- and the risk involved in the same. It would be rash to assume that, just because I am writing this blog, I have something worthwhile to say. Often I will not, and in many ways today is one of those days on which the inclination to write has struck just as the notion of content has evaporated. So - let us wander along uncharted paths together and see if we arrive anywhere sensible.
The last weeks have been busy - Elisabet has had a photograph accepted in the Royal Scottish Academy Spring Open Exhibition (running at the RSA until May 20th - free, no excuse not to see it!) and today dropped off work at Wasps in Edinburgh for submission to the SSA show in Dundee (May 23 to June 19). The organisation of all of this deserves to have been time tabled and time consuming. However, for a variety of reasons all was completed, for both shows, in record time. I find the outcomes very satisfactory - lets see what the SSA have to say about it all.
For me, the highlight of the last month has been the acquisition of a patch of ground on which to grow vegetables. By patch read some 200 square metres, and vegetables for 2009 will be read to include couch grass and other green things not normally found in a well maintained 'potager'. What the heck, we have to start somewhere and co-conspirator Farmer McPherson has a hearty passion for spuds that is already filling the odd metre or two. I will need to get moving with the peas, beans and courgettes before too much time has passed ...
And now begins the time of the SQA exams, of the impassioned parents and the inexplicably complicated dance of the exam papers and matching answer booklets. All of this will mean very little to those not familiar with the intricacies of the annual exam season, but the month of May arouses mixed passions. An enthusiasm for the outdoor world is paralleled by a requirement to sit indoors for what feels like lifetimes on a tape loop. The passage of days is measured by the reduction in the heaps of papers awaiting distribution, and the speed at which a sense of humour deteriorates! However, it will all end - on June 11 - when the heavens will no doubt open. In an odd way I do enjoy it all, it makes me think in a way I do not often have to these days, and keeps the brain active.
Right now we are in the throes of sorting out March and April's exhibitions, and pulling together a new show to open on Saturday May 2nd - May Blossom. The schedule has been a bit off for a while, but we are back on track and, from the pieces I have seen so far, I am going to like this show.
Time to untangle a chain or two, polish a showcase and move on.
Come to think about it - high expectations in relation to the show are in order! Perhaps I did have something to say after all.
Field trial time has come around again (and by the time I write this, it has gone again also, but no matter). Elisabet and the dogs have been traipsing the length and breadth of Scotland, standing out in knee high heather in all sorts of weather awaiting their turn. As I understand it, the dogs are run two at a time (as opposed to in pairs, which suggests to me that the dogs work together) and are supposed to 'quarter' the relevant bit of land looking (or rather sniffing out) for birds. When a grouse is found, the dog then stands still and 'points' to show the handler where the bird is. On command, the dog makes the bird fly up, whilst ducking down itself to lie still and avoid being shot. Are you with me?
