Art History issues

We had rather a disappointing afternoon last Tuesday because our Art History class had to be abandoned. Sybren couldn’t project the slides from his laptop to the big screen no matter what he tried. After half an hour one of the class pointed out that it’s not much good going to a class about the history of Art when you can’t see the paintings, and Sybren agreed to postpone the class. There was much dissatisfaction among our classmates and everyone vowed to send a stiff email of complaint to Sybren’s manager. James and I consoled ourselves by going to the Art Galleries for a coffee on our way home. Just as we arrived back at the car the heavens opened! The rain was lashing against the windscreen as we drove home; we were so lucky not to have been caught in it.
The art history drama continued after I sent my firm but fair email to Blair. I got several emails of apology from different officials which assured me that the issue had been resolved. And then today when we turned up for the class, Blair himself was standing in the corridor to make sure that the technology was working properly. I noticed that many of the class members seemed very excited by the issue and almost seemed disappointed when everything was working perfectly today. I suppose the next step would have been riots on the scale of what has been happening in Paris over the last week, with looting and tear gas! The class was very good and I really liked the paintings and frescoes by Fra Filippo Lippi. 

Birthday and Babies

On Friday I took the train and underground with Sue H to see the Hunterian Art Gallery at Glasgow Uni. I haven’t been there for many years.  First of all we had a tasty lunch of croque madame and croque forestière in the Patisserie Françoise. On our way in to the Hunterian through the revolving doors I had an unfortunate freak accident with the toggle on my jacket, when it got caught in the door, the elastic stretched out and then zapped Sue really hard on her thumb. I felt terrible because I could see that it really hurt her. We were both very impressed with the art gallery, Sue hasn’t been there for ages either. There was much more to see than I had remembered; lots of paintings by the Scottish Colourists. It was a really good afternoon.
Saturday was Davie‘s 31st birthday and he, Chanel and Jessica came here for lunch and birthday cake. It was really great to have the three of them round and Jessica was very alert. I love the way she looks around and then really focuses in on your face! She is so gorgeous. I feel so blessed to be a grandma. 
On Monday, I visited another baby! I drove through to Glenrothes to visit Rachael and baby Robin who is now four months old. He is a gorgeous boy, full of smiles and very active and wriggly. It was a lovely drive there and back in the car through beautiful countryside.

• I’m glad to say that Sue’s thumb made a full recovery. 

Barack Obama

The week has continued very pleasantly with a mixture of fun and useful activities. We have pressed on with booking our holiday in Tahiti after Jamie’s wedding. It’s all very exciting. It’s really a holiday in three parts; firstly New Zealand, the wedding and a holiday to Blenheim vineyards with Heather and Ewan, and Margaret will join us for a few days in Auckland. Then James and I will have a couple of weeks in Tahiti on three different islands. Finally we will have a short break in Chicago on the way home. It didn’t occur to us when we booked it that Chicago in February is going to be a lot colder than our other destinations, and will require a whole different wardrobe!
I went back to Fitsteps on Wednesday for the first time in years. There were a few familiar faces from Pickleball there! Then I had a nice catch up with Linda P over coffee, and in the evening we went to see Barack Obama speaking at the Hydro. I decided to book these tickets awhile ago because Barack Obama is such an amazing part of American history, and he is also reputedly a very good speaker. This turned out to be correct, he spoke confidently and unhurriedly about the issues challenging the world today and his hopes for the future. I was really glad that we went along. After all of his chat about peace and love, I couldn’t help noticing that the audience were all jostling each other on the stairs on the way out of the venue! Ironic. 

Flora and the jigsaw

On Friday Marjory and Forrest came round for lunch. They were on good form and were telling us all about their house move, which is going to be quite complicated as they need to do it in stages. We were also talking about Jenny’s wedding next September which should be a lovely family occasion.
From the top hall this morning, I noticed that Flora was jumping around in the back room. In closer inspection, I saw that she had managed to get hold of a tiny piece of James’s current jigsaw and was playing with it, batting about on the floor with her paws and jumping in the air. It was really cute.
I decided to go down to the leisure centre for a swim but I couldn’t make any bookings because they have a new system and I couldn’t get into it no matter how much I tried. When I popped in the lady at reception was really helpful and sorted me out. By coincidence an aqua aerobics class was just about to start in the pool and there were two spaces left, so I joined in that thoroughly enjoyed it before going on to swim a few lengths.  I really should go swimming more often because I enjoy it very much. 

First chill of autumn

When we woke up on Thursday, James announced that it was 3°C outside, the lowest this autumn so far. And sure enough it really did feel quite autumnal when I got outside. It was beautiful too, with blue skies and the leaves on the trees just turning to gold and red. After nipping out to do a few errands I spent the morning doing a training course about the new children’s legislation for older children. Heavy stuff. 
I had a lovely catch up with Ally Walker over lunch at the museum of rural life in East Kilbride, we both had lots of news to share. She invited me to a Café Litteraire at the Alliance Française at the end of November; the book to be discussed is “L’heure des prédateurs” by Giuliano da Empoli so I will need to read it. I feel excited but rather daunted at the prospect! 
Then James made delicious asparagus risotto for dinner and even made our old favourite of Angel Delight poured onto tinned pears for dessert. He is definitely in my good books for that! 
Later on I hosted book club; we were discussing the Nightingale by Kristen Hannah and our discussion of the book led on to the French Resistance and the Second World War. It was a really good chat. 

Royal Philosophical Society

What a laugh we had on Monday at our ladies lunch in Il Pavone. There were only three of us because Maggie was in London to see her new grandson, and Helen couldn’t make it because of a tyre puncture, so Libby, Wendy and I decided to ask the waiter to take a photograph of us looking sad without the others. The photograph was hilarious. I was staring gloomily into my coffee cup , Wendy was making a sad face at the camera, and Libby was attempting to pout but trying not to laugh which resulted in a very strange expression. We immediately sent it to our absent friends who thought it was very funny but both wanted us to arrange another meet up before Christmas so that we can all be reunited! James and I were back at our art history class on Tuesday; this week we were looking at the use of perspective in the Italian Renaissance. I found it a bit dry and it doesn’t help that the room that we meet in it’s so warm. It’s in the James Black building in the university, and there is nowhere nearby to get a coffee at break time, so James and I go for a walk up and down the corridor and look at the science posters. Later I went to Pickleball coaching, which I really enjoy. The proof of this is how quickly the hour flies past.
Today I had lunch at the Burrell Collection with Hilary, we parked at the old cricket club and walked the short distance through the park to the museum. It was very beautiful with the leaves just turning golden, and Hilary suddenly said “how lucky we are!” And I have to say that I agree with her! We had a lovely lunch and talked, among many other things, about grandchildren. Hilary has four much loved four grandchildren and they are all very different from one another.
Talking of grandchildren, I popped round to see Jessica and Chanel later in the afternoon. Jessica was very cute, moving and stretching in her comfy pram and definitely looking right at me when she opened her eyes. Davie arrived in from work and was telling us about his day.
In the evening James and I went to our first lecture at the Royal Philosophical Society in the Dir Charles Wilson building at Glasgow University. It was about the Chemistry of life and death. There was a lot about mitochondria and the Krebs cycle. The speaker was called Nick Lane from UCL. He was immensely popular, it was standing room only at the back but luckily we got two of the last seats available. He was very personable and a good speaker, and James enjoyed it very much, however the science was way over my head and I really felt as if I must have looked like a dog watching a card trick! 

A pleasant autumnal week

Tuesday was a sunny and breezy morning and we played Pickleball outdoors, it was excellent fun as always. Then James picked me up and we went straight to Italian Renaissance Art, following the same routine as last week. Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi wasn’t working in the dilapidated Sir James Black building, so Sybren had to carry his laptop around the room to show us the slides. It must’ve been exhausting for him. Luckily for me, I had already printed out the slides so James and me were able to have a closer look at them. This week we were learning about the many artists who were involved in creating Florence’s Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral; builders, sculptors, painters and more. Brunelleschi, Ghiberti and Donatello were the big hitters in the early 15th century. 
We had dinner at Heather and Ewan’s, the veg lasagne was delicious and so was the apple and blackberry crumble. We had a nice chat and heard about their holiday in Croatia. 
On Friday we caught up with Stuart and Anne for the first time in ages, it was really great to see them and hear all of their news. And on Saturday night we had Gordon and Morag round for dinner with Cornel and Heather. They hadn’t met before, however they all got on extremely well and we had a good laugh. I was gratified at how well the meal was received. Tom and Flora were enjoying the chat and sat in the lounge with us looking around at everyone and being admired (but not jumping up in anyone except James and me.) I’m so proud of how social they are! 

Talking of cats, I was cat-sitting Skye and Harris this weekend; Davie, Chanel and Jessica went to Warrington to visit Chanel’s Grandma who is very ill in hospital. The good news is that she is doing much better and is expected to get out of the ICU tomorrow.