Bartimaeus

We had been told there was no danger of the boat being ready before mid February and the weather has not been tempting for boating either. It has been fine for indoor pursuits and I have made progress with that cardigan and knitted a Moebius cowl for a friend with wool she had been gifted. I bought extra chunky needles for it. It hangs nicely round the neck....or a cushion.

Nye has been baking and tried a Victorian recipe for a caraway seed loaf. It needed egg whites whisked as the raising agent. It turned out well and was enjoyed on its own or with cheese or even toasted and buttered.

I made a trip to Dalmeny again where there was a delicious date and walnut loaf on offer. Things surprised me with an amaryllis bulb. I had got out an old one, I had given Nye on some previous year, to see if would do another season.  He will be able to watch them if we can't hang around in Edinburgh to see the flowers. They are both putting up green shoots and growing space. They certainly don't hang around!

On the way back from Dalmeny, I messaged Shane to see if he wanted to meet in a cafe for lunch, since I had abandoned him for the morning. He did so and I suggested The Red Squirrel that I had spotted on Lothian Road, as I like to try an independent place and we had never been before. Shane replied he would be there in 3 minutes and cycled to meet me there. That was good as it was a cold day for hanging around in the pavement so I popped in and found a table. He fitted right in as red seemed to be a theme.

Shane and I have both made brief forays out for short runs. I need to work off the baking somehow, when the weather encourages lounging indoors or catching a bus rather than going for a walk. We managed to fit in one tandem ride, shorter than his usual trips, but far enough for me. He took me to a cafe he had tried out before, in Musselburgh.

One rainy day we had an afternoon at the National gallery and managed to resist hanging out in the coffee shop and focus on the pictures hanging on the walls. Much of it we have seen before but some were ones I hadn't remembered and a few reminded me of places I have travelled before: some hot and some not.  

I have a photo in a box somewhere of me in a pink sundress in this square in Venice, but unfortunately on our visit St Mark's was covered in scaffolding and chipboard. There was mixed weather in the painting of Dunotter castle, very atmospheric.

I have been to Dunotter castle, near stonehaven in Scotland a couple of times. What an amazing place!

We have been more recently on the Thames and we both noticed this painting of a weir there, a less common choice for the impressionist painters, than poplars, water lilies and olive trees.

I was interested in a painting of a fortune teller and the lady's interesting head gear. I wondered if it might be Spain as the mantilla is a remarkably square and uncannily balanced piece of headgear, but it said it was in Italy. 

Shane came over to say to me he thought he might have seen a painting of Bartimaeus. I went over to see a painting of a blind man having his sight restored by Jesus with a crowd observing. The blind man is not named and Bartimaeus wasn't the only one with a claim to being cured, but had already heard of earlier miracles and was waiting in anticipation.

As we stood at the bus stop I saw something else on the wall of the sheleter to entertain me while hanging around waiting for a number nine in the cold, a handwritten treatise on travel and sharing feelings with strangers.

Thoughts of travel are never far from our minds. Shane has been planning a trip in the summer in France and Spain to see the eclipse. I expect to be far too hot but there is no asking the eclipse to be at another time and place. He has spent a lot of our inside time checking out accommodation and transport. I have stepped up my Spanish Duolingo lessons.

Meantime I have arranged a trip with my friend Peter to a cooler destination this weekend further north, to my friend's house in Boat of Garten. She tells me some sun is expected but I have purchased waterproof trainers for the walks. 

It has been a rainy old time here and I have seen reports of flooding in my canal and river focussed social media groups. It is sleeting in Edinburgh today. I wonder how much colder it will be in Boat of Garten where I am heading this weekend. I might see a real red squirrel. I will take the cardigan (the wool is called Grampian so that seems appropriate) and also the skein of Norwegian wool for a Melt the ICE hat with me to knit. I have finished the gingerbread socks, at last, after lots of fiddling about and reknitting to have enough wool, evenly shared They are cosy and will keep me warm in the northern mountainous climes. 

Nye is heading away for the weekend too and Shane will be left hanging around on his own over Valentine's weekend. I was confident that he'd not have made any  romantic plans. Nye has made some rocky road and taken some away and I will bring some with me and Shane has plenty left for him too, if he wants it.