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Should you find yourself at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh (see yesterday's post) don't miss, a few doors down, Greyfriars delightful Alladin's cave of an art materials shop -    Quirky, with friendly knowledgeable staff. A few doors up is G&T, good coffee and deli, across the road is Open Eye Gallery and Eye 2 with classic prints by Matisse, Hockney et al, just round the corner is the opulent Dome with fabulous flower displays....feasts for all the senses.   We dashed across the country yesterday to catch the last day of the exhibition of Joan Eardley's work at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh. Joan Eardley is one of my all time favourite artists. Honest, passionate, compassionate and totally committed. Unflinching, unafraid of her materials, a wonderful draughtsman....I could go on, but her work speaks for itself.  I knew the Glasgow she depicts so well and find her work moves me deeply. The exhibition was busy with others who had left it till the last day, and some who were visiting for the second or third time. The paintings and drawings were all for sale and will never again be shown together as almost all have sold. The catalogue was sold out.  I'm sorry to recommend it only when the show is over, but for high quality reproductions of all the works click on the thumbnails here.  20 bin bags of rubbish were collected from the beach and the shore path today - exhausting but satisfying for the 15 or so volunteers, some from other villages, who came to help. As the first flowers come out in Coronation Wood (click top right for more photographs) we had another bonfire and a barbecue, and made a start on a natural sculpture inspired by the wonderful work of Andy Goldsworthy. Tired but happy tonight....  Pussy willow against a blue sky, and a walk along the shore with a friend - sun, showers, warm, cold..  But lovely in the greenhouse, stuffed with plants! The fuchsias called Checkerboard - a lovely lively red and white single flowered bush variety will go into a very large pot. The white petunia with a lime green eye will form the basis of the three large black pots colour scheme for this year.  Much of the fun is in the planning, don't you think? White and lime green for the hot hot summer days we are hoping for - trailing verbena, lobelia, geranium and petunia - all white, and golden helichrysum and lime green petunia if I can find them. We filled the boot at Vertigrow, a favourite nursery just outside York. The greenhouse and the studio are bursting with plants - all waiting for warmer days and nights before they can go into the garden. But at 9 o'clock this evening it wasn't quite dark..  and we saw a swallow a few days ago. Village Beach Clean tomorrow morning with coffee and cakes in the Village Hall for the workers. Coronation Wood in the evening, with barbecue on the clean beach (locally produced venison burgers - yum!). Busy wee place Ardentinny.  York Minster, the very heart of the city.
Do you have a place you keep going back to? We say we are attached to York by a big elastic band! We always go back, drawn by wonderful friends, happy memories, and sheer love of the place. We were lucky enough to live for a number of years in Fairfax House where my husband had his dream job, which came about by an amazing coincidence....another tale, for another day..  My favourite city, my second home....  Full of character,  romance,  history with your coffee,  daffodils  and daisies.  On a sunny Saturday in April  it's also full of tourists  street artists and entertainers, some of whom  have been there for ever it seems.  So have some of my favourite cafes,  happily for me.  including that institution Betty's,  with pianist! Almost packed!
Here's my list for sponge bag and make-up bag, and for my suitcase. As we're going by car this time the temptation is to take more of course.... I'll be checking out the Rohan shop in York, which is in one of the loveliest old streets. (Thanks for the tips Sarah, Chris and Lucent) I have been enjoying the superb photography on this blog for a while. I hope you might enjoy it too. Have a good weekend. From blog holidays to real holidays - life is just one long holiday! I'm going to my Simply Holiday category to remind myself how I travel light, as we're going for a long weekend to the lovely city of York. See here for ideas of what to wear when travelling. I'm planning to see the exhibition of antique quilts (scroll down) at Fairfield Manor, just outside York while I'm there, and am hoping that the daffodils around the city walls have not been blown away. Can't wait.... Simply Fun and Simply Laugh could also really be one category I suppose....there are quite a few posts under Simply Laugh. Of course a sense of humour is a very personal thing, but I hope I can leave you smiling as I take a few days blog break..try here, here and here. Or browse Simply Laugh - scroll down on right - if you have time this weekend? Fun is simple, mostly. Photographing something that amuses, making things - sea monsters, tin can decorations. Even minor mishaps can be fun to relate (if not fun at the time). See under Simply Fun if you have a little time to browse - there are just a few posts surprisingly, considering how much fun I have.. Fun is an attitude of mind. Fun is writing this blog. Fun is reading your comments. - thank you! Do you like exercise? I tried swimming, I tried ballet workouts, but I have to confess I didn't stick with either of them for very long, and my basic antipathy to exercise has not changed much since this post way back in 2010. (Simply Fitter and Simply Move should really be one Category.) What I do stick with though is gardening, and I enjoyed some in the sunshine today, in the delightful company of our tame robin.... 
I shall move on quickly to Simply Fun!
There are only four posts under Simply Fitter. (See under Categories.) That tells you something.. I'm still a wimp I'm afraid, in spite of brave words and good intentions! Don't miss the brilliant little video here. I've just come across a book called I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson. Hmm - could maybe tackle my two failures in one fell swoop - cutting out sugar would also make a person fitter, don't you think? I did it once (for about seven years) so I could do it again. Have any of you tried cutting out sugar? Before I left my review of Simply Eat posts I wanted to remind you of an ebook I liked. However when I tried to find Stone Soup and the 5 ingredients, 10 minutes recipes I got this message - You 404'd it. Gnarly dude. Surfin' ain't easy, and right now, you're lost at sea. !!!!! So I gave up. But lo, the author of Stone Soup turned up on Zen Habits yesterday. Click here.  You can probably see  that I am more  dreamer  than cook!  I do love  glamorous cookbooks  and the husband who likes  to cook from them.  When it's my turn I go to these. (Can you tell they've not been used much?) Well, not literally! Here are the books which influenced me most as I reasearched eating simply: No 1, and one we use all the time, is Zoe Harcombe Stop Counting Calories and Start Losing Weight - The Harcombe Diet. Also the recipe book that goes with this. Many of the recipes have become standards for us. No 2 is David Servan Servan Schreiber's Anti Cancer - A New Way of Life. Made me rethink and adopt some new eating habits. No 3 is Michael Pollans In Defence of Food . Both shocking and inspiring. No 4 Potatoes Not Prozac by Kathleen DesMaisons helped me understand the nature of sugar cravings (still a problem from time to time! Work to do here!) I read many more (mentioned in Simply Eat posts) but these are the ones I will keep. Tomorrow I'll list the cookbooks I love....  My occasional city 'fix' has just got more colourful! This is part of the floor in Glasgow's new Paperchase store..  A brighter buzz.  A pop of pink!  I didn't buy, but I came out on a high. Remember that adage about looking on the commercial world like a museum?  Or a theatre perhaps? Or an art gallery... And it has a coffee shop. Colour is so exciting, don't you think? 
We tend to take it for granted....
the half hour cruise
that is part of our journey to the city.
Today I savoured it.
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