Places I’d like to see

Yet another jigsaw adventure, this time to the Writer’s Museum in Edinburgh, Scotland:

Strange, quirky buildings like this one are like a cattle prod to my imagination. I start wondering who built the building, in that spot to that style. And why. Was the quirkiness deliberate, or an accident dictated by the location?

And then, of course, I start day dreaming about the inside and how the original inhabitants may have lived…

Oddly enough the one thing I’m not curious about is the building’s current purpose. I mean, really…a museum for writers? What would it contain? Cabinets full of quills, pens and ink? Illegible, hand-written first drafts?

-cough-

Anyway, another beautiful building thanks to my jigsaw hobby. Now if only I were rich enough to visit it in the flesh. I could quite see myself as a globe-trotting old lady, maybe with my own Lear jet…

 

Every girl should have a little black number in the garage. 😉

Meeks

Alice Monro – simple family tree

In ‘The View from Castle Rock’, Alice Monro [born Alice Laidlaw] traces her family history from Scotland to Canada in a series of short stories. Unfortunately, who-is-who becomes rather muddled, at least to the naive reader, so I created this simple family tree for my year 12 English student:

Click on the picture to see an enlarged view of the family tree.

I hope this helps others out there confused by the early stories in the The View from Castle Rock.

cheers

Meeks

 

Independence in Scotland – the real meaning of democracy

I’m just waiting for my class to begin so this will have to be quick, but how could I let such a momentous moment pass without comment?

Congratulations to the people of Scotland. They have achieved a victory that centuries? of bloodshed and discontent could not. This is the power of the pen, and democracy.

But the wonders of today have just begun. The prestigious golf club – St Andrews – has also voted to allow women to play golf on its hallowed greens …for the first time ever!

I’m neither Scottish nor a golfer, but I love the idea that people power really does work. I haven’t felt this positive about humanity since the bloodless end of Apartheid and the fall of the Berlin Wall. We can make the world a better place. We truly can!

-hugs and a big pat on the back to all-

Meeks