Leaving London tomorrow

The adventure is coming to an end. The time has flown by but it is time to leave and pick up on my usual life at home in Dunedin. Sounds like it is going to be a rude awakening from the news reports about snow and flooding.
It has not be very sunny here in London, grey cloud cover every day with some rain most days but muggy.
It has been a brief stay in London this time.
I met up with Wendy and Rod after we came back from Scotland and we went to the Georgia O' Keefe exhibition at Tate Modern together. We were very imoressed at this exhibition and the scope of her work.She lived until 98 so she had plenty of opportunities to explore different themes that excited her.For me it was  her extroadinary use of colour that makes her work so dramatic and so well drawn. She believed that something of beauty should fill a space created by a line. That resonated with me.

Later we went up to the top of the new addition to the Tate and enjoyed the views over London - free here so we made the most of it.The brick work cladding on the extension is eye catching too and sure to start a new trend in building design.

We had a great afternoon and it was so nice to see them both and best news is all is going well now for Rod since his incident at New Year.You can see from the photos they are in good form.

Rod took the photo of St Paul's steeple being attached,detached by a crane. He has an eye for such shots.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a pub on the South Bank just near the Tate and caught up on all the family news before they caught the train home to Hitchen and I explored around St Pauls before catching the bus home and cooking tea.

I had lunch with Brad, Sue and Clare Church at St Martins another day which was great.Clare and I just bumped into each other in the cafe and we both thought we were having one of those encounters people talk about but it turned out Brad had organised it.
I went to see the National Portrait Gallery latest collection of paintings and an embroidery exhibition celebrating Capability Brown's anniversary. Clare is about to come home to Dunedin to live. She is staying with Christopher for a few more days so we will catch up at home.
Yesterday I met up with niece,Jenny and we went to a book event at Foyles to hear some new writers read and discuss their current publications. The theme was around families and what constitutes a family in different cultures and within existing norms. Later we had a meal and walked back home so a very interesting evening.
Lou,Jenny and myself are all dining at Nick and Els's tonight for a family catch up. I am looking forward to that but not the trip home the following day.

Summer scenes in Scotland

Some of the images taken on our weekend in Scotland.

Summertime in Scotland

Louise and I were invited to stay in a loch side cottage with friends for a weekend at the end of July to farewell Kersel, a long time friend who is off to try life in Sydney.
We were lucky enough to get some reasonable flights with Easy Jet so set off mid morning on Friday for our weekend away.

Lou had to do some work from home before we left so she called a taxi. Just as well we left early as there was a major accident on the motorway and we crawled along for ages before our taxi driver breathed a sigh of relief and we cleared the crash site.A large truck had careered across the median barrier and straddled  both directions of the motorway. Chaos.
I think many people missed their flights that day.
It was lucky Lou had booked us well ahead of time but we arrived with ten minutes to spare and then the plane was delayed for an hour!

Anyway we arrived to find Kersel waiting for us in sunshine. Lou and I had packed for poor weather but the sun was shining and we had a lovely drive up through Loch Lomond, Luss and over to Loch Fyne where we had gone a few years ago to track down the family castle.

The drive took a couple of hours deep into Argyle territory before we arrived at a remote part of the peninsula. It took a few attempts but we arrived at Loch Escog and found our cottage on the edge of the loch as promised.Other friends had already arrived so it was drinks all round sitting  outside in the sunshine and meeting new people from Glasgow who were friends of Kersel.
Later we had a lovely meal cooked up by Hutton and Nicky and played board games until time for bed.
Saturday was promising to be rather dull and wet but the boat was pumped up and some hardy souls went out for a canoe followed by a swim would you believe!!!!
I went for a long walk around the loch on a pathway called Cowal Way but it did not lead me back quite like I expected so my walk ended up a marathon and I was late for lunch.
Later we cooked pizza and ate inside as it had got a lot cooler as the day progressed.I think I was still acclimatised for Avignon conditions so I was glad of my merino.Lou went for a swim but I was not tempted.
Sunday was time to pack up and tiki tour back to Glasgow to catch our flight at seven.
The day was very overcast and cool but we explored some of the little fishing towns along the trip home before farewelling Hutton and Nicky on the car ferry while we visited the Benmore Gardens at Dunoon.
By now it was raining so we could not linger for too long before we set off for Glasgow.We went on the car ferry too which was a new experience for me.
We said our goodbyes to Kersel and waited for our flight.Again it was delayed for an hour so a long trek home but a great weekend.