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I'm not very good at planning ahead. That's the truth. I tend to leave things until the last minute and then get in a flap and rush around doing things at great speed. Well, not great speed really, I don't seem to be able to do that any more. So, this week I find myself trying to get organised for something that's happening later in the year. I find I'm having trouble focussing my attention on it, as it happens in September, which is a whole six months away. This seems like a long time, but I know from bitter experience that it is hardly any time at all. Especially when creating things is involved. The event I'm concerned with is North East Open Studios (NEOS) and this will be the the third year running that I will be a participant. In past years, it has been a week-long event in September, during which creative people open the doors of their studios, workshops, living rooms, village halls etc. to show the public what they do. This year, the event will run over a three week period, with the northeast (of Scotland) divided into three sections, which will be "open" sequentially. Accompanying the event is a catalogue of participants, which provides year-round information about all the wonderful creativity that's happening in this neck of the woods. What I need to to now is compose my entry for this year's catalogue. This involves writing some words about what I do (creatively) and deciding when I will be open during "NEOS week". I was keen to have a proper website up and running this year, having worked using Facebook, Twitter and a rather sparsely populated Blog in the past. And I have achieved that, by registering this very website for that purpose. Raise the flags! I'm off to make up some words about myself - a tricky task at the best of times. Here's part of last year's exhibition. 
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It's early spring. There is not much evidence of this in our own garden, but there is elsewhere, as I discovered yesterday. I was giving an old friend a guided tour of Old Aberdeen; her daughter has been offered a place at the University here and she wanted to see what the place was like. Being a graduate and having worked at the University for over twenty years, I was in a good position to show her round. Some things have changed, like the brand spanking new library, a huge green and turquoise glass box from the outside, but with beautful curves and contours on the inside. And tea and muffins, of course; that was a bonus. The library where I did most of my studying has been razed to the ground, and the one where I used to go for a change of scene is now a conference centre. The chapel is reassuringly unchanged, as are the cobbles on the old High Street and the baker's shop, complete with yum yums, hot pies and butteries. The pub, a "proper" one with a long bar, minimal seating and a darts board has a few mid-afternoon customers as we open the door to peek in.
We conclude with a wander through the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, where I spent many a lunchtime, both as a student and as a University employee. Dwarf irises, giant snowdrops and normal-sized crocuses carpeted the ground under the huge trees. By the entrance gate on the Chanonry was a stunning bright red rhododendron; further on, a fresh pink one. What a difference these colours made to the dreich day. |
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