Christmas 2021- Lemons

Another disrupted Christmas – Covid 19 Omicron. Managed to see everyone in dribs and drabs. Most original present – fresh Spanish lemons.

Tree 2021

Took the time last year to wind up the lights carefully, clever me.

Winter Garden

Viburnum bodnantense Pink Dawn particularly fragrant just now.

Let’s Get Going

Giving Christmas a head start.

Tom Prentice’s Wake

At The Outhouse, Edinburgh, 28th November 2021

Eulogy by Andrew Randall, little speech by me. Projection compiled by Leora Brook, music compiled by me. Classical pieces by Tom’s erstwhile colleagues.

Sad fun.

Tom Prentice 20.8.59 - 21.10.20

Good Day in Morpeth

Went to see Mary and Gerry on the new Lumo service, complete success. Lunch at the Cook and Barker, won’t need to eat for 48 hrs.

AM/FM

Summer 1966 at Polwarth Crescent.

OMD

OMD tonight at the Usher Hall, really good, played all of their hit singles really well, and they can both still sing tunefully.

Special guest: Fraser Mills (!) down from Inverness

Co-starring Bill Wait who gave us a lift home

Lumo to Morpeth

New train service, Edinburgh to Morpeth direct for £9.80 return which includes seat reservations. It will be good while it lasts! Off on 10/11.

Crab-Apple 2021

5 1/2 lb from the Golden Hornet. Greenish tinge to the liquid but went pink on boiling. Phew.

Crab-Apple Harvest 6th October

5 1/2 lbs, (2.5kg) this year, should get a dozen jars of jelly. Time will tell.

Preparation

Giving the chiminea a lick of stove-paint.

Gig 52

Fringe By The Sea Saturday 14th August 2021.

Lighthouse Stage, North Berwick.

This was special, we had been invited to play at Fringe By The Sea 2020 after Gig 51, but alas CoVid intervened. However, the invitation still stood, so we played in the Harbour Lighthouse Tent, 400 watchers. Windy but sunny day, a great memory. Two slots with an interval:

Setlist pt. 1 Pictures Of Biggles, Tamagotchi Girl, Cool, Eleanor, Exit Plan, Freiburg (CH) ‘98, The g Factor, It’s Abnormal, Mouse In Love.

Setlist pt.2 Death Makes You Feel Like A Man, Watching Waters Rise, Waterboy Blues, (We Were) Always On Our Own, Standing In For Love, No-one Wants You Watching, Red Star, The Science Of Survival, Selling The Party. Encore: A Physical Husband.

Soundman: Andy. Weirdly blustery sound on stage, but OK in front apparently. Wobbly PA needed sorting during Pt.2 but didn’t cause any delay.

Tense before soundcheck, had left music stand struts in boot of the car which was parked 10 minutes away up the hill.

Very well received, no-one left after Pt.1. Many CDs gone. Families impressed. Rehearsals paid off, stamina improved.

https://www.fringebythesea.com/dancing-mice/

Memory Lane

Visited WGH last week, went to old DSN1, my second housejob , sadly looked grim and brought back memories of a pretty strange time, viz: being told to phone ex-KIng Constantine of the Hellenes to get him to authorise the rapid transfer through customs of a neurosurgical electrode from New York to Edinburgh, and to arrange for it to be sped up from Heathrow with a police escort.

Four Years

…since I worked. Don’t miss it one bit, wish I’d retired sooner. Slightly nostalgic about Harrogate etc. No; on second thoughts, not.

 

Pundit with Taste

COVID-19 pundit on BBC this morning, nice surprise to see a copy of Eroded by Dancing Mice on her shelves.

Negroni Sbagliato

Jane’s birthday yesterday, did lunch today, with firework candles and Negroni Sbagliato, which went down a treat.

Craigmount Afternoon

Baby Angus up for the Bank Holiday, pleasant afternoon at Natalie and Dave’s, although a little tense every time Angus threw a car in the rill.

Memory of Cars

Martin has my cars from 55 years ago, I remember these seven.

Lateral Flow Test

First lateral flow Covid-19 test, for studio rehearsals.

Negative…Phew!

Tom Prentice

20/8/59 – 21/10/20

Ceremony today down at the Water of Leith beside Gt Junction St Bridge; Andrew, Leora, Ian, John McTeirnan, Gary and ? to scatter Tom’s ashes. Lots of memories, sadness and laughter as would be expected. RIP.

Return of the Clocks

House coming back to life after hibernation.

Night Phlox

Each side of the front door, strong pong. Zaluzianskya ovata.

Leora and Andrew

Up sorting things in Earlston ( alas!), came to lunch ( hooray!)      .

Easter Bouquet

Courtesy of Mary.

Garden Lunches

Coming out of another lockdown, chiminea back in action.

A Difficult One

This proved really tricky with many similar pieces. Looks good done though, and made me realise just how good Lowry was with colours.

Pulse Oximeter

Good news and bad news. Marathon athlete’s pulserate and asthmatic’s O2 sat. 98% after a few deep breaths phew. Imagine if I took exercise.

Pickle

First attempt at pickling onion.

Snow at Midnight

Gone mid-morning.

Ruth at 90

With her birthday bouquet, all very good.

Wallpaper

Redid the bathroom before Christmas.

Apple Charlotte

First try at this “Mum’s” pudding. Yum.