Power Cut and Art Class

Storm Bram continued through the night and into Wednesday; the winds were so strong, according to the weather forecast they reached 90 mph! However it was not until late on Wednesday, when the wind had abated somewhat at about 10.30 p.m. that we finally had a power cut. Luckily we were heading for bed anyway and James lit a candle in the bedroom, it was quite romantic! 
We set off south at lunchtime on Thursday, the waterfalls were cascading mightily down the hillsides on our way to Inverness. In the evening I went to book club at Ruth’s. At Chanel’s suggestion we were discussing “How to Kill your Family” by Bella Mackie and we had a really good discussion about it. We had two new members so there were seven of us, it was a great evening with the festive backdrop of Ruth’s Christmas tree. This morning was my last art class at the PPWH, and I finished my painting of frangipani flowers from the photo I took in Zanzibar. I like it although I think it could be better. I have learned so much from our art teacher, Jenny. At the end of the lesson we all went for a Christmas lunch in a dining room at the café, it was a happy and friendly occasion. I love our oldest member Kathleen, who is 93 years old and an excellent artist. She has had such an interesting life. All of the ladies are great fun and I would love to go to another art class there next year. 

Storm Bram

On Monday morning Heather let us know that Ewan’s Dad died in the early hours of the morning at the age of 92. I was sorry to hear it; there are not many  of our parents’ generation left and I’m sad for Ewan and the whole family.

We set off to Ullapool mid-morning with the cats; on our way back from the Post Office (we were posting a Christmas parcel to New Zealand) we met Tom who was standing on the wee wall outside Grandma’s house to greet us, so to his surprise we picked him up and carried him straight to the car! Flora was soon captured and joined him in the cat basket, and off we set. We had a good run with no delays and had fish suppers for tea. The weather was quite rainy because Storm Bram was on its way across the Atlantic, and it was very blustery this morning. However by lunch time the wind stopped for a while; I think that we were in the eye of the storm. The sky looked very peculiar; many layers of clouds lit from beneath by the setting sun. By tea time the storm was back with a vengeance and we could hear the wind roaring around the cottage and blowing down the chimney. However when I went outside to check it out I was surprised to find that, bizarrely, it wasn’t very cold. And I was right; the weather forecast later mentioned that mild tropical air is being dragged up from the mid-Atlantic by the storm. As I lie in bed blogging at almost midnight, it still sounds really wild out there! 

It’s later than you think

The weekend has been a pre-Christmas whirlwind of social activity. I went to my Art class on Friday morning and it was fun, even though I’m finding the shading a bit tricky on the petals of the flower that I’m painting. Jenny always plays an excellent soundtrack of favourite tunes such as Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, 10cc and many more. Quite often one or more of us sing along, and on Friday two of the ladies were seen doing a little dance to a Brian Ferry song! In the afternoon Carolyn came round with her two beautiful boys who were on good form and very funny, and in the evening we went to see our old favourite Jools Holland at the Armadillo, he is very talented and always puts on a good show. As usual he led us in singing “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think” which makes sense. The support act Nick Celino was good too, and to our surprise he was joined on stage by Boy George for a duet. 

On Saturday James and Davie went to see Madness while Chanel and I went to see Hamilton. We all had dinner at the Piper’s Tryst first. James reported that Madness were brilliant, which I believe, however I cannot regret seeing Hamilton for the third time, it was absolutely fantastic! The performers were excellent and I was crying (again) at the end. 

Sunday was the annual Mince Pies outing of the hill-walking club; we walked from the Tullie Inn into Balloch Park overlooking Loch Lomond, about 7 km. The forecast rain stayed off for the duration of the walk I’m glad to say and we had a convivial meal afterwards. By then the rain had come on in earnest and the drive back to Glasgow was not very pleasant. However we arrived in good time to meet Heather and Ewan at Il Pieno for a pre-theatre meal. As ever it was great to see them, but Ewan had sad news; his Dad is nearing the end of his life and is expected to pass away in hours or days. My heart went out to him, his Dad is very elderly and frail but it’s still so sad when the time inevitably comes. We all went on to the Royal Concert Hall to see Rob Brydon’s Christmas concert. He has a nice singing voice and is a very good comedian; this was very lightweight fare but entertaining and a pleasant evening. Such a busy and festive few days! 

Nativity Scenes

This morning, on Gosia and Mitchell’s recommendation, James and I visited the Rynek Museum which is located under the market square. First we had a wee coffee in one of the many restaurants that line the square and we also had a look at the many colourful nativity scenes which people were bringing to display all over the steps of the Adam Mickiewicz monument. This annual event takes place on the first Thursday of December each year and the scenes were amazing. They are so detailed; on the side of one of them someone had even reproduced the altarpiece from St Mary’s Basilica! Gosia told us later that the metallic surfaces are often made out of the smoothed out foil of sweetie papers; she used to do it when she was in school. Some of them had tributes to this year’s 1000th anniversary of the Kingdom of Poland, others had moving parts such as the wise men moving in a circle. So intricate. 

The Rynek Museum was made when, during building work, the area under the main square was found to be hollow, with the remains of medieval and Roman buildings beneath. There was a huge project to dig it out, create the museum and restore the square. It was so interesting and as well as the walls and artefacts that were found, there is a lot of information about the history of Krakow from earliest times to the growth of its trade throughout Europe. We even found out about the Chort, which was a demonic entity in Slavic traditions and a great worry to medieval folk. 

Gosia and Mitchell arrived from visiting Michal and we went for lunch in the gorgeous and very popular Morskie Oko Restaurant, where we had delicious and very filling potato pancakes with various toppings. The restaurant is traditionally decorated with light coloured woodcarvings and it is very attractive. Sadly it was soon time to leave for the airport; security was very quick and efficient but passport control had a huge queue. There was nothing that we could do and unlike many people we were in plenty of time for our flight, so there was no rush. Our journey home went well and we landed on time. What a brilliant couple of days we have had, great to see Gosia and Mitchell and wonderful to be back in Krakow. 

Dragon in the mist

Yesterday evening we flew to Krakow, that lovely city which we visited with Heather and Ewan in the summer of 2023. The journey went smoothly, we were worried that Ryanair would somehow fleece us because they currently have a fearful reputation for fining people over luggage or check-in infringements, however all went well. The plane seats were a bit uncomfortable and hard, and the pilot hit the brakes very strongly three times after we landed which was slightly alarming, but we got though passport control in jig time and were soon in a taxi to our hotel. We couldn’t remember its name until we checked in my phone; James guessed “Queen Bee” and I guessed “Golden Tulip.” In fact it is the “Golden Queen” so we were both right! And wrong! We soon settled in to our clean and comfy room. 

What a day we have had in Krakow! We woke to a misty morning, which gradually cleared as the day went on. Our hotel is only about ten minutes walk from the beautiful town square and we headed through it to the Czartoryski Museum. It’s a fascinating museum, housed in an old family palace, and we had coffee in the atrium before looking around. The most famous painting in the museum is Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, which I loved, but there was plenty more to see, including several fine Northern Renaissance paintings for altarpieces, by Master Jerzy and Michael Lancz von Kitzingen. Also a wee painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger of The Family of Sigismund I which was a series of wee faces like passport photos! There were lots of Medieval paintings and sculptures too. 

Our next stop was St Mary’s Basilica to see the Marian Altarpiece by Weit Stoss being opened at 11.50 a.m. as it is every day. A small crowd gathered on the pews in front of it and at precisely 11.50 a nun arrived, said a short prayer and opened both sides of the altarpiece using a long pole like an old fashioned window opener. It really was magnificent! The outside was impressive and chronicled Mary’s life with Jesus, but the inside was even more stunning, culminating with Mary’s ascension to heaven. We spent ages just drinking it in, the detail and the colours. Back in the main square we had a light lunch with hot fruit tea with big chunks of fruit and cinnamon sticks floating in it, and a tub of honey to sweeten it still further if desired. Gosia and Mitchell arrived from the hospital where they had been visiting Michal, and we all went to the Christmas market which is on one side of the square. It was full of Christmas decorations, woodcarvings, ceramics, amber jewellery, and lots of food stalls. They took us to a smaller but just as pretty Christmas market in the little market square in the other side of St Mary’s Basilica before beers (and a mocktail for me!) Gosia and Mitchell then led us on a pleasant walk through the University District, past the Opera House and onto a tram to the Jewish quarter, where we had a tasty and traditionally Polish dinner. A feature of this was plum dumplings which were absolutely fantastic. Then we walked back to the hotel, via the Father Bernatek Footbridge with its surreal kinetic statues which looked very lifelike in the mist which had descended again over the city. Drinks in a wee bar followed, served in skull shaped flagons with dry ice which made them fizz and bubble. We also visited the statue of Dzok the dog, who was looked after by the citizens of Krakow in the early 1990s after his master died suddenly on a busy roundabout; eventually an elderly lady persuaded him to give up his vigil and live with her. After six happy years the lady died and unfortunately Dzok escaped from the dog shelter and was run over, but his story really resonates with the people of Krakow as it shows the kindness of the citizens. We walked back to our hotel via the river path, and saw the dragon statue beneath the castle looking disturbingly real in the mist, especially when it suddenly breathed out a huge gout of flame! 

Wicked for Good

I have had a great few days despite the wet and windy weather. I had dinner with Heather Br on Thursday and we had a good chat which sparked for me a great deal of reflection. On Friday morning I went to my Art class at the PPWH and it was an absolute joy, and afterwards I met Philippa for lunch in the café there. As usual it was lovely to catch up with her, and Ruth joined us for coffee. The two girls had never met before but were soon chatting like old friends, we had a good laugh. In the evening I went to Mekong in East Kilbride for a very early EK Book Club festive meal. We couldn’t get a date in December that suited everyone and we didn’t want to wait until January. It really did feel quite festive and we had an interesting and very pleasant chat, again I came away feeling very thoughtful (in a good way!) I have also been working on a drawing of a zebra at home, from a photo I took on Safari in August. It’s going to take a while, it’s very intricate. This afternoon Chanel and I went to see the second part of Wicked; “Wicked for Good” which was very entertaining although I still don’t understand why they had to stretch one perfectly good musical into two films. Then we picked up Davie (we were at Showcase Cinemas which is only five minutes drive from their house) and collected a curry and arrived home for a really delightful evening of curry and chat. 

Flu jags on a dreich day

Having got the hang of submitting work to the university online, this morning I read over my northern Renaissance essay one more time and submitted it, this time there were no problems in uploading it. And that’s it! My visual assessment and essay are both finished, the essay is a whole week early. I really did feel a sense of achievement, even if it is just for my own personal satisfaction. Actually, it’s more than that; doing the assessment has made me think much more deeply about the artists of the northern Renaissance and I have done a lot of reading about them with the result that I think I have learned more. Anyway, it has been a great experience. After lunch James and I went into Buchanan Galleries to get our flu jags. Neither of us qualify on grounds of health or age yet, so we decided just to pay for them in case we catch a bad case of the flu. It was a really dreich day. We did a very small amount of Christmas shopping, but neither of us were really in the mood, so we strolled along to merchant city to scope out some venues for our Anderson and Black pre-Christmas drinks, and found a promising lead. Back at home, we started the new series of the Witcher, with Chris Hemsworth replacing Henry Cavill in the role. In his Witcher garb with long hair, Hemsworth looked almost indistinguishable from the original Witcher, which worked quite well. It’s a good series but still much more James’ taste than mine.