dumplings

why do an artist talk (*yawn) when you can make dumplings (*yippee!) instead?

sheep races

last weekend i was in moffat, scotland visiting a friend and watching sheep races. yes, indeed. they raced clueless and stupid sheep from one end of the main street to the other with stuffed jockey dolls velcro-ed onto the backs of each sheep. people were cheering, putting down bets and a lot of sheep themed mayhem ensued (mostly in the form of a mechanical sheep-bull, and an inflatable bouncy castle for kids). cruel and unusual? you be the judge. it was ke-ray-zee scottish antics. you want to watch a video of the racing sheep, don't you? of course you do.

sandwich

yesterday i had quite possibly the worst sandwich i've ever eaten in my life: brie, cranberry, butter, cucumbers and tomato on a soft roll of what looked like wheat bread, but was definitely not. soft, with no chew, nor crust, the bread could not hold its shape and started to fall apart from the first bite. the contents were lifeless and gooey, not to mention warm. the cranberry slapped in as an afterthought, only highlighted the offensive butter on cheese combo. butter and cheese were in there in equal ratios. yuck.

i thought the sandwich was invented on this island.

sign of the times

this was probably the best road sign i have seen in a long time.

i also walked to the botanical gardens

and saw crazy foliage.

i also baked some bread.



There was a great Philip Guston exhibition inside the gardens at Inverleith House. let's not discuss the bad theater that i saw as part of the fringe festival.  Then I ate some curry.

found

oh and by the way, i found my camera!

scottish cake

i'm doing a residency at the edinburgh sculpture workshop. got here 6 days ago. beautiful new building. amazing people and suddenly, blue skies after 4 days of pouring rain. now there's stunning landscape and light. the photo above was taken about a 10 min walk from where i'm staying. wah!

here are some highlights from the last few days:

- cries of sea gulls overhead heard first thing in the morning, every morning

- smells of the sea

- saw a rat mouse under the sink

- took an amazing walk in the rain

- ate cake for lunch

- made sourdough bread

- computer died

- made some little drawings

- borrowed a computer from some very generous friends (through some amazing tweeting to get the thing delivered over here)

- realized that the fringe festival is a trade show

- walked to the pier and saw people catching mackerel 

- saw this performance at 10:30am in the morning (which was fun, i recommend it if you are here at the fringe)

- ate lemon cake off a plate decorated with the union jack

what's with the cake here? i've never seen/eaten so much cake. i've been offered cake at lunchtime; cake at dinnertime; this morning at the 10.30am performance, the crew was offering scones with butter and jam to audience members before the show. i took one look at that massive lump of dough and thought, "euuh," and had some strong tea instead. 

as you can see, everything is going well. even having no computer for a few days was (slightly distressing, but ultimately) refreshing. no distractions. really what a residency should be. looking forward to 2 more weeks. aaaahhhhhh. 

oh, and here's me making clichéd stick art, and then doing my best imitation of the stick art that i made.