Communication

Last night, when walking home, a woman walked towards me with a shawl wrapped round her head. She sppeared to be waving at me, but as it was dark I could not clearly make this out. As we got nearer however I realised it was just the way she was carrying her bag and wiggling her fingers. I then noticed that she was staring intently at me with huge bulging white eyes and that she had a pretty weird expression on her face.

The shawl was not, as I had first thought, part of a religious dress but was just a dark wrap of material pulled tightly round her head. There was something about this shawl and about the womans strange expression that made me feel very uneasy - as we passed (her still blantently staring at me) I gave a half smile. She tensed, wiggled her fingers and muttered some words in a deep gutteral tone. The words were angry but unintelligable and the way they came tumbling out gave the impression, they were also spoken almost involuntary. I began wondering if she suffered from tourettes like tha man I saw in the street last week. I then heard her chanting and turned to see her standing still, arms raised out to her sides, muttering loudly - the only good way I can think to accuratly describe this was to say it sounded like a curse. Much disturbed I quickly walked round the corner and went home. But the question remains in my head . . . did I meet a witch.

Sprout

Sprout (2007)
Clay

Canada

Farm - near London ON

We had a great and chilly time in Canada, where it was a lovely but cold -10oC. (-20 with wind chill) We spent a few days with my family in the country, just outside of London ON and then spent some time with Ann's family in downtown Toronto.

Canada's a lovely country, everything looked to be a lot cleaner than back home, but maybe thats because all the rubbish was hidden by 30cm of snow.

We saw lots of interesting things - including a brilliant flee market near my aunts, (where Ann bought 6 jars of buttons) and a piece of performance theatre in Toronto involving members of the auidence, pre-recorded interviews and video projection looking at ideas for what the future will hold for us all. Was very thought provoking and entertaining stuff.

I'd only ever been to Canada in the summer time before so the extreme cold was a bit of a shock but it did make the trip feel more fun and wearing thermals all the time was increadibly comfy, it felt like you were wearing pajamas all day.


In site you (2007) Toronto

Crash

Florida Zoo Hijack (2006)
[Pen/ digital]

Right thats it, I'm finished work and am going home to pack. See you all when I get back, unless I find internet access on our travels. Blog will return in 10 days.

1 day to go

Lumberjack and friends (2007)
[Clay]

My obsession with the wee lumberjack and his woodland adventures continues with these clay figures. They are slightly larger than I usually work with. Normally, figures I make are only about 1cm tall, with these however the lumberjack is about 10cm. I'm pretty pleased with the results and I think I might work at this scale again.

Had a nice meal with some friends in town last night, hadn't seen Alex and Cathie for ages so it was good to see them. Not quite finished the packing, will have to do so tonight. This time tomorrow morning Ann and I will be in the sky somewhere over the Atlantic.

Two days to go

First Contact (2006)
[Clay]

Just about packed. Hopefully the sudden flurry of snow that has hit the country will not have any affect on our flights. Aparently its shut down transport and airports in England, so fingers crossed they get themselves together before Saturday morning.

If you are looking for some excitement this weekend and you are in Edinburgh, then you should pop along to the Attic Salt Gallery at 50 Thistle Street, North East Lane where Guy Bishop (The man who built the Storytelling Machine) has a new exhibiton of fabulous architectural wonders. visit his site to find out more www.guybishop.com.

Maple leaves

http://pursuingtheredshoe.blogspot.com/

I'm going to try and post something everyday this week as me and wee annie (I've lost my red shoe) are away on holiday to Toronto for a week and I'll prob fail to maintain my weekly uploads. I'm looking forward to our trip will be great to get away, its only the second proper holiday we'll have gone on together, due to several travel disasters in the past. We seem to be only able to go on holiday together if its to a country where its really cold.

Ann advises it will be -10 oC over there, so I'm away to buy a new hat and gloves.

Tales from the Edge of the World

Lighthouse keeper and bird - (sketch for some clay figures I plan to make tonight)

I had a very enjoyable evening on Sunday. I went to watch a large moustached American man playing banjo and singing songs about his adventures with the hobos.

I also had the great pleasure in watch a 1988 episode of the old darts based quiz show - "Bullseye". It was wonderful - a total nostalgic experience, every moment of the show sparked off old memories. From the naf theme music - the host, Jim Bowen, looking into the wrong cameras to do links, the short, stout assistant doing the commentary on the dart scores. The contestants, wearing crazy 1980's outfits and sporting dodgy hairdos, moustaches and home made tattoos, to the shows mascot Bully, a fat Bull in a stripy shirt.

The best bit of the show however was at the end when they listed all the prizes that could be won. There were nine, including - a washing machine (automatic), a wooden rocking chair, a travel hair-drier, a scalextric set, a coffee maker, a selection of fine wine (5 red, 5 white) and top prize, a weekend for four in London. Despite winning the above and winning the grand total of £510 (which was one of the highest totals Jim advised) they decided to gamble and go for the star prize hidden behind a big screen.

Thankfully it was a happy ending and they managed to score 101 with 6 darts and an original mini-city was theirs. This was a pretty good prize back in the day, the usual star prize was a speedboat, which to most people back in the 80's would have been completely useless.

All in all, a wonderful bit of entertainment and I may very well watch it every week from now on.

For more info on Bullseye and a walk down memory lane check out -

http://www.ukgameshows.com/page/index.php/Bullseye

Sprout