start climbing trees, or hanging upside-down off doors (my party-piece of old), but I have sorely missed being able to take off, on…
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of dogs . . . and sheep
It has been an interesting week. On the downside, there have been a couple of days of evil, all-consuming fatigue to contend with. This meant that I was unable to go across to Glasgow, and hence unable to meet up with some folk I’ve been looking forward to seeing for ages, to chat about lace.…
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Caller Herrin’
When I began thinking about this design, I was reading about the intertwined histories of fishing and knitting, and Tom and I were coincidentally (and very happily) going through a kipper-eating phase (Fortune’s are my favourite). I wanted to make a hat that was an homage to the herring – the humble-yet-once-highly-lucrative fish whose annual…
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at home
It’s still snowing here. Snow is one of those things about which Jesus definitely is Not Sure. Just check out his plum tree. . . The wee man is spending the day inside, but me and Bruce have been out with the camera. I love the transformative effects of snow, even on the greyest winter…
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Holyrood Park
It is not easy to venture far afield in this weather, so we we had another local walk today. It was time for me to try out my new Winter boots (bought with the proceeds of the shoe sale several weeks ago). . . . . . and for Bruce to test his stick-in-the-snow retrieval…
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acquisitive
To my mind, historians have to be acquisitive – history is basically curiosity – a getting-hold-of the answers to the questions one has about the past. In my case, these acquisitive tendencies can take a very literal form — I get my teeth into an idea, and if that idea can be relatively cheaply fleshed…
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snapshots
Like the rest of our locale, we’ve been out playing in the distinctly unseasonal snow. (Do meteorologists attribute this particular cold snap to the volcano? And what I want to know is: where’s the revolution?). So far, I’ve not done too badly in the white stuff: I have some super new micro-crampons, which I am…
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leafy
More graffiti, of a kind. If you are often out walking around the North side of Edinburgh as I am, then you may well have spotted the mysterious leaf-folk who have recently appeared near Belford bridge. One turned up a few weeks ago, and there are now five human figures plus a leafy dog. Their…
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do you admire this costume?
I am becoming obsessed with the elaborately starched and stripey ‘costume’ of the Newhaven fishwives – and what it says about the ways in which the hard lives of working women might be reinvented as romance. These mass-produced ornaments were extremely popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They come in several varieties, and…
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Turnhouse Hill
I surprised myself today by deciding to go for a walk in the Pentlands. I’ve been a little hesitant about this walk, as the Pentlands are one of those places that are full of memories for myself and Tom. I didn’t want to go before I was ready, and have to turn back half way…
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fishy
Not a bad week, all in all. I lost part of Thursday and all day Friday to the dreaded fatigue, but apart from that I feel as if I am finally starting to do things which almost amount to a form of productive labour. This is important. I’ve been working on my patterns, walking around…
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Hunter’s bog
The weather has been glorious all weekend – the trees in Edinburgh seem at the height of their Autumn hues – and we’ve spent a lot of time outside enjoying some local colour. We completed a pleasant circuit of Holyrood Park today, taking a detour to visit Hunter’s Bog. For the running club to which…