In honour of the absent guest of honour...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen
Emma Johnson - Encores
Scott Walker - Scott 3
The Beatles - Sgt Pepper (Mono)
Loudon Wainwright III - Unrequited
Neil Diamond - The Essential Neil Diamond
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Anthology 1977-2001 (5CD Set)
Susanne Kessel - Piano Portrait
Brahms - Symphonies
Shawn Colvin - Selected Hits
Billy Joel - The Ultimate Collection
The Bad Plus - Motel
Spock's Beard - Snow
Various Artists - 100 Huge Hits Of Reggae
Taylor Swift - Lover
David Reilly - Complete Back Catalogue

August gone...

Up early...

Podcast tracks selected and between track "banter" recorded downstairs while Anne slept..

Breakfast with the squirrel...

Down to the chemist for cream and pills re the bites and big painkillers re the bruised ribs which are making walking difficult, not to mention the painful ankle...

A walking disaster area...

Of course, I took the opportunity for a wee trawl among the charity shops and picked up a quartet of tasty treats (kind of)...

Much of the rest of the day was taken up with sourcing and splitting the WAV files I recorded a few months ago now of my early back catalogue, never dreaming anyone would want to release it, of course...

In the evening, we were off out to celebrate my mum's birthday - she was too ill to attend - just a wee bug we think - but we popped in for a visit on our way and will be going out again once she's back to what passes for "normal" for an 89 year old woman...

Senior too had opted out, so we were five at the Navaar House Hotel in Penicuik...

Haggis to start for me...

Pate for Anne...

and for Ali and Julie, Prawn Cocktail for sister Sheila...

Steaks all round for our mains, Sheila the only non steak...

Oh dear, those onion rings were huge...

...but I managed them and moved on to strawberries and ice cream, in honour of my mum, you understand...

Ali and Julie are off to the States tomorrow for their honeymoon, just over a year since their wedding...

We wished them all the best and headed home in the car, an accidental photo being taken as I climbed in...

Back home, Anne is working on a project...

Some more work on the back catalogue before calling it a night...

Stuffed...

Highlight of the Day : Mum's birthday meal...

Another new piece...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen
Mogwai - Travel Is Dangerous [EP]
Al Green - Let's Stay Together
Mogwai - Travel Is Dangerous [EP]
Emma Johnson - Encores
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen
Huelgas Ensemble - In Morte di Madonna Laura
David Reilly - Rubinmusik 1977-2017 (Remixed Remastered)
Boccherini - Boccherini: Symphonies Op. 12
UK - Danger Money
Euan Stevenson - Portraits, Preludes And Landscapes
H (Steve Hogarth) - Ice Cream Genius
Wayne Shorter - Adam's Apple
Rheostatics - Vancouver [Single]
Neil Diamond - The Essential Neil Diamond

Early this morning, downstairs to record the vocal for the new piece "Beautiful Thing"...

...and a quick mix put together and uploaded for Creeker Craig's comments..

He loves it, of course...

More charity shop purchases at lunchtime...

This evening, not much listening to those, instead, more work on "Beautiful Thing" following Craig's comments...

Added the main version to the proposed disc 1, the instrumental version to the proposed disc 2 and the "radio edit" to the proposed disc 3...

Raspberries were good...

But, not such beautiful things were the beast bites from Wednesday, which seem to be worsening...

Oh dear..

Off to bed, trying not to scratch...

Highlight of the Day : Another new piece...

Out of the blue...

Playlist

David Reilly - Rubinmusik 1977-2017 (4CD Set)
David Reilly - Rubinmusik 1977-2017 (Remixed Remastered)
Ahmed Abdul-Malik - Sounds Of Africa

My drink of choice these days - or one of them anyway - sparking mineral water is probably really my choice...

I have not had a "drink" now for 55 days...

At lunchtime a couple of purchases, an Al Green classic from 1972...

..and a Mogwai EP that actually has a longer running time than Al's LP...

Some work tonight...

...re working out some chords for Creeker Craig...

...which led me to work on a new piece based around an old track he did...

Some quick lyrics written but not yet sung...

Another dark piece...

Feeling pleased with myself...

But not as leased as when i stumbled across an e-mail which arrived late last night from a German record company wanting to issue a limited edition vinyl box set of my cassette recordings made between 1977 and 1988...

Talk about a bolt from the blue...

Amazing - it seems it's perfectly genuine and I will pursue it...

That was of course the highlight of my day...

Highlight of the Day : AA music offer...

Lumbering is depressing but I must press on...

Playlist

Miles Davis - The Miles Davis Quintet, March 19, 1963 - November 12, 1968

Euan Stevenson - Portraits, Preludes And Landscapes

Emerson Lake & Palmer - In Concert

Miles Davis - Live In Europe 1969

Allan Holdsworth - Secrets

Various Artists - Blue 'N' Groovy Vol. 2: Mostly Modal

Rautavaara - Piano Works

Lou Reed - Take No Prisoners (Live)

Various Artists - Trojan Roots Reggae Box Set

Elvis Costello - Armed Forces

Die Ärzte - Live: Nach Uns Die Sintflut

Steven Wilson - To The Bone

Boccherini - Symphonies Op. 12

Markus Guentner - Empire

Sparks - Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins

Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess

Huelgas Ensemble - O Cieco Mondo - The Italian Lauda c. 1400-1700

Earthworks - The Sound Of Surprise

Miles Davis - In Person Friday Night At The Blackhawk

Huelgas Ensemble - In Morte di Madonna Laura

A tidy shelf is a happy shelf...

Walking down the hill...

Today's lunch at Quattro Zero as we said farewell to 6 year colleague JB...

Around the table, Gina G...

JB and Jack...

 
Janine and Marta...

Josh and Gursharn...

Gaz...

The beast...

Neil and Gillian...

Wenders...

CK and Luke...

...and Al...

Tasty times...

This evening, for the third week in a row, to the football...

Eight a side tonight and my first point on the board at 6-6...

Frankly, I was awful...

So depressing that my legs just won't move anymore to the point of it being embarrassing...

But I enjoy the little exercise it gives - a million times better than the gym...

Pics from post the game...

Later, I found both my legs had been bitten by some worse beast than me...

Hobbled home with an injured ankle and bruised ribs from where I went down like a lumbering lump of lard while making a save...

I think I am out for next week...

But I fully intend to play again...

I can surely only get better...

Home to a tasty stew from the EP...

...and a new delivery in the mail...

The Huelgas Ensemble always remind me of the top floor at Tower in Glasgow in the late 80's/early 90s...

I can still smell the strange aroma of shrink wrapped CDs when I think about it...

Which is nice...

Highlight of the Day : Lunch and footie...