Down in Liverpool for the weekend, and no trip is complete without a visit to the beach. There's something liberating about being by the sea, feeling the sea air hit your face and walking on the sand.
This was Friday evening, an after-dinner walk. The sky was an mixture of pale and delicate pinks and greys
Watching the sky turn gold
then ink blot clouds become darker.
Till the sky was deep blue as night fell.
A gift for my mum today (Mother's Day here in the UK), a scarf of crocheted flowers.
Well, you can never have too many flowers and I thought this would be pretty and useful for these spring days with a cool nip in the air. These are good colours for Mum, it really suits her!
The weather has taken an upward turn, the temperature has risen, so happy days. Friday evening started with this amazing sunset sky
Then I went off to hear one of my literary heroes, William Boyd, at the Aye Write festival here in Glasgow at the Mitchell Library
WB is an engaging and warm orator, natural, warm and witty, and totally at home in front of an audience. It was a fascinating evening with a description into how his novels are conceived, researched and crafted, some readings from his latest book Ordinary Thunderstorms and a Q&A; one of the questions posed was about the particular difficulties of transferring a long novel to the small screen, especially one's own work, and WB told us that his novel (and my favourite of his books) Any Human Heart is just about to start filming in a TV adaptation, to be shown this autumn. I, for one, can't wait to see how such an epic novel of a long and full life will translate to the screen. All wonderfully interesting and entertaining - I'm so glad I was there.
Saturday, I put on my crafty hat and went to the Creative Stitches show at the SECC. I enjoyed much of the exhibits, and there were some lovely wools. But it was a bit of an effort to get round as there was lots of pushing and shoving - if anyone is familiar with the comedy show The Mighty Boosh, there's an episode called Nanageddon, when all the elderly ladies in the vicinity become possessed by an evil demon and go on the rampage, and I was reminded of this with increasing regularity as it got busier and wool-frenzy took hold. I left before it got really nasty! However, I didn't come away empty-handed (of course not!) I bought some lovely wool from the New Lanark Organic wool shop
and a pack of 10 balls of Rowan Alpaca in beautiful purple
and this lovely book
I think I'll be making something purple from this book soon, so watch this space!
Today brought an invitation from my sister to go the cinema, so off we duly went, armed with our 3D specs to see Alice in Wonderland. The plot of the film is an amalgam of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and Jabberwocky, so if you are a purist, you may not like it. But I did, it looked so beautiful, wonderful sets and costumes, and the sombre, slightly spooky mood and sense of unease suited the reworking of the story. I liked Anne Hathaway's White Queen (like a crazed Nigella Lawson) and Stephen Fry's voice for the Cheshire Cat, all persuasive plummy purring! Well worth seeing if you like your films with a dark twist.
That's all I had time for!
The first half of January seems to have been dominated by the snowy, icy weather which was lovely to look at........sometimes! And the results of staying in the house have been much yarny goings-on. Then there was my birthday and my trip to Liverpool. So all in all, a pretty good month to reflect on.
Sunday afternoon at the beach near my dad's house.
Watching the setting sun
Beautiful :-)
I am visiting Liverpool this weekend, and yesterday made a trip to one of my favourite places, Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight on the Wirral.
The garden village of Port Sunlight was built by William Hesketh Lever in the late 19th-early 2oth centuries to house his workers at the Lever Brothers soap factory. It's an amazing achievement, the whole village is now a conservation area and most of the buildings are Grade 2 listed. There is a peaceful atmosphere one might not expect to find so close to the bustling city of Liverpool. Along wide tree lined roads, the houses are built in several different styles (as several different architects were employed). I like these mock Tudor ones
The quality of life the village must have given those factory workers was unprecedented at that time; it's a marvel of early urban planning, a piece of social history, and a must-see place in the Liverpool area.
The Lady Lever Art Gallery was dedicated by William Lever to his late wife and houses his amazing collection of paintings, sculpture, porcelain and furniture. It's an airy and light space
Particularly splendid are the collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings
It's a real treat if you like this kind of painting as there are some beautiful examples, along with 18th and 19th century portraits by, amongst others, Joshua Reynolds, and landscapes by Turner and Constable. There's a very good cafe too, always a necessity after multiple picture viewing.
There are sculptures dotted around the village, this was right outside the gallery;
Just up the road from the gallery is a very good garden centre where I bought these lovely souvenirs of my visit; they are primulas(which look like rosebuds).They'll remind me of being here, in this special place, when I look at them.
Today is my birthday :-) which I will spend at work :-( However, not to be thwarted in the pursuit of enjoyment, I decided to start celebrating on Saturday and went for a mega-treat, Afternoon Tea at one of Glasgow's loveliest restaurants, Rogano. Decorated in the Art Deco style, it is just beautiful, like stepping back to the 1930s. And the food?
Sumptuous!
It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon with friends, we all enjoyed it immensely.
Why stop when you're having fun, Sunday was a big family gathering and trip to Pizza Express for nice food and chat.
3 boys on the town in their chefs hats!
Birthday cake too!
Purple presents
and cards for this purple-loving gal!
I'm having a quiet birthday tea tonight with loved ones to round off an extended birthday weekend.
So that's it, another year older, now I'm 46, an age which sounded positively geriatric to me when a teenager........now I've got here, it's just fine!
A happy month with Christmas and the preparations beforehand, good times spent with family and friends, some crafty goings-on and lots of glitter and tinsel.........oh yes, and lots of snow!
Another year is almost over, and what have I done?
I visited all these interesting and beautiful places
I've grown all these flowers and enjoyed their colour and beauty
I taught myself to crochet and started a new obsession! And I made all these,
I have read all the books in this list.
I took 3863 photographs!
And I watched the changing of the seasons
Starting to write this blog was a big step for me, and it's been quite a journey, gaining the confidence to write and show my photos here. I wouldn't have missed it for anything! Many thanks to everyone who has visited and commented over the year. I really do appreciate you stopping by and all your encouraging words. I hope you'll be back to see what 2010 will bring. Happy New Year to you all :-)
November seems to have flown by, time again for another monthly collage!
I am Marie, a musician who likes to take photographs and write about what I'm making, reading and enjoying.
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