Plane Sculptures

   These are two of the many sculptures in the gardens of Plane Castle.  You probably think this must be a very grand place and that the Wrights have tons of money.  Not so.  John built most of it himself using cheap recycled materials.  A lot of the sculptures were donated and they are not very good.  Even in the brand new house, all the doors, sinks, WCs and furniture are from the scrapyard.

Tarbert Wedding

This Friday we are off to Tarbert on Loch Fyne for a wedding and won't be back until Saturday evening.  It is my cousin Marleen's younger daughter Sandi who is getting married to Patrick.  It will be a great chance to meet up with everyone from that side of the family.

The Wright Stuff

Yesterday - Monday 24th - we drove up towards Stirling to visit old neighbours - John & Nancy Wright.  They used to live in the big house at the lane in Kingsborough and their kids were the same ages as ours.  He became a very unusual minister in the Church of Scotland.  About 25 years ago, he bought a ruined castle near Bannockburn and restored it with the help of his son Bruce. Then he re-built the Grand Hall beside it and also built a modern house nearby.  There are huge grounds so John dug out a small lake with an island in the middle of it to drain the land.  Last year, they moved into a very modern house which he had designed and built in the gigantic gardens.  You can get some idea of the place from the website.

What you can't see is what an absolute ruin the place was when they bought it.  They lived in a tiny caravan at the foot of the tower when we first went to visit many years ago.  The gardens are quite overgrown now and full of statues.  They also have ducks, dogs, and a peacock.

Amazing Matrix Dance

Watch this Japanese guy perform the whole of The Matrix as a dance.  Maybe you've seen it already because it has had over 2 million hits on YouTube!

100-Year-Old Paint

Walking up the lane from Byres Road, we stopped off at the retro shop in the green hut to look at old Marion Donaldson dresses and then we passed by the big junk shop.  Marion found some nice industrial china things that were like bottles with a pouring lip and I found this tin of paint for £5.  Judging by the style of the label it must be around one hundred years old and .... it has never been opened!  

It was really heavy to carry home.  It is not at all like modern tins of paint, more like a milk-churn in shape.  Maybe you had to use a tin-opener to open it?  Look at the trade mark:  it has windmills because it is made in Holland and a Japanese lady to suggest that the paint is as good as the best Japan lacquer finish.

Panhandler Party in New York Subway

Linda Mitchell sent me this video link..  I think it goes on a bit too long but the idea is a good one.

Ducks and Eggs

Lovely trip to Balmaha on Wednesday.  Got the boat over to the island and had the place to ourselves because it was late afternoon.  Marion picked some wild garlic and foxgloves to paint at home and them left them behind on the chair in the pub.

The eggs are seagull eggs - they are so well-camouflaged that I nearly stepped right onto them.  Off course, the gulls were screaming at me to keep away.

Gaga Gag

Apologies

I've just realised that I have been neglecting our blog for the last few weeks.  It happened when I was ill in France and then I forgot about it when I got back home.