it's been a while
Well hello, it has been a while.
I've been quite busy with life and have neglected this blog (and yours!) a little. Where to start?
We went to Edinburgh for the kids' Swiss passports. This only took 30 minutes but we stayed in the capital city for the day, enjoying a nice lunch and revisiting the Camera Obscura. This has to be a favourite with my children. The actual Camera Obscura is probably not their favourite part but I loved it. The weather was clear and the air clean and the image projected of the surrounding neighbourhood was just astonishingly clear. If you have an opportunity to explore a local Camera Obscura, you should. Fascinating how it works so marvellously. Victorian? I am not sure. The children preferred the optical illusions that are an integral part of this interactive museum. Their favourite was the vortex. This is hilarious, it is essentially a short walkway through a room in which lights are spinning around you. It is probably the most disorienting experience I ever had. I held on tightly to the railing to stay upright but didn't manage. We all feel I think and I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Felt a bit sick to be honest but by then, my lunch had completed its passage through the stomach and I was able to hold onto it.
I am helping Sam looking for a flat in Glasgow. He is moving back at the end of this month. It is not easy, there is not much on the market in his price bracket. Some letting agents require a guarantor and a completed application form before even agreeing a viewing. Sam says it is like applying for a post with MI6 ... but we persevere. He might have to move in with us and put his own furniture into storage for a short while but it is what it is.
I am also looking for my creativity. It has been missing for a few weeks and I rather miss it. Please do send it my way if you come across it. I promise to look after it well when it returns.
I celebrated my birthday on the 5th. It was just a normal Thursday but I did manage to get away from work after lunch, first for viewing of a flat (cancelled before I got there), then a coffee and chat with a lovely, lovely friend. I have asked a few other friends over to celebrate on Sunday afternoon. Cheese and wine and a cake made by Annie.
The garden is exploding with colours and is bursting with life. It is a fabulous time of year for colour, everything is fresh and vibrant and wonderful. I am planning a wander through the garden with my camera, just as soon as our white lilac is blossoming. A day or two at most.
I am off for a walk now, before my friends arrive. I'll be listening to a podcast about a Burmese python dissection. No snakes were harmed in the process, it died of natural causes. There is so much to learn about the world. I listened to a similar podcast about a sunfish dissection. This animal had washed up on a beach. Interesting creatures, sunfish. Flat and upright with a pouty mouth comes to mind when trying to describe them.
Thanks for visiting xx
P.S. Is anyone using Bloglovin' to follow and read blogs? It does seem to work intermittently only these days. I rather like this tool but I may need to find an alternative way to find updates on my favourite blogs. I also use the Blogger Feed but this is only for other Blogger blogs.
Happy belated bithday! Enjoy the celebration with your friends!!🥳
ReplyDeleteIt’s nice that your grande is exploding. We have our first low spring flowers.
ReplyDeleteGarden. Spellcheck.
ReplyDeleteLove Edinburgh and glad you had a great time. Beautiful weather too :) Fingers crossed Sam gets a flat soon. Everything is made so hard for young people these days. Looking forward to seeing your garden especially the white lilac. Happy belated birthday, enjoy your afternoon and cake. B x ps I use blogger feed and I can input other blogs not blogspot as well.
ReplyDeleteHello, I ' d like to thank you dor wonderful and unusual photos, greetings from anna
ReplyDeleteGreat photos, all the best with Sam's flat. It's far too hard for young people to get affordable accommodation. I tried another site called Feedly I think, but it's far too complicated. I'm probably going to delete it. Tbh, I just use the 'blogs I follow' section on my page... the one anyone can see. I follow less than 30 people, some don't blog at the moment. It date sorts them, usually I only have 6 on show at once. For some reason, a few at the bottom aren't in any date order, I've tried re-adding them. I check them once a week to see if any new posts popped up. Generally I try and read 3 blogs most days. Have a good week, Cx
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos! A Belated Happy Birthday to you and I hope your had a lovely birthday tea today. The flat hunting sounds hellish, why does it have to be so darn complicated? I do hope Sam finds something soon. Creativity does go on walkabout every now and then doesn't it, I do hope it returns to you soon.
ReplyDeleteI got fed up with Bloglovin so I ditched it. I found that whenever I had the time to sit and read blogs it wouldn't let me access it, as that time is so rare I moved over to Feedly. It is a different way of doing things and takes some getting used to but it is totally reliable. I love that I can also use it to save other reading things too. I use it to follow news sites and a few other websites blogs that are for organisations rather than individuals, I find it handy to have that all in one place.
Yes, I've had problems with Bloglovin. I am trying to remember all the blogs I follow and move to Feedly, just in case it is a permanent thing. Wishing you a belated happy birthday, I hope you had a good afternoon with friends. Flat hunting sounds like a nightmare, I hope he finds something he likes. Creativity does tend to come and go I find. Maybe the outdoors is calling to you now that spring is here. I know I am definitely more knitty in autumn. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteSounds like you all had a great day in the city and the pictures are fab. There's nothing like a good laugh, is there? I've recently dumped Bloglovin and moved over to Feedly. So far, so good. Belated birthday wishes and good luck with the hunt for a new base for Sam.
ReplyDeleteVery happy belated 🎂 Birthday wishes to you Christina. The get together with friends and a cake made by Annie seem a perfect way to celebrate entry to another year. Enjoyed the photos from the Glasgow excursion, but Camera Obscura will never be on my list of places too see. I would be too disoriented from the lights and that vortex is definitely not for me. Yes, it is difficult to try and find housing in many places now, which seems unusual in that help wanted signs are everywhere, so I wonder how people can manage to pay rent/mortgage? Hope the market will improve in time. I have found a few new regional podcasts and also continue to listen to favorites like 99% Invisible, Cabinet of Curiosities, and Sidedoor. Unfortunately, some favorite ones will not have a new episode for a couple of months, but I keep them in my library. There are so many available and I am always checking for an interesting one, but the dissection of a sunfish or python will not make any lists for myself. I do not use anything other then listing blogs on my sidebar to "follow" other ones. I try to read each one at least on a weekly basis.
ReplyDeleteLike several others, I have switched to Feedly because of repeated problems with Bloglovin'. I prefer Bloglovin's format, but prefer more to be able to read my blogs easily.
ReplyDeleteBelated Birthday wishes, hopefully you had a wonderful gathering with friends and always a bonus when there is cake. I don't envy Sam looking for accommodation, the price hikes are getting beyond a joke.
ReplyDeleteBelated Happy Birthday wishes Christina . I hope you enjoyed your special day especially with your friend. Cheese, wine, cake and good company, what more could a woman ask for?
ReplyDeleteGood luck in finding a flat for Sam. It really is so hard for young people to get started on a first home. I am very happy that my daughter is back home for now while she tries to save for a deposit herself. Hope your creative mojo returns soon x
Happy birthday, good luck with the flat hunting. It is so very hard for young people nowadays, impossible to buy and it seems equally impossible to rent.
ReplyDeleteHappy late birthday to you, I love your images, we visited a few times when the boys were younger. It is so hard for the young people to move out these days, prices are ridiculous. My oldest son is renting with his girlfriend and paying an awful lot for a flat.
ReplyDeleteI'm here today thanks to Bloglovin! It seems to be the only way that I can keep with up posts now that Feedburner has stopped sending updates (unless someone has a mailing list), and I like that when I've got time to catch up, all of the posts are there on the page for me to read. I do hope that Sam finds something that suits. My eldest daughter is back home after uni, although she does spend some nights away in the week, and it is what is it is. I think she'd love to have her own place but it's not a cheap option these days, and especially if you're still trying to work out where you want to be in the country! xx
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday too! xx
ReplyDeleteI know I'm terribly late to this post, apologies! I've only recently found you and I really appreciate your posts.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that for a blog reader/ feed/ aggregator can't recommend "The Old Reader" enough - it's free, simple design, easy to use, and you can subscribe to blogs across all platforms plus any YouTube content that you'd like to see in your feed. I tried them all when the Google reader was discontinued and found them all a bit faffy.
I hope you had a lovely birthday, take care!
Hope the flat hunting goes well. Scary prices for young folk starting out. Many years ago I did my first ever flat hunting in Glasgow's West End. I had a friend come with me and as neither of us had a clue and it being pre Google days we went to Hillhead library on our way to read up on what we needed to look for and we then flushed the toilets and tapped the floorboards in every flat we viewed, with no real idea of what that was meant to establish!
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