Art in Metal

When CJ, Jo and I went to Carr Farm recently I went into one of the shops there and saw some quite amazing pieces of art in metal.  I could quite happily have bought a few of them but one immediately took my fancy.  Fortunately it was before I saw the one with the green fish or the huge one of sailing boats.

When I got it home I realised that the place which I had allocated to it in my mind was completely unsuitable and I then had the problem of finding it a home.  Given the number of pictures that I have stowed away because of a lack of wall space it seemed inconceivable that I would buy a new piece and have nowhere to put it.  The onlt suitable place seemed to be on a door!  A door?  How can you hang an artwork on a door?  Well I did.  And I'm really pleased with the result.

 

Perth (The One in Scotland)

On my way from Glasgow to Lewis on Thursday I stopped in Perth for a coffee.  A day in Perth would not be enough to photograph all the goodies there are to show but these happened to be right at the car park where I parked:

 

 

 

 

Requiescat in Pace

Well today has not so far been one of my more productive nor luckier days.  I was going to say disaster had struck and then I realised how appallingly insensitive that would have been.  Watching the horrors of the aftermath of the tsunami in the Pacific Islands and the earthquake in Sumatra anything that has happened here is as nothing in comparison.  Even the gales that are forecast for tonight and which we have been warned are likely to cause damage are unlikely to be more than a nuisance.  However in the scale of things in my life what I did today was at the irritating end of the scale.  I dropped my Olympus whilst trying to attach the monopod.  In actual fact the screw mounting on the camera failed.  The result is a dead Olympus.  Fortunately I am not camera-less but I am without my principal one.  We had become very attached and in the last couple of years have clocked up some 20,000 images together.  It'll be sad to be parted.

 

So now I have to decide on a replacement.  It's going to be a hard act to follow.

I Go Away For Ten Days And.....

When I get back:

All the birds have gone.  Pat's been feeding them in my absence but there was food left in the feeders this morning and there has been a solitary sparrow - a young male I think - visiting on and off and one solitary outcast rock pigeon.  It (for I know not whether it's a he or a she) has been moping around the base of the feeders all day and didn't even bother to fly off when I went outside the Study door.  Neither did the sparrow but that's not so unusual.  The pigeon is a different colour to all the others and often mopes around here on his own.  Given that he sleeps on the ground with his head tucked under his wing I'm surprised he's lasted as long as he has without a cat getting him.  I've just photographed him and realised that he is probably a racing pigeon and is either lost or has absconded.  He has two rings on his left leg.  That would also explain why he is not afraid of me when all the other pigeons fly off if I as much as raise my coffee to my mouth.

I have four, yes four, loads for the washing machine.  This means that I have enough ironing to last the qualifying and the race of the Japanese Grand Prix:

The weather has turned to winter.  It's cold and wet and windy.  In fact down in the Bay some men who went out in a boat this afternoon had considerable difficulty getting it back on to the bogey to get it out of the water.