Wednesday, October 23, 2013

We can hear you through the wall...

Playlist
Various - Albums of the Month Jan-Mar 2013
Various - Gatecrasher Digitaltrance
Capital Models - Rehearsal Tapes

Up early and cleared out the iPod, adding back albums of the month from January to March...

A lovely, reasonably mild, day...

Good views at lunchtime as I made my way to the St Columba's Hospice shop and picked up a 2002 double CD collection of classic trance...

Imposing cathedral...


Glinting sunlight...


Golden cross...


Getting golden trees...


In the evening, the third Capital Models rehearsal - in trio format without drummer Keith, as we worked on arrangements of a few songs and tried out a few new things...

A call from neighbour Fiona, saying she and her friend were enjoying singing along to "Daydream Believer"...

A productive, if somewhat noisier than imagined, night...

Highlight of the Day : Rehearsing...

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Cats and dogs...

Playlist
The Thing - Now and Forever
Culture - Too Long in Slavery
Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
UK - The Best of UK
Capital Models - Live at the Dean
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twenty Four Pictures
Various - Be My Baby
Sierra Hull - Daybreak
Grand Drive - True Love and High Adventure
Kat McKenzie - Shine On
Yan Wagner - Forty Eight Hours

Meg the Black Cat in her wee place this morning - she likes it there...


At lunchtime, two new acquisitions, from the British Heart Foundation shop, a collection by Culture and a back catalogue disc from Caribou (formerly Manitoba)...

A quick listen at home found both to be good - especially considering their price of just 99 of your new pence each...

A visit this evening from Meg's previous mum, Julia for dinner - home made lasagna follwoed by rhubarb crumble with custard - mmm, mmm...

Also along was Phoebe the Black Dog...

On their arrival, Meg was outside somewhere doing whatever it is that cats do when they are outside somewhere...

Upon spying her waiting at the back door to come back in, Anne went to provide access...

However, Phoebe was along side her and, upon spotting Phoebe, Meg did a wee slow motion turnabout before scarpering off into the night...

So Julia did not get to see the wee chum who spent around 7 years with her prior to her 8 years (so far) with us...


Phoebe kind of reminded me of Meg the Black Cat...


The ladies post a cheeky wee glass of vino...


Julia demonstrates Phoebe's cartoon dog potential - you can tell the latter is not quite as into it as Julia is...


The wee monkey...


Post our visitors' departure, it was another couple of hours before Meg finally reappeared - no doubt having been watching from some vantage point as to the clearness of the coast...

She ran straight through the living room and up the stairs to take up a new lookout spot on the window ledge in the back room - to ensure the black impostor was not returning...

Cats and dogs...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : A visit from Meg's ex-mum...

Monday, October 21, 2013

The moon, soup and a banana...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - New Pieces from the Weekend
David Bowie - Discography
Uriah Heep - Travellers in Time
Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack
Sylvian/Fripp - The First Day
King Crimson - The Road to Red

Up early...


...merely to write this up...

Out to see the moon, bright above the houses opposite...


Even better in close up...


Autumn reigns...


This is the same pic as the one above but processed - open in a new tab/page to see it full size...

I am a fan of the moon...


This evening, a night off - listening to music mainly and surfing the net...

Anne's tasty soup nourished an overweight man whose sole intake today prior to that was a banana...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Anne's very tasty soup...

Sunday, October 20, 2013

The slowness of it all...

Playlist
Earthworks - Heavenly Bodies
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twenty Four Paintings
Various - Northern Soul The Collection
Gentle Giant - Pretentious
King Crimson - The Road to Red
Pierre Fournier - JS Bach Suites for Solo Cello
David Bowie - The Next day
Sumner McKane - Select Visual History
Einaudi - Islands
Shawn Colvin - All Fall Down
Vangelis - Odyssey
Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits
The Beatles - Solo Singles 1969-1975
Rush - Clockwork Angels

Having finally retired last night at 3:45 am, I was up again at 8:45 am and to the computer to create some quick short edits, or as I will call them, "details" of the eighteen soundscapes created thus far in my ongoing "Twenty Four Paintings" project, which will probably be the next CBQ album...

With that done and MP3s put together and added to the iPod, it was out into the morning to give them a listen whilst walking into town...


Down the hill..


Noting fallen foliage on the way...


Looking back up the hill...


More leaves...




...and up the hill again from a different point...


From a distance, over the sounds in my headphones, the sound of this man's early Sunday morning work seemed to be a bird song....

This changed as I got closer...

Not what you want outside your house at this time in the morning really...


Just down the road from that, this previously pictured house has been sold for over £1m and is now undergoing some work...


Down towards...


...the Zoo...


..where someone appeared to have lost their shoes last night...

This on a wall...


...this on the pavement below...


Onward, despite this sign...


...catching a couple of leaves in mid fall, this heading for the road...


...this heading for the pavement...


...into this...


Farther along, fruit dangled over my head - no doubt a handy source for bird sustenance...





The sun was out as I passed the top of the road leading to Anne's mum's house...


This appeared to be a chestnut tree...


...judging from the debris below it...


More good red leaves as I plodded on...


Looking back towards Jane and Bobby's house - to be full again later this afternoon with Anne, Jane and Kitty's return from that London...


More berries or the birds...



Funny how people spend loadsa cash on personalised number plates...



...when they could quite easily get a magnetic sign to attach to their cars, telling everyone whose it was...

That's not the point though is it?

Leaves underwater as I approached the workplace of Helen the Chiropodist...


Onward through Roseburn, where people buy cakes like these - yes, these are cakes, even the small bags...


The beast etc...


Passing the place from where I usually get the bus home...


..and the still unsold but no doubt destined to become a swanky hotel former school for the deaf...


The new Haymarket is nearly ready...


The tram is coming...


The roads are open again...


On, to Princes St...


...past the art galleries...


...to Fopp, where discs by Shawn Colvin, Vangelis, Einaudi and JS Bach joined the collection for just ten of your English pounds...


Over Princes St, with its newly applied tram overhead wires...


...past the Scott Monument...


...to Waverley Station, where I was to return in a couple of hours to pick up the ladies from their train home...

My verdict on the "details" of my (sometimes extremely long) recently created works was that they don't work, as they come and go too quickly and, really, it's the slowness of it all which is the underlying thing I'm trying to get across...

And so, on to the Airport bus for the trip back to Corstorphine...


...noting this on the floor...


Up the hill to Crispycat Towers...




...passing more good leaves...


...and berries...


...and home for a coffee - I like to pour two cups, as the second cup in the same cup never tastes as good...



Meg the Black Cat was looking forward to the return of someone who might be able to clean up her sick properly...


Back into town, this time driving...


..and passengers safely collected...


Home and a good time had been had down in that London, although the Exec Producer had forgotten to take her camera, so no pics...

Out again, heading to my mums, recording the garden firstly though...

Last gasp of the Splinterheart flowers...


...and others...



The spiders have been out...


..and the rain had been on...



To my mum's, where she enjoyed leafing through the proposed book of paintings...


Her top question was "what's it supposed to be?"...

Her verdict was "abstract, colourful and interesting"...

Sister Sheila arrived - her immediate reaction, she is Primary School teacher, was "the kids in my class at school could have done that"...

This is such a common reaction to abstract art, that studies have been carried out on this very subject...


“People untrained in visual art see more than they realize when looking at abstract expressionist paintings. People may say that a child could have made a work by a recognized abstract expressionist, but when forced to choose between a work by a child and one by a master such as Rothko, they are drawn to the Rothko even when the work is falsely attributed to a child or nonhuman. People see the mind behind the art.”

If only I could have retorted with that quote...

Instead of giving the stock "ahh, but they didn't" reply...

A tasty Chinese meal was enjoyed and there was much entertaining chat, before we headed home to allow Anne to get up to date with stuff missed and for me to continue with the work...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : A good long walk...