A tail for Sunday.

Couldn't help laughing at this one.

See you later.

Listening to:

Misery Bears Valentines

The little bear's search for love continues.

New Music....

Something new for the New Year: The first track released by Scots prog-rock band 'Abandoned Stars' who hail from Edinburgh and include my two brothers-in-law in the line up playing drums and bass guitar.

The track is called 'Beyond Reason' and comes from their first EP  'Opening Act'

Members: Tony Hodge - Drums / Peppe Schiavone - Guitars / Olivier Hadder - Vocals / Leen - Bass  

Check-out
http://www.abandonedstars.co.uk/

Gold, Frankincense and Socks

Please - don't give socks this Christmas.

Have a heart!


see you later.

Coldplay Christmas

I See Winter In The Wind..............

Chi mi'n geamhradh 'as a' ghaoith
Chaneil an sheachd' fada bhuainn
Sgothan dorch' 's na craobhan ruisgt
Tha an oidhche nochd fuar

I see Winter in the wind,
The snow is not far from us.
Dark clouds and the trees are losing leaf.
The night is cold.

Shaoilean fhein gur ann an de
Bha teas an t-samhraidh 'gar leaghadh
Fad an fheasgair air an Dun
'S tu laighe leisg ri mo thaobh

So often it feels like it was only yesterday,
The Summer heat melted us,
All evening long out on the dun,
And you lying lazy by my side.

S iomadh oidch' a rinn sinn suiridhe
'S iomadh oidhch' a rinn sinn gair
'S ionadh oidhch' a bhithinn a'smuaintinn
Gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath

Many nights we loved,
Many nights we laughed,
Many nights I thought,
That you would have stayed forever

Chan fhan a' ghrian chan fhan a' fad na bliadhna
Cha sheas an uair mar a tha i
Dh'fhalbh thusa gu'n a'cheo
'S dh'fhag thu mi le mo geamhradh

But the sun never shines all the year,
and time will not stay as it once was.
You left me for the city,
Leaving me to my winter.

'S iomadh oidch' a rinn sinn suiridhe
'S iomadh oidhch' a rinn sinn gair
'S ionadh oidhch' a bhithinn a'smuaintinn
Gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath

Gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath


Gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath

Many nights we loved,
Many nights we laughed,
Many nights I thought,
That you would have stayed forever

Photo - The Tree. By Alistair.


Listen to it here

Away in A Manger

The Reindeer Song

More from the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre I'm afraid...........



and still more to come over the next few days.

Be Warned!

Away in {Pret} a Manger

Mwahahahahaha

Work is - Misery.

Hullo ma wee blog,

No explanation needed.

See you later.

Annie's Song.

Hullo ma wee blog,

Don't tell my lovely G, but I may have feelings for another woman. Don't worry, it's not what you might think, but I have to confess I do love Annie Lennox.


Over the last couple of weeks I have been suffering from terrible insomnia.  During my night time sojourns to the internet I've spent a lot of time listening to music on the laptop while I've either been reading or checking out the latest from the blogs I follow.

During that time I have rekindled my love affair with Annie Lennox, rather – with her voice. I've always loved the quality of her voice, which I feel has a rare perfection. I thought she had tremendous range and clarity and also I thoroughly enjoyed most of the music she was making at any time. She is a great singer/song-writer who can create some beautiful, intelligent lyrics. Oddly, for someone like me who loves live music and has been to numerous concerts over the years she's one performer I have never seen. She's often on my playlist through the night and I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting old favourites as well as the more recent material from her. Her voice if anything, has grown richer over the years and I was struck once again by the beautiful clarity that she has. While her voice was always pure she now has a richness to it that could be lacking in the past. I occasionally felt that her voice was so pure that it would veer into a kind of brittle clarity that was cold and steely, perfect for some somgs but not for others. Despite that, her voice has always had such an alluring hold over me that I found her irresistible to listen to. As well as that voice and creativity, I appreciate her emotional intelligence, humanity and her political views.  She would be one of those welcome dinner guests you'd love to sit around a dinner table with and share a few glasses of wine with as the conversation flowed.

I hope you like these examples of what I have been trying - and probably failing - to explain adequately.

See you later.

Beautiful Bewilderment

Hullo ma wee blog,

Shouldn't journeys end like this - an advert for a mobile phone company.

Or how about this to start your day off {providing you're not running late for the train}

La Garriga - Things That Make Me Smile.

Hullo ma wee blog,

Sometimes it's nice to get away from a world that often seems to be petty, self obsessed and too narrow minded for it's own good. It raises my spirits to see people do things for others without thought for what's in it for them or do things that simply make their community and therefore the world a better place. I was reminded of that this morning when blogger pal Jono over at e-clecticism posted the newest release from the 'Playing For Change' organisation - a group who I feel fits this concept perfectly simply by showing that music unites us all and by inference that we are the same the world over if we just stop for a moment and realise it. They do this by sending a recording around the world and getting local musicians to add a layer to it as it goes. The results are wonderful.

Unfortunately I couldn't get any sound on the posting, but as I obviously like 'playing for change' I headed through to the youtube version. It's a great version of 'The Rolling Stones' track 'Gimme Shelter'. Another clip there also caught my eye. It's called 'La Garriga is playing for change' and is a wonderful version of one of my favourite songs from old musicals. The intro below the post simply says " La Garriga Is Playing For Change Too  and doesn't pretend to copy the initiative of the organization "Playing For Change", it's just a tribute made with all the resources that we have. We just want to support these idea and talk with the universal language that anyone understands: music."

It continues;

"La Garriga is a little town 35 Km far Barcelona (Catalunya). Maybe we don't have extraordinary cathedrals or fountains or great business buildings, but we have extraordinary people, this video is just a little proof of it. Enjoy it!"

I did enjoy it La Garriga - and you have started my day with a smile.

Thank you.

Listening to

Late night music.

Hullo ma wee blog,

Sitting doing social work reports prep into the wee small hours for a hefty set of childrens panels next week and listening to some music to help the information sink in.

I thought I might as well subject you to it as well. Headphones on. Volume high. Malt whisky to hand - check!






















Time for bed.

G'night.

Will you please TURN THAT MUSIC OFF!!!!

          A beautiful version of this track

Hullo ma wee blog,

The header to this piece would have been very familiar to my mother, although she would usually have ended it with "and come down and have your dinner" or something similar. Strange - looking at me now you would never believe I missed a dinner in my life!


You may {or not} have noticed that the last couple of posts have had a song posted from a particular concert. I found a series of clips on youtube of Neil Finn {Crowded House} Roddy Frame {Aztec Camera} and Graham Gouldman {10cc} playing an acoustic set together. I really enjoy the stripped back sheer musicality of this type of set and when it's handled by such wonderful singer-songwriters as these three it's doubly special, hence me not being able to resist posting yet another piece  {well two actually} from their set. This set me thinking about music and the blog.


Regular readers will know I often post a copy of what I happen to be listening to as I write {if I can find it} and also you may notice that it often reflects the theme or tone of the post itself. This is an unconscious thing for me. I usually have music on about the place, especially when I'm here on the laptop, and I tend to write posts just on impulse or instinct off the top of my head. Usually I've no idea what is going to come out when I sit down unless I'm doing one of my history posts as they need to be a bit more organised and so I tend to plan them out a bit beforehand, although I do have to confess to having a notebook where I jot down things which come to me that I feel I might be interested in writing about. Over the life of the blog I've come to realise that music is an integral part of my blogging experience so that's why I share the songs that have accompanied the post. Most times a post takes two or three {or more} songs to get me to the end with my limited secretarial skills and so I'll add whatever I'm listening to at the time of publishing and it's often only then that I realise there is sometimes a direct link between what I hear and what I write.


{I've no idea why or even if this is important by the way!}


There have been comments about the songs at times but they tend to be relatively few and far between so I really have no idea if most of you take a moment to listen, listen if I happen to post a favourite of yours or just pass them by. I've often wondered how many people listen and what they think of either just the music or about any connection they might have to the piece?  I wonder if these songs sometimes resonate?  I wonder if I should post them at all -is it important or just a distraction?  Do most people flit in and out without listening?  Would it help or hinder the blog if I dropped them?  Should I post them nearer the start of the post so that readers could hit play if they want and read on while it plays?


In some way though I think it makes the blog more personal, more immediate to me at least and so for now at least they'll keep making an appearance as and when they can.


See you later.


Listening to

          Roddy Frame - Hymn to Grace

Strangely Addicted to

Gary - Tank Commander.



From the BBC Scotland comedy series



How soldiers on deployment relieve stress

The Return of The Mad Cyclist.........

Hullo ma wee blog,

Last year I posted a video of Danny MacCaskill, professional cyclist, doing some incredible bike tricks on the streets - amongst other places - of Edinburgh. I'm not a cyclist but I enjoy the skill, bravado and creativity that goes into doing some of the tricks he does and the videos have good production values and a cracking soundtrack. Now he's back. In his latest video he is on a journey from Edinburgh where he now lives back home to the Isle of Skye where he was brought up, stopping off along the way to showcase more of the incredible and sometimes plain daft, ability he has to use the buildings and landscape for exuberantly doing his thing.

I hope you enjoy it .

The Importance of Good Communication...........

Hullo ma wee blog,

As it's almost Christmas {and I'm supposed to be wrapping presents for my Lovely G at the moment!} I am listening to a couple or three of favourite funnies which just happen to share the theme of communication. Victor Borge was a great favourite in our house when I was growing up and I remember these two pieces vividly. I loved this great Dane for his clever wit and his comic timing as well as his incredible musical virtuosity.



And finally one of the greatest comedy talents of my generation who had just an immense love of the potential  for the playfullness inherent in the spoken word. One of my all time favourite clips....




Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!

See you later.

For Jono - Baby's first photo....

This is definitely one for full screen.........

Hullo ma wee blog,

I found this trawling the web. Its a lovely wee bit of natural film-making as it's predominately done by - well watch it and see.

I found myself laughing at the geeky inventiveness of the cameras, especially blizzard cam, which made me think of my bloggy pal Jono who I feel could well invent some idea like this.

So this ones dedicated to you Jono.

Cheers..........

Snow Problem? - 'S No Problem.............

Between snow-showers today

Hullo ma wee blog,

Well, the snow is continuing to fall, our friend's flights to The Canary Islands have been cancelled and it may be several days before they can get an alternative, all schools are closed, there are no trains running on the East Coast line today and the main A1 from here to Edinburgh is blocked. So our friends are therefore trapped in Edinburgh for who knows how long.

 All across Scotland it seems that chaos is King.

The impeccable 'Calvin and Hobbes'

 The Lovely G and I have an extra day together and the house is warm. We renewed our supplies of wild bird food yesterday so the local bird population that has come to rely on us is being well catered for and have been entertaining us with their antics this morning. Nothing else for it but to make the most of the day. A spot of peaceful and perhaps reflective soup making is on the agenda for this afternoon.

I found this on You Tube this morning. It's appropriate for the weather.



Stay warm.....

See you later.

Listening to this: