January! The perfect time to go to a museum!

The perfect day for a museum visit being, of course, when it's cold, grey and wet, and spending a few hours indoors looking at interesting things seems like the best bet.  The museum in question is the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow's West End. The West End is north of the Clyde and we live south of Glasgow, so we used the satnav, hoping it would help us on the bits of the route we were a little vague about. It turns out that the satnav has a fear of rivers, refused to cross the Clyde, and had us driving in circles in the Southside for some time, at which point we gave up on it. Eventually we arrived at Kelvingrove, and headed inside for a happy wander. I really like the photo above - there was something about the floor tiles and the contrast with the rather striking colours of the painting at the end. Close to I wasn't so keen on the painting ('The Last of the Crew' by Briton Riviere) - it wasn't terrible, just not my cup of tea - but it works very well in that spot.

This is the view across the East Court (I think - the museum is big and old and symmetrical in layout which you'd think would make it not confusing - not so). The pink blobs are the 'floating heads', an installation by Sophie Cave. The heads show various expressions and emotions, and the light underneath them changes colour now and then. I don't know what they're made of (and googling hasn't helped) but I'm guessing they must be plastic as their strings aren't very thick!

They're sort of creepy and fascinating at the same time, but there's so much to see that you stop noticing them pretty quickly to be honest. Or maybe that's just because I've seen them before.

The museum is full of interesting things. Miss M and I managed to lose the rest of the family when we got distracted by textiles and the like. I was particularly taken with the pleasing pattern of weaving on the basket from Papua New Guinea above. I love woven things. I'm glad that picture came out reasonably well because a lot of them didn't - too many reflections!

And the building from outside, looking warmer than it should because of the lights on the facade!

the little grey cells

Now that I'm doing the OU again I'm finding bits of my brain reactivating, which is really a rather fantastic feeling! It's not that I never use my brain the rest of the time, of course, but there's something about really immersing yourself in a topic that makes the ol' brain start bouncing around as if I've been on the caffeine but without the attendant jitteriness (I do not tolerate caffeine well any more).

The course I'm doing this year is a 60-point level 1 introduction to the Arts course. It will in fact be my second last course, as I have 240 points hanging around from when I studied with the OU pre-kids, but these days they insist that you have to do a level 1 course (when I started, ahem, last millennium, I skipped straight to level 2). Actually this is probably just as well because after a twelve-year break I'm no doubt fairly rusty and it'll ease me back into it. Also this one is assessed solely by assignments - there's no exam, callooh, callay, oh frabjous day etc! So far it's going fairly well. I have an assignment to do on Cézanne and Cleopatra - not together, it's an assignment with two short questions. Imagine a single question linking Cleopatra and Cézanne! The mind boggles..

I'd written notes on both sections at the end of last week and just needed to get it into some kind of coherent answer, and today I had an intensive scribbling-on-bits-of-paper session at the local library, with both marker pens and post-it notes (get me, such a student), and it seems, touch wood, reasonably okay.  It turns out I'm a note-taker not a drafter when it comes to essay-writing, which is something our area tutor mentioned at the tutorial we had in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago.  I'd never really thought about it before, but as we have to do some reflective writing as part of the course it's probably helpful to think about the way I work and think. The whole reflective writing things is new to me and to be honest scares me silly!

As an aside I must say that I'm really really lucky with the local library. It's small and to be honest doesn't actually have a huge selection of books, though they'll try to order things in for you if there's something you really want, but it is a real community place. The staff are all friendly and lovely and helpful, and there are always things going on. Rhyme time and story time for the teeny-tiny kids, a book club, Minecraft club and regular craft sessions for the older children, and things going on for adults too. It's one of my favourite places and it's lovely to see a library so appreciated by the community.

The other day we were going out with my mother-in-law for a bit so we decided to go to Pollok Park in Glasgow. Aside from some lovely walks, Pollok Park is the home of the Burrell Collection which we used to mooch around a lot pre-children but tend to hurtle around in rather a hurry these day. Among other things the Burrell Collection includes some ancient Egyptian stuff and a collection of paintings, including a Cézanne, so I thought I'd have a look while we were there to get myself in the mood for comparing and contrasting and muttering about brushwork and so forth. Alas, the Cézanne wasn't there, just an empty space on the wall with no obvious sign explaining its absence.  I'd hazard a guess that they'd have noticed if it had been nicked though. My Beloved said there was a suit of armour missing too - the swords and armour section is his favourite bit.

So I bought the postcard:

 Le chateau de Médan

My mother-in-law and her gentlemen friend took the kids off to the café after a bit so My Beloved and I had a little while to have a proper mooch around looking at things, which is something we haven't done at leisure for ages. I had a really good look at the Egyptian stuff for probably the first time ever. I'd never had any interest in Ancient Egypt, but since the Boy did a Topic* on Ancient Egypt in Primary 4 and I had to help him, I've become more interested.  Between that, and chain-reading Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries**, and having just done the chapter on Cleopatra for the OU course I found myself looking at the various Egyptian bits and pieces with a much more knowledgeable eye. For one thing I was looking at the dates of the objects and being struck by the sheer age (and age-range) of them - there were things there which were truly old, as well as some from the Ptolemaic (Hellenistic) dynasty, the dynasty that included and ended with Cleopatra VII, the Cleopatra, which are comparatively recent as the Ptolemaic dynasty ended pretty much with ol' Cleo in 30 BC.

You know what, though? Studying can be really tiring. I'd forgotten. On that note, I'll head off to bed. Good night!


* There are many more Topics in primary school than when I was that age.

** I'm addicted to mysteries especially ones that are not in the least gritty.

A squillion little bricks

We went to the Brick City exhibition in Paisley yesterday. This is an exhibition of famous places and buildings, some on a big scale, some on a very small scale, built from Lego by Warren Elsmore. It's not a huge exhibition in terms of the space it takes up, just one room really, but it was packed, both with the exhibits and with visitors. The lady on the door said they've had masses and masses of visitors - in fact the exhibition was due to end last week but was extended (finishes this coming Sunday) as it's turned out to be so popular. We arrived just as it opened and people had clearly been waiting to get in, which is probably unusual for Paisley Museum on a wet Sunday in February! We spent ages looking around, going back to out favourite things, finding interesting details, waiting for the crowds to thin a bit to admire something from a different angle.

 This is Lego Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial:

For fans of Scandinavian drama, three little bits of Denmark:

And at the other end of the scale, St.Pancras station.

I really like the clever small-scale models, but there's no denying the thought and work and observation that's gone into building something as big as this. The clock towers had actual clocks in them, telling the right time! And as for the crowds inside and outside the station..

 H. Potter running for his train. Presumably not the Hogwarts Express.

 A cow on the platform, waiting patiently. 

I couldn't get a decent picture but there was also Buzz Lightyear working in a bar, and Darth Vader, R2D2, Zurg-from-Toy-Story, and all sorts of others at the entrance to the station.

In the next room to the main exhibition there were tables with tubs of Lego Pieces for kids (presumably) to get creative.  The Boy made a little spaceship:

and Miss M felt literary:

It was a great thing to do on a dreich Sunday, and we had a mooch around the rest of the museum too while we were there - well, it'd be rude not to! They had some interesting Egyptian stuff and a display about the history of the textile industry in Paisley. Paisley's not somewhere we go to often - I think I've only actually been there once before, other than  occasionally passing through on the way to somewhere else - so I don't suppose we'd really ever have gone to the museum if it weren't for the Lego exhibition.

Favourite tree

My Favourite Tree hasn't made any appearances recently I don't think, so following a trip to Kittochside for the Country Fair today, here it is: 

 Favourite Tree and Nora Louise (one of them - there have been several).

Unexpected colour

 While the rest of our little trip north was nowhere near as warm as it was the day we travelled, it was pleasant enough and we had a lot of fun outdoors.  My dad works part-time at the Highland Folk Museum, a beautiful open air museum where I could happily spend hours just mooching around, so we made a couple of visits there while he was on duty. Actually it was so busy that he always seemed to have loads of visitors round him (which is good!) so we barely saw him there, but it's always a good place for passing the time happily.

 This is beside the excellent play area at the museum - the kids were happy climbing things and I was happy photographing flowers!

 Outside the 1930s school the Boy spent ages playing hopscotch while Mum, Miss Mouse and I had a look round the garden next to the school.

 Inside one of the newer exhibits, the tweed workshop. I think the last time we were there it was just about to open, so it was great to see inside. I love all the bits and pieces of textile production, spools and shade cards and shuttles and the like. There was a loom in there too, with a Work In Progress on it,  but for some reason I didn't take a picture of it.

 Back in my parents' garden, Thorfinn's rose - the rose-bush under which their cat is buried!

 Miss Mouse and her daddy cycling to Kingussie - the cycle path is brilliant and Miss Mouse did really well. I think we might try taking the stabilisers off her bike this summer. She seems quite keen anyway.

 Back at the museum again - one of the hens at the croft, looking idyllic!

 Broom at Loch Insh. The broom was glorious everywhere - you can see a whole lot in the background of the cycling picture too.

 Just warm enough for the paddling pool.  Two minutes later she ran off inside to get her 'kini' - she fondly imagines it's a bikini but actually it's a tankini.  To my mind it wasn't quite warm enough for that but Indestructochild thought otherwise!

Still, never one to be able to resist paddling, I had to join her. 

So there, holiday pictures inflicted upon you :-). I love our mini-holidays - the beginning is always a bit frantic, getting the cats to the cattery, loading the car up and so on, but once we're on our way it's brilliant. I probably shouldn't speak for My Beloved who does all the driving on these trips! Though he did say that he quite enjoyed the Scenic Detour, even though it took longer.  But a few days just pottering around does us all some good.

squee!

We went to the National Museum of Rural Life today (as Andamento did the other day). It was the Easter event so there were some special things happening, including..

.. squee! Ducklings! That little finger is Miss Mouse stroking a duckling. I love ducklings - such cool laidback little characters.

Here's one of the hens up at the farm - she come running over to see what we were doing and stuck her beak in the camera.

Spring is doing its stuff now.

That's the Clydesdale in the background, grazing peacefully.

Bit of rope, just because I liked the faded colour and the way it was blowing around.

Blossom-tastic!

We had a great day - well, morning really. I think we were lucky with the weather, it turned pretty wet after we got home. While we were out my Beloved was off at a motorbike thing (the Yorkhill Easter Egg Run) and also acquiring a new motorbike. Not rolling my eyes at all honestly - he got rid of his 125 at the same time after all..

Some brightness from last week

Because this week I have a cold and a cut on my thumb (so I can't knit) and I'm feeling less than bright. I know, small worries eh? Anyway, last week! Miss Mouse loves playing snap and though I am not a gamer at all (whether computer games, board games or card games, I'm pretty much bored by them all), thanks to our very pretty wild-flower playing cards Miss Mouse and I have spent the odd peaceful half-hour here and there playing Snap. A very quiet, sedate game of snap - I am uncompetitive in the extreme and Miss Mouse is not one for shrieking 'SNAAAAP!' (don't get me wrong, she shrieks other things at other times but Snap is quiet, thankfully).

Last Sunday we took the kids to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow:

- this is where we went with the Boy's class on their school trip and he was keen to go back. Miss Mouse was just keen to go somewhere she hadn't been before. It isn't really leaning, it's just my weird photograph. We ended up spending about three hours there and had only just got to the 'art' side so we'll go back another time. We had a lovely time and saw all sorts of weird things, like this:

Isn't it fantastic?I don't know what it is really - it was part of an education display about industry in Glasgow I think, and there didn't seem to be information about this particular item, that I saw anyway.

I particularly liked the Viking section further round - aside from the displays there was an audio presentation about the Viking influence on place-names, read out by a very familiar voice. It sounded an awful lot like Mary Blance who used to be a presenter on Radio Shetland, so I half expected the thing about place names to drift into an account of what the various SWRI* groups were doing. It was rather pleasant hearing a familiar voice and accent. Down here I'm still having to think when people talk to me, even though I've been here years now.

Cheap daffs, for the win.
Can't go wrong with cheap daffs! Instant sunshine in a vase (or jug in this case), especially if the actual sun deigns to shine!

And this is what I bought in the shop at Kelvingrove:

This makes me laugh every time I look at it. I have had so many unpleasant experiences camping (-3C at Barnard Castle and a puncture in our airbed, for example) that really I'm more inclined towards, you know, actual comfort. And warmth.

Indicative of which are:

Pretty new tea-towels and pink spotty bowl. You should see some of our tea-towels, there's one that is absolutely shredded. I keep it though for the Boy to wipe water off the edge of the trampoline. He'll go out on that trampoline in any weather provided the trampoline is dry - and a good thing too. He has So Much Energy he's (occasionally literally!) bouncing off the walls. Just too much energy.

Before cutting my thumb - it's very frustrating trying to knit with a plaster on the tip of your left thumb - I'd been making coasters. Just a mitred square in some leftover wool but good for knitting-while-watching-telly. And I needed a couple of coasters anyway. As much as anybody actually needs coasters that is.


I might try felting one of them and see how it looks.

And there we have it, a colourful week.

*Scottish Women's Rural Institute, or 'the Rural' - an equivalent to the English WI, i.e. Jam but no Jerusalem.