A Free Morning

 With the party over, Laura decided that she would take Harrison to the local play group one more time to say thanks and good bye to the people who run it. Therefore, Shush and I had a morning to do as we felt. So we chose to go in search of some murals that are sprinkled among the streets and alleys of the down town. 

There is a great deal of graffiti in Glasgow. So it's a bit of a challenge to pick out the murals from the street artists work. We managed to find a few. Here are our favourites.

A wag added her own touch.

The rains came and went. So we happened upon The Willow Tea Rooms, designed and furnished by our fave, CRM, and now recently reopened after a refurbishment, and partook of a slice of cake and a tea in charming surroundings. 

We could choose to eat in the white, ladies room or the blue Chinese room. We chose the white tea room.

The carrot cake was excellent and Sheelagh reported that the cloutie pudding with custard was a dark rich raison cake. There was none left as we descended to the street.

Later we took care of Harrison while his Mum met a friend. We played in the park until the rains drove us in. A fun day.

One Year Old !!!

One of the two reasons that we had for coming over to Scotland this time was to get to know our new Grandson. And Sunday was Harrison's first birthday. Now in reality, this celebration is primarily for the adults. For Laura and Dorian, it's a sigh of relief that they had made it this far. For the Grandparents, it's a joyous recognition of the fact that the line will continue. Our family will stretch forward into the future. We will have, in a way, left a mark. For the aunts and uncles, it's an obligation thing with, hopefully food and drink involved. For the little cousins, there will probably be toys.

Harrison had a fine party that he will not remember except for the pictures. It was very funny to watch Laura and Dorian absolutely refuse to have those pictures where the one year old smears cake icing all over his face. Anyway, here are a few pictures.

Odd how Mummy let these animals stand on my cake.

Cousin Jude was at the ready to help tear the paper off and see what's inside

Mum and Dad made him wear one of those silly hats.

Atta boy! Shred that paper!

Harrison has been blessed with wonderful little cousins. Jude is 4 and Eloise is about 6 months. 

They made it lots of fun for the birthday boy.

We all had a fine time, and there was wonderful food and drink.

Harrison at the Kelvingrove

 Yesterday, we were told to take the wee lad away from the flat so that his parents could pack without his help. We started out for the playground, but Harrison was asleep within 3 minutes. As it was also looking like rain, Plan B was to walk to the Kelvingrove Museum. Once again, Harrison charmed everyone. A lady said to me, "He's the best thing I've seen in this museum."

This took us back to our DC days when we would take the girls to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

His cousin, Ngila would be pleased as he was quite interested in the Egyptian wing.

But, his favourite was the totem pole, carved by a British Columbian. He kept returning to it to have little conversations.

How The Other Half Lived

 After a week of baby sitting, Laura's Mum and Dad came over on Thursday to take a turn and Sheelagh and I found ourselves free to wander. I think it has something to do with age, but we don't seem to sleep in even if we  can. So, we were up and about fairly early. We get some sort of buzz just finding our way on the public transport. We did our research and got ourselves to A House For An Art Lover. 

In the first decade of the 20th century a German company held a competition for architects with no restrictions other than a deadline for entry. Charles Rennie Macintosh even managed to blow that. He and his new wife Margaret teamed up to create a wonderful design but failed to get it in on time and were disqualified. But the judges liked their work so much that they gave them a special prize anyway. They just didn't win the competition and the house was never built. 

Fast forward to the 1980's and the designs for the house were rediscovered and it was decided to build it.  Here's how it looks.

The beautiful music room

The designs for some rooms were very detailed and some were vague. Years of research and a great deal of educated guess work brought the MacIntosh house to reality. We really enjoy this place and put it at the top of our, "Things to do." list for Glasgow.

Today we visited another fine home called Holmwood House. 

James Couper, owner of a paper mill south of the river Clyde, found himself wealthy and ready to build himself and his wife a house. He chose Alexander "Greek" Thomson, another famous Glasgow architect. 

 to do it for him. There were three requirements. It was to be livable, it was to be a place where business could be done, and it was to amaze.

So in 1857, on a plot of land near his mill, the house was built.

Thomson was called "Greek" because he loved Greek and Egyptian influences. This was a man who had never left Scotland, except once, when he went to London to get married. 

The rooms were very reasonably sized, so it was livable. Even in the 1850's they put in an ensuite bathroom. There were rooms where the ladies could gather while the gentlemen discussed business. And the colourful decorations, combined with many exterior flourishes gave it a wow factor. This is a lovely spot, which seems to be pretty much ignored by overseas visitors. So, if you ever find yourselves in Glasgow, we strongly encourage you to have a look at Holmwood House.

Pollock House

 

We went to Pollock House, a National Trust property, built in 1752, for the Stirling Maxwell family. The family had owned the huge estate since the 12th century. Most of the estate has been sold off over the centuries, but quite a big chunk remains that is run by the City of Glasgow. The family still live in the 3rd floor and attic, where the female servants were housed. I'm sure they have been renovated.

In order to get ready for all the walking ahead of us, we had breakfast at Cafe d'Jaconelli.

It's the oldest establishment on Maryhill Rd, almost 100years old, and is famous for ice cream. Billy Connelly, Robert Carlyle, Ewan MacGregor were all regulars when they lived in Glasgow. I turned my back on ice cream for breakfast and went for a full Scottish, probably the only one I'll have all trip. Sigh.

We had a lovely walk through the park.

And spent quite a bit of time touring the gardens. I have always longed for a walled garden and box hedges.

The house is famous for it's Spanish art work. We didn't recognize most of the names. We decided to walk through the park to the Burrell Collection. As we didn't have the wee charmer with us this trip (the family is in Banchory for a family do), we could view at our leisure. However, our legs were beginning to protest. Sheelagh waited for me outside as I asked for directions. I came flying out the door

repeating a phrase made famous by good friends on our South Downs walk

"THERE'S A BUS!"

And so there was. And, it was there again when we came out of the Collection after a couple of hours. If God had intended us to walk, He wouldn't have given us buses.

A Helping Hand

 Harrison decided to help his Mum pack up the house.

And as a reward for his helpfulness, Grandad took him to the pool.

Babysitting Daze

 Well, we are doing what we came to do. We have had Harrison to ourselves from Tuesday on. It is wonderful. To see all of the little changes as he explores his world and touches and watches everything and everybody around him. 

Actually on Tuesday we also had the fun of having Dorian with us as well. A week from Sunday is Harrison's first birthday so we have decided to get him his first, "Big boy" shoes, as the last thing he needs is more toys. So Dorian drove us to a Clarke's shoe store and we had Harrison's feet measured and found him some nice new running shoes. 

Then we got some Marks and Spencer snacks and went to a lovely park for a picnic and a look at the petting zoo.

The peacock put on a show and we had a really fun time. He especially liked the chickens.

For the rest of this week we have just played with our little boy at home and at the local parks. He has an amazing ability to find things that he shouldn't touch. He will wade through an ankle deep pile of toys that supposedly some company has paid a great deal to design to appeal to kids to play with a power bar that he should not even notice. It has been a great week..

Roundabouts and Burley Men/People

 On Saturdays we baby sitter folk get to sleep in. Laura and Harrison went out to meet with a friend for coffee and we had a lazy morning. But, come afternoon, the sun and the rain were engaged in a mighty struggle, so we decided to go to the Bearsden & Milngavie (strangely pronounced Millguy) Mini Highland games. Woohoo! 

The bus took us there in no time at all and off we went. The sun was winning as we descended from the bus and toddled over to the fair grounds.

Sheelagh spotted a passing fish and Harrison leapt aboard. One indication of the passing years was the amount of effort required to get Grandma up on the round about. But it was all worth it to be able to say we watched our grandson have his first fairground ride on a green fish in Milngavie.

Beside the roundabout we could watch very large men in kilts hurling heavy objects. 

As the rain came and went, the sturdy chap on the mic did his best to encourage the passing fans to stop and watch the participants. But it was a challenge. 

Meanwhile, across the grounds, a long line had formed to throw a haggis while standing on top of a whiskey barrel. People from all over the world formed a queue to take part. Another chap in a sparkly jacket made witty comments about their form and ethnicity. The French were particularly favoured targets.

This guy was from Finland and he came every year to take part. And he was very good at throwing haggis. And as you see, he had obtained an outfit to wear. 

The strangest aspect for me was the wrestling. Out on a large pitch, with no apparent interest from anyone, two people engaged in wrestling. I had a good look and nobody seemed to care about it as they writhed and rolled in their own little world.

Being Scotland, the fried food is top notch. So, we finished up in a grandstand which covered us from the elements. I hustled over and bought two orders of chunky chips. Two because Laura, for some reason, seems to have this thing about healthy eating or something.  Sheelagh and I polished off our chunky chips. Since oil and water don't mix, the rainwater in the cartons made hardly any difference at all. We then decided that we would go home. 

One of the many things I love about my wife is that she has fun just about anywhere. Here we were, wet, chilly, muddy among people that we couldn't understand for the most part, and she had a ball. Hmmm, perhaps it was the burley men do you think?

Anyway, we had a lovely evening later on babysitting as Laura had an evening with some friends from the church. A great day.