St Bernards Well

So I might just start with a warning, this post is going to be pretty picture heavy, but I did narrow it down from around 65 photos so I didn't do too badly. 

It was Doors Open Day on the 27 and 28th of September (I know, I'm rubbish, I really should have had this posted by now) and on Doors Open Day, you get to inside or behind the scenes of different museums, monmuents, attractions, and all manor of places that are not usually open to the public. Last Doors Open Day, I did the photogram workshop at Stills. This doors open day I got to see an attraction that is normally only open to the public on these such days, and perhaps a couple others throughout the year.

St Bernards Well

“The chief ornament of this delightful valley” Alexander Campbell, 1801 

A natural spring was discovered near the Dean Village on the Water of Leith in 1760, and was soon a visitor attraction as at that time ‘taking the waters’ was thought to be very good for the health.

 Some claimed that the water could cure everything from a bruised leg to ‘total blindness’, but others described the taste as having the ‘odious twang of hydrogen gas’ or even like ‘the washings from a foul gun barrel’. 

The building was designed by the painter Alexander Nasymth in 1789, and the statue inside represents Hygeia the Greek goddess of health.

http://www.ewht.org.uk/st-bernards-well

And it didn't dissapoint, it was a lovely day out with Gail, and a really nice walk, we also managed to squeeze in a wander through the Queen Street Gardens, with is normally only open to residents of the area for a fee, for the upkeep.

Working on the Hoose

Alright, when was the last time I posted something up here? Anything this month at all yet? I didn't think so, well, we have been a bit busy with a few different things, since Caryn is coming we have been working on the spare room and we only have a little over a month now to get it ship shape so that they can stay. But we have been making good progress, we now have two walls papered and the ceiling, so that means that today I get to do some painting. I was really impressed with Dixon and I because we ppapered half the ceiling ourselves! Gordon came over to finish the rest with Dixon the day after but we did get a lot done on the Saturday, so here are some progress pictures, and hopefully you will get more of this, this month because it should be done soon!

Another thing that has been pressing on my mind is the Scottish Referendum, which you probably noticed I haven't posted anything about, and not because I don't have an opinion, I do, and not because I don't get to vote, I do, but because it has flooded into everything lately and its probably one of the reasons I have not posted on here at all. I am worried about my status here in the UK right now I have Indefinite Leave to Remain, and with all this back and forth from both sides, you cannot really get a straight answer about anything let alone, what would happen with immigration. So, I do know what I am going to vote, and then we will just have to wait and see until Friday for the outcome. 

Hopefully everything will become clearer then.

On Monday the fog was so thick that you could not see the castle in the evening, it's one of my favourite types of weather and so I went a bit picture daft, but here's a few of my favourites.

And last but certainly not least, Dixon surprised me Saturday morning with a parcel, and it contained one of the best things ever! A Sega Megadrive, with so many games I love, it was brilliant, can I just say that I have been playing it loads.

Drawing and Walking

Just a nice short and sweet post here, catching up with my drawings and walkings. So in the last post I promised a bit about drawing so here are the things I have finished off recently, I might pick these up again, and work on them but for the most part I would say they are complete. The first one is of a character from Pretty Deadly, that I also posted here, which kind of constitutes my body of fan art, though thinking back I have done an Oscar the Grouch and Winnie the Pooh for Camille and Caryn, so a bit more fan art there. Any way she was a really cool character so I might try more with her again.

As well as drawing there have been some really gorgeous days out so here is Edinburgh being beautiful.

August Wrap Up

So loads has happened since my last post, the Edinburgh Fringe festival has started, we went down to Rebellion for the Punk Festival, and we had our 4 year anniversary (still sounds mental saying that). 

I haven't been to as many things as I would have liked to this year so far, I'm missing my days out buddy, but it feels like August is just whizzing by this year. The shop has been so busy with tourists that I am mostly so tired after work, it feels like a lot of effort to do anything. But I have succeeded in seeing two things including one that Dixon even agreed to see.  Firstly I saw Paul Foot with Gail and the Nick Helm with Gail and Dixon. Paul Foot was more mental that expected, but still hilarious, I would say you might want to have seen him on things before seeing him all by himself. But Nick Helm was excellent! So much fun.

Rebellion was really really good again this year, especially when I thought there wasn't that many bands that I wanted to see compared to last year. I would have to say that Thursday was the best day for me even with SNFU, DOA, and NOFX on the Sunday Cyanide Pills and Morning Glory where brilliant, and I got a wee photo with Ezra which as you can see I was pretty excited. I defintitely got the piss taken all weekend for that one, but it made my day so I don't care. I would have photos for NOFX and DOA but unfortunately my phone was stolen at the end of the NOFX concert so this is all I have what I sent to friends and things taken on other peoples phones. But what can you do.

So even ending on a down note, it is still one of the best times so I can't complain too much.

And then it was our anniversary, I can't believe it has already been four years, four years and I already ran out of things that I can buy Dixon as a present, so we decided to just do small things and go out for a dinner and a movie. Someone did not stick to that, someone replaced my phone for me, I was so surprised, he is really too good to me. Not only that but got me flowers and chocolates too. 

We did still go for dinner, it was amazing, we went to David Bann's again, and they did magical things with food. I tried many cocktails and new things this time for starters mains and desserts. I am pretty sure the dessert, Raspberry Jelly with Mint Sorbet and Amaretto Figs was the best thing I have ever eaten, and Dixon couldn't complain about the Budvar either, he doesn't really do dessert. And we topped the evening off with Guardians of the Galaxy, which I thought was excellent, and Dixon had a nice nap. We maybe shouldn't have eaten so much.

I've also done a bit of drawing, but I'll talk about that later.

Watercolour

Last weekend (so this was stuck as a draft for the past two weeks, I though I posted it so hopefully it all makes sense still. So rather than last weekend thing around July 22?) was a rather productive weekend, drawing wise and house wise. We had loft insulation put in last week and so we had everything that was in our attic down in the spare room and living room. So first things first, we went through all of the boxes, its amazing how much stuff accumulates up there in a year! I was amazing how much stuff we were able to get through. Then Gordon and I took the extra things away to the dump/recycling center, and Dixon got ready for his weekly skate.

So after putting the remaining boxes into the spare room temporarily, I got down to the important bits, drawing. Which I was extremely productive for the day, even though I managed to watch 2 movies and facetime with my sister for at least an hour, not to mention copious texting with progress pictures along the way, with Camille and Caryn.

I am doing a wee series of paintings, of which I have two painted and one drawn, and I am really liking them so far. I am using India Ink which I haven't used before and I am painting all of my lines, which I have tried before, but it wasn't as successful, it was a bit messy. But I am really liking the ink, it behaves a lot like the watercolours I am used to but it is a lot of fun. Each of the paintings will be places I feel are a bit like my home, so one is Canada, one is Scotland and the last is the Netherlands, so one for where I am from, one for where I am and one for where I have never been. (The scanner cropped the edges a little bit, there is a nice white border around each)

Also a wee bit about the house, we picked a wallpaper we can agree on for the spare room, which is exciting! So I really want to make a start on the spare room and get the finished.