Category:

..to the Book Festivval, I had to run for the bus.

I was so breathless when I got on it I could barely ask for my destination. Telling my friend of my dismay that I was not as fit as I thought I was, she pointed out that -

1 I had a pack on my back
2 I was pulling a suitcase
3 it was uphill
4 I had been sitting
on the ferry for half an hour (no warm-up)
and 5 I did actually catch the bus!

I didn't feel so bad after that :-)

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Simply..the jazz cruise....

11/7/2023

Trad Jazz as we sailed aroud the port area. Lots of people live on the water in Copenhagen - houseboats, converted warehouses and modern developments both sophisticated and simple, many with a boat tied up at the end of the garden. Thunder and lightning was forecast but the sun shone all evening. It was good fun.

More Trad Jazz in the city with a good humoured crowd in the rain. They sang Give Me Sunshine, then Singing In The Rain then there was one great loud clap of thunder.

If you know Copenhagen you will probably agree with me that it is superefficient and orgainised (everything seems to work!) but tempered with charm and humour. A really friendly place.

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Simply..the Vikings....

10/7/2023

My imagination was gripped by the dramatic display in The National Museum of Denmark of the longeest longship of the Viking era yet found. There were links with hme - the Vikings are known to have sailed up Loch Long - and a beautiful little casket found in this one is thought to have been made in Scotland.

How exciting to have been the archaeologist who found it and the silver ingots, jewellery and coins!

There were lots of flowers to come home to.

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Simply..fantastical!

9/7/2023

Our Saviour's Church in Christianshavn must surely have inspired Hans Christian Andersen to write fairy tales.

My own photograph is not as dramatic as the postcard anove, which I couldn't resist. I absolutely adore this spire.

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Simply..the architecture....

8/7/2023

..in Copenhagen is so varied. Ultramodernn and dramatic developments on the water, hidden old courtyards off the main streets, old streets covered over become art galleries, the elegant restraint of Neo Classicism and buildings which look as though they have been embroidered! I could have spent a week just looking at the buildings and at how the Danes live..

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Simply..cool....

7/7/2023

and very intense.

Our first concert was in Brorsons Kirke. Tord Gustavsen played solo, without pause, for one hour and twenty minutes. The man is a genius but we were seated on beautiful-to-look-at very hard chairs!

A review said

This is the chill-out as a state of grace and it can go as deep as you like. Sublime.

To me it felt like living inside an abstract painting.

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Simply..rainbows, fireworks....

6/7/2023

and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival.

Rainbow over Copenhagen.

4th of July fireworks at Tivoli.

Glad we booked before we went.

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Simply love Carry Farm....

30/5/2023

There is a simplicity about the place that charms me every time. There is a touch of sophistication about it's honeliness. A small nimber of caravans and lodges, hens clucking around, very good coffee, sailing school, studio with smallish selection of high quality crafts and the scent of herbs from Argyll Botany drew me into the tiny beautiful shop before I could look at anything else. SeeEverything low key and well cared for. here.

If you can't make it to Carry Farm you can find Argyll Botany onlime They have a lovely website.

I liked the About section. My photographs don't do justice to the chare racter of the shoop which is quite dark and smells .divine. I bought several delectable things which are making my bathroom smell wonderful.

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Simply staying home...

8/5/2023

Well that's the plan for May.

I thought I should stop gadding about (temporarily) and get some things done which I have been ignoring for too long. They do stack up don't they.

Last of my Paris photos....

A quick look into the Alladin's cave of art supplies Senneliers on the banks of the Seine.

So many pretty flower shops. (Thank you for this shot Mary)

A beautiful yarn shop somewhere near the Roman amphitheatre I think!

Looking at the modern day scaffolding and craness and technology around Notre Dame, it's astonsihing to remember that none of this existed when the cathedral was built between the 12th and 14th centuries...

A huge thank you again to Grace for showing us her Paris.

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Simply home but....

8/5/2023

..part of my head is still full of Paris!

Blogging I find, is a wonderful way to provess events. I hope you will indulge me as I record a few more memories of my trip. The stylish store Merci was great fun, as was the decor in some of the cafés. I loved the exquisite Place Des Vosges with its pleached trees so integrated visually with the architecture.The small park in the Marais district was a gem.

It's so stimulating to look at different sights, to hear different sounds.

It's what travel is about for me. Do you find that too?

Enjoy the music (not very French..)

Didn't go into this shop but the name made me laugh, and once I had played the tune it stayed with me for days!

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Simply..a taste of Sweden....

3/5/2023

..and more interesting shoes! People watching in Paris..

I plan to copy this simple and lovely frame..

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Simply..The Romantics....

2/5/2023

A candlelit concert at Sainte Ephrem church was a marvellous end to our first full day...The sound in this recording is not very good but the accoustics in the church were lovely and the playing by Adrian Polycarpe virtuosic.

Chopin, Schubert, Satie and Beethoven.

Do those of you who know Paris have any favourite less-well known places you could share here?

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Simply..light conytol....

1/5/2023

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The Institute of The Arab World building is fascninating.

Photoelectric cells and mobile apertures on this whole facade are intended to control light levels inside the building, changing as weather conditions change..I don't believe it is working at the moment and the building, now about 30 yearrs old is undergoing a renovation. There is a great bookshop on the ground floor.

The view from the top is wonderful. They are about to position the new spire after the fire of 2019 (which happened the day I came home from my last trip there). From here we walked along the Seine..

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Simply..amazing Grace....

29/4/2023

On our firsr evening , after finding and marvelling at the beautiful modernist apartment Grace had found for us, we dined out. It had been a year since we four friends had been together (in Edinburgh) and we had a leisurely catch up over dinner.

On our first full day we visited -

Couleé Verte
Rue Creémieux
Jardin des Plantes
Arene de Lutece
Rue Moufettard
Institut du Monde Arabe
Sennelier
and
Saint Ephrem le Syriaque (a candlelit concert)

FABULOUS.

To be taken around Paris by Grace who knows it so well was very special. This linear park above the city streets was remarkably tranquil.

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Simply..still buzzing....

28/4/2023

with coffee, cakes, wine, bubbly and excitement after a wonderful trip with friends, one of whom lives in Paris. We don't do things by halves when we get together!

I love the way they package purchases from the cake shops..

More when I have calmed down!

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Simply..enchanting....

6/4/2023

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A short trip to see the wild daffodils in beautiful Farndale in North Yorkshire.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus is the dainty native daffodil. I plan to plant some in the autumn.

While I was away my dear laptop seems to have fixed itself!! (So far so good...)

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Simply..Edinburgh....

24/11/2022

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..at it's most beautiful.

And we got that afternoon tea which was a gift from last Christmas! A lovely treat.

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Simply..Antarctica....

4/10/2022

My little 'rough crossing' on the Clyde yesterday pales completely into insignificance beside this!

Inside thie replica of a hut in the Antarctic, we sat on a bunk wearing headphones listening to the wind howl and watching archival film of the whalers and exploresrs in Antarctica. Story Machine who have produced this nnovative experience tour the country, and have done different books, are worth looking out for. It was very good!

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Simply..rough crossings....

3/10/2022

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on the ferry both there and back, but fine weather while in Wigotwn for the Book Festival. More soon...

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Simply..the reason why....

16/9/2022

..I was in York was to look after Phoebe.

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Simply..doing nothing much....

12/8/2022

If you have listened to La Leendertz this month (you can hear her podcast here)
She says of August-

If you are able to take time off, the days spill into each other in a haze of nothing much

There is a suspension of expectation and activity in August

and it is good to see

how little you can get way with!

I do hope you get some time off.

Don't forget tonight you may see shooting stars..

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Simply..astonishment....

27/7/2022

It is an astonishment to be alive, and it behoves us therefore, to be astonished.

Johm Donne

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Simply..awesome....

26/7/2022

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I was lucky.to be joining friends who are keen and knowledgeable bird watchers, and who had researched all the best things to do on Shetland. This was one of the very best.

At dusk we sailed out to the island of Mousa, reknowned for its ancient broch and the storm petrels which nest in it. We sat inside this amazing structure, awe inspiring in itself, as hundreds, if not thousands, of birds flew in and out feeding their chicks. The broch is double-walled -there are staircases between the walls - so you don't see much of the birds inside, but to sit and listen to stories of the island and hear about the life of the storm petrels was very special.

It is about a 20 minute walk to the broch.

Outside, as it got darker we could see the birds, as fast as swallows, swoop in and out of the outer walls, and sometimes hear their strange small warbling cries.

It was well after midnight and we needed torches to get back to the waiting boat for the 30 minute croossing to the Mainland (as the biggest island is called). You can just see the lights in the final phtograph.

Magical.

Kathleen Jamie in Findings writes a lovely essay about storm petrels.

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Simply..the birdlife....

23/7/2022