after the ball is over...

Now it is time to check-in on line, double check the time of my flight, and wonder how I am going to make it from the station to my house tomorrow night should I happen to need a later train. My track record of arriving on time with Ryan Air is not good.

Ah well, however I get there it will be good to be home again, back into sorting out my own chaos and hopefully finishing my work within the next five or six working days.

Now it is time to pack, a much lighter case on the return journey as the chocolates, cheeses and truffles stay in Scotland.

Goodbyes are hard to say; for me I think "See you again soon" is a much better farewell.

Zacchi will be happy to see me, his carer possibly relieved to hand over responsibility... and Pickle? Who knows what Pickle thinks? I think the gentle and caring house-sitter will be flavour of the month with Pickle!

Today I am grateful for affordable air travel and adventurous family.

blackout curtains, anyone?

Daylight, whether metaphorical or literal, is usually welcome. But here it is almost 10pm and my head believes it is only about 6pm. Sleep? Not in this light! This morning the hotel drapes let me sleep until 8am. The sky was still a beautiful deep blue well after midnight. Fascinating, but...!

the wedding

The ceremony was in the Glasgow planetarium, an intimate and romantic northern ceremony under the southern sky. Two hemispheres joined by wedding vows. In the darkness and subdued lighting it seemed that we were witnessing a precious moment in a world where no-one else existed, only the marriage celebrant and the special couple. Many of the Scottish men complained later that their eyes leaked, one or two happily suggesting that maybe there was dust in the atmosphere as the couple made their personal vows. Tears are not only for women...

It was the first time anyone had married in the Planetarium, so the staff were very excited and included "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" in the 15 minute journey through the skies before the "special star" made her entrance in the dark, carrying a softly glowing bouquet.

The reception was in a small castle (now an hotel), so we travelled from space-age romance to Scottish history in a few hours. Dancing continued after midnight, and last up the stairs was... shhh, not telling, but I do know that the time was 2.05am!

Weddings bring family together, and while one member couldn't make it, in many ways she was there with us too.

Today I am grateful for happy occasions.

manganese blue

Today I discovered manganese blue.

There is nothing more wonderful than seeing people doing what they are passionate about.

New Zealanders have been described as the passionless people in The Passionless People: New Zealanders in the 1970s (Gordon McLaughlan, 1979). Not true, I say... but maybe there is an element, a tiny grain of truth in it. Is that why some of us leave, do we answer a call to follow our passions elsewhere?

Google links (after googling The Passionless People) threw up some interesting reading about New Zealanders in research from Lincoln University.

Are we still a passionless people? This blog post from Peter Verstappen, a New Zealand writer, asks the same question.

Today I am grateful for passionate people.

it is

It is busy, the last few days before the "Scottish wedding". It is time to write check lists and actually cross a few things off them! The bride-to-be has just come in with the offer of tea and home baking...

No other post today; it is nearly midnight, and family calls!

Today I am grateful for photos from America.

change of food

Another landscape, another cuisine. The road from Prestwick to Glasgow is becoming familiar.

I am far more likely to put on weight in Scotland than in Italy! This food is so familiar, a taste of my childhood on the other side of the world.

I hope that Zacchi is getting better: I thought of him as the pressure of descent hurt my ears too!

Today I am grateful for safe travel and happy family.

where did sunday go?

It's Monday already. Today the owner of the apartment where I am painting greeting me with a friendly good morning and a warm smile! Hopefully that is a good sign, as, after hearing from the boss last week that my painting was too heavy and strong, I was very worried about the outcome of this project.

Friday afternoon I "ruined" a little of my painting so it blended more with the background (that is, I attacked it with sandpaper). Today we pasted up the straight lines, and thankfully they do look soft and antique as I intended... so with a little more softening of the shadows they might just pass inspection!

Here's hoping!

Today I am grateful for a beaming smile.