Eighty Four and Eighteen Twelve...

Playlist
Various Artists - 2014 Weekly Playlists
Frank Zappa - Strictly Commercial - The Best Of Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa - Läther [Disc 1]
Arve Henriksen - The Nature Of Connections
Shahin Novrasli - Bayati
Tarantula Hawk - Untitled
Moskus - Mestertyven
Yes - Heaven & Earth
The Helix Nebula - Meridian
Samo Salamon & The Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra - Free Strings: Orchestrology

As we breakfasted this morning, we had a visitor in the front garden....



A colourful wee beastie...

And so, August away...



Thirty five weeks gone...

Today was my mum's 84th birthday- here she is through the life of the blog, 2005-2014...

Out to the Howgate on a beautiful Sunday...

Nephews Andy and Ali in attendance...

...and mum of course...

Enjoying the banter...

Also here kind of niece in law Julie and sister Sheila

...and grand nephew Kerr...

Yummy food enjoyed, your correspondent stretched to a cheeky wee rhubarb creme brulee...

Strawbs, meringue and ice cream (as ever) for the birthday girl...



Cheese for Andy and fruits of the forest sorbet for Ali...

Anne was the only person at the table not to partake of a sweet - her body is a temple...

As we were leaving, I tried on the cap of one of my nephews (there seemed to be a dispute as to who actually owned it)...

Hmmm...

The crew, back out in the sun...

Where chums Shiv and Lisa had come to pick some of the party up...

Back home for us before heading into Edinburgh for the Fireworks Concert, our first since 2010, sister Pam having been taken unwell on the day of the concert in 2011 and our having been on holiday in 2012 and 2013..

We had an excellent vantage point..

As darkness fell the scene was set...

And away we went, music comprised Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", Beethoven's "Egmont Overture", marches by Mendelssohn and Debussy and, for the finale, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"...

The gaps in the crowd on the street below were due to unsighted areas blocked by the trees in Princes St Gardens...

Here's a collage of my kept pics (over 100 were ruthlessly deleted)...

...and here's all of them superimposed...

...and heatmapped...

Home and to bed around midnight...

That's it for now...

Highlight of the day : Birthday and Fireworks...