Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Valentines Day

I always maintain that Valentines Day can be an enjoyable day, whether one has a significant other or not! I actually have never had a boyfriend on Valentines Day, yet I have always enjoyed it. Some memorable Valentines Days include: 9th grade at school (in a pink dress) and getting pink roses from my dad - delivered to me during a class!; walking downtown to the local used bookshop and buying 'Aurora Leigh' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; and dressing up in a vintage frock (pink again!) and going out to a restaurant (with original decor from the 1930s) in Salt Lake City with my parents.

So, this Valentines Day, I went into the city centre to the Glasgow Film Theatre (a cinema that opened in the 1930s) to see Brief Encounter on the big screen! I had only seen the film once before, years ago, so I was really looking forward to seeing it again. It was magical. And so intense! For reserved, English people the passion and agony is quite overwhelming. I even got a little teary-eyed at the closing scene. It was fabulous. (It also makes me wonder why train scenes are so romantic!)

Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in BRIEF ENCOUNTER

My cinema ticket - and my subway ticket as well.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Interpreting Archaeology

In the above mentioned class of mine, we have "small group sessions" where a handful of us will meet in a small classroom and discuss interesting things. My favourite week, I believe, is when we discussed - and handled! - the mysterious stone carved balls from the Neolithic. These are Scottish, and they are a complete mystery. No one knows what their purpose, symbolism, etc. was. But we all found, in handling them, that they were extremely compelling, and none of us wanted to put them down again. They range from simply decorated, to complex with carvings etc.

In a later week, we had the assignment to prepare a drawing, or a model, of Stonehenge. If you selected the drawing option, you had to make up what you think the ancient people who built Stonehenge got up to. I chose the drawing option, as I am an indifferent but not completely dreadful artist. But I really was at a loss as to what people did in Stonehenge. I didn't want to go with any outlandish theories, but I came up with something to do with light and shadow, day and night, life and death, and perhaps they used the gaps in the stones as the light, and the stones and the shadows as the dark. Anyway, here's my drawing, for what it's worth!
Why I didn't stick with art in university!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentines FHE

We had a lovely Valentines Day celebration on Monday the 13th. We had spaghetti and a delicious cheesecake. After our meal & a lovely lesson, we made old-fashioned valentines, and I taught everyone how to do the fox-trot and swing-dancing as well!

Our lovely table setting.

Rachel & her valentine

Sis Hicks & her valentine.

my valentine!

Carlos & his valentine.

Han & her valentine, which folded up - very clever!

The other side of Han's valentine.

Ian & his valentine, which he wanted to look like a butterfly.

teaching swing-dancing


The Hicks dancing along.


Um, you need a partner for swing-dancing. No free styling here!




Ian took this picture - he always takes artistic shots!



Sunday, February 12, 2012

New Kettle!

So, when I was making the clootie dumpling, I turned our kettle on for something, and there was a sudden violent flash of sparks issuing from the kettle - I quickly turned it off, and there was a scorch mark on the cord of the kettle. Suffice it to say that it's water-boiling days are over. So, we shopped around for kettles, and just weren't finding a suitable one. Rachel went online and found this one, and we were sold (well, Victoria took a bit of convincing, but we talked her round in the end).

Isn't it fabulous?!