oct / nov

 

Two constitutionals: 31st Oct and 2nd Nov. Both WoL based. Neither really makes the grade but I'm hoping that combining the best pics from both justifies a blog, while I wait for the sun coming back out so I can go take some better photos. 

We always check the WoL at Powderhall. Occasionally there can be a kingfisher there. Mostly not, and often it does not pose well for photos even when there, and we are beginning to get a bit hacked off with it. If only it was as reliable as the herons. Worse still, there seems to be plenty other people regularly producing photos of WoL kingies. It can be frustrating.

mallard dog-chew toy 
I did wonder what the mallards think of this

bushy hair

We went to the botanics because it is somewhere to go on a day not brim-full of good weather. We challenged ourselves to take decent photos. There was plenty to see, but a lack of sun to light it. At least we'd get a walk even if the photos were a bit dull. Mary had an idea that the leaves of a shrub looked like a colour she might dye her hair. To test this theory she lay down on the ground and wore the shrub as a headdress. It wasn't convincing but made us laugh.

lots of pretty colours

 and the usual suspects

lichens

a bit like a slate sheep pen

Since visiting the Goldsworthy exhib at the Mound I have been thinking quite a bit about him and his work. The majority of the people visiting the gallery were wholly positive about a show I struggled to enjoy and I had that feeling of am I the only one? I was very pleased my pal Jennifer said she found the show pretentious and depressing and she too, was glad she wasn't the only one to think this. I suppose many that might have been sitting on the fence would have been kept away by the £19 price tag. That having paid the hefty entrance fee you might be compelled to feel it was worth it.

After the show I read more about AG just out of curiosity as I was kind of conflicted and didn't want to write him off without a fair hearing. It seems his parents were strict methodists. How often is that the precursor to a glowing review or commendation? They were strict methodists and the life and soul of the party. They were strict methodists and really adventurous outdoors people. They were strict methodists and a great laugh. He attributes his hard-working ethic to his parents. They were strict methodists and didn't know how to relax. 

Goldsworthy also speaks about how he expected to be a farmer and how the life is hard and unromantic - that behind the farm building there is a pile of dead lambs. He did seem to carry this forward in his work and there is no idealisation of animals in his art. Plenty manky wool and sheep shit hoof prints but no pretty animals winking at the camera. I don't envy him his outlook.

according to most sources he was born in 1956

The pieces in the Botanics have stood up well to the genteel environment of the gardens. I hoped to find some nicely lichened patches to photograph on the above slate, but maybe it requires another 35 years before it gets any warm patina. I didn't have long to look as Mary was not for stopping, not for dithering.

M tried on another hairstyle at this (possibly maple) tree. Again quite hard
to make it look like a natural hair style or tree-wig. 

the place was full of (muted) Autumnal colours

it was very nearly a damp 2pm as the sundial showed,
time to go home

halloween dressed garden in Inverleith Row

nicely realised eyes in these pumpkins

a couple of days later on the 2nd November

the season of random pumkins continues

nice colour of Fiat in sunlight

heron at powderhall as regular as the kingfisher isn't

back when people used to take a pride in workmanship
(this is a house, not a church)

Mary (still trying to impose a keep walking no dawdling command, despite my company)(because it causes her legs to flare up otherwise) bravely chose a variation on the usual. We'd go up the WoL to the small dirt path lane into Inverleith Park, past the duckies, then back via the 'Tanics. That wee lane goes up the side of the playing fields where you can usually find oyster catchers or curlews howking worms out the luxuriant grass.  The high holly bushes give good cover and the birds don't mind one's proximity due to the stone wall and holly.

juv moorhen

At the pond a woman was trying to feed only the swans and not the gulls, ducks or pigeons. Not much chance of that. I tried to get some shots of everyone flying about in a frenzy. There was so much noise from the black-headed gulls I could hardly hear Mary saying she was keeping walking. I reckoned I had about 3 minutes to get some photos before she got annoyed. That's my excuse for it being a bit hurried. Almost didn't see the tufted ducks. 

We skirted round the outside of the park (no fieldfares or redwings) and just before the Botanics met Geo. We hadn't bumped into Geo in ages and there was lots of chat. It sounded like his running, like mine, is a bit start-stop. However he was keeping the general fitness ticking over and seemed to be in a good place. After standing for a while we almost needed to run or at least sprint-walk round the Botanics to keep warm. There was very little to see and although we didn't take the fastest line to the East gate, we did not linger much either. And we could hear the call of homemade soup for a late lunch.

not many hovers about

fruiting citrus tree in the rock garden

perhaps Japanese bitter orange

Back at Powderhall the kingfisher flew by, caught a fish, then hid in the leafy lower branches. What a taunting bastard! We watched for a while but it was not forthcoming so we went home for soup.