Moving Along.

Nothing thrilling is happening. I am continuing to fall in love with the city. It is still scary and friendly. Strangely enough have been feeling more patriotic than ever before. It is really a new feeling for me. That will be for another post. 

A photo I took back in Edinburgh. That skyline is really gorgeous.

 I can't wait for real fall to set in here. The foliage is going to be off the hook in the park. I have tried to write a couple of times. It's been a bit difficult. I want to write a poem for the river Clyde, because I like it so much, and I keep trying to find my way to the canal but it hasn't worked. And I can't really write about the river until I have walked along it. So I wrote this. I think it's for Olivia. Not sure what it is or what it is about. Meh. 

The Millionth Untitled

Headbang

In time to

And as

Breaks screech

And the subtle unrest

Of slammed doors

Tears at the afternoon

Shimmy and shake

In empty bedrooms

Against a backdrop

Of liquor stores

And the rainy riverbank

Laugh and fall back

Again and again

Onto a thin mattress

In night that stretches dimly towards

No point of resolution

Keep Calm and Cèilidh On.

The other day the rain and wind let up. Took a walk in the park with my camera. Everyone was so happy to be out in the sunshine, the mood was palpable. Here are some photos. Also the title of the post is from a tee shirt that I saw, which I thought was very clever.

The prettiest fountain. 

This old man just wound up in the photo. He is kind of grimacing, although this is not representative of the people I  came upon as a whole. 

A little back alley of houses I came upon. I really loved these rooftops. And chimneys.

Looking the other way. The layers of row houses are really beautiful. 

A fierce statue. 

The beautiful brown river. 

A little fellow on his way home from school. 

The park, and skatepark, and houses on the hill. 

Other news from the land of Scots. I attended my first cèilidh which was good fun, and the band was amazing. I also tried Haggis. I had the vegetarian version (scoff if you will, it was delicious and didn't make me half as nervous, although I did have a nibble of the regular kind). Progress is being made. And now for a tune! Yeah yeah I know he's Irish but this song is transcendent!

On A Cold and Frosty Morning.

Well well Wellington's are next on the shopping list thanks to a daily smattering of rain. Glasgow is good fun so far. Here is a photo. It is of a statue of the Duke of Wellington in city centre  jauntily sporting a traffic cone hat. Legend has it that one night this appeared on his head. City officials removed it in the morning but come the next day it was back again. This went on and on for years, the cone being replaced nightly, until they gave up. Fittingly the statue and his unorthodox head wear are stationed in front of the gallery of modern art.

Also a couple goodies from the Kinks, been listening to them a lot. It's neat to live in the UK. I feel a bit more legitimized when listening to all the many musical Brits. And although I haven't got the Thames, I've got the river Clyde, and he's got a better name anyway. Also check out the groovy sunglasses in the second video. 

I Caught The Sun.

Feeling a wee bit jet lagged, and consequently having some early morning hours to kill, I will be dutiful. Don't worry, it won't last. But here for anyone interested, are a few photos from my first days in Scotland.  I like it here. It's pretty. 

My neighborhood in Glasgow. 

My school!

View of school through Kelvingrove park. 

A little fella in a kilt in Edinburgh. 

The old town in Edinburgh. 

 

Old town in the sunshine. 

Here's a video. I had this song stuck in my head all day as we walked about in the sun and then caught the train home. They aren't Scottish but their name is. 

Fond Farewell.

Right before I left, I took a spin around Calistoga on the bicycle. Snapped a few photos of the sun and the hills, to keep with me in the land of whisky and rain.

I Started Something I Couldn't Finish.

Anybody catch my reference. Where would I be without Morrissey? Also, that song contains more truths than I would like to acknowledge. Anyway, over summer I promised my sister a drawing for her new place. Accordingly I started and accordingly I boarded a plane for a different country without finishing it. Sorry Olive. But here is the start.

After a bit of ink. 

We Run This.

There is a bit of a back-up in terms of material. So I must finish summer before I can start fall. Here are lots of photos that Olivia and I took on an excursion with the cousins a few weeks back. We found abandoned buildings. We went in them. I wasn't scared.....

See? Not scary AT ALL. 

ewwww.

well heeded advice. 

so fly. 

I Spent A Summer Wasting.

I have left my sunny homeland of California, and the nice kids in Berkeley, and now find myself in bloody gorgeous Scotland, my ancestral homeland. Hmmmmm. There is much excitement. However, the summer I just bid farewell too was beautiful, and deserves some note. So I wrote an ode to it, and the blue house I love so well.

A lil sketch of the place, pre succulent garden. 

Summer in the Blue House: Pt. 2

We all wake parched in separate rooms

To city summer gray

Begging to be burned off by August

We wander through halls

Down stairs and stairs

To meet in the morning-light and make sense of where the weekend went.

We share the front stoop with passersby

And innumerable jars of forgotten tea

Left to steep all summer

In sun, cigarettes and whispers

Privy to afternoon gossip

And late nights that spilled out the door and into the street.

We are laughing on a hill

As dusk approaches

Bellies full of wine, drunk on a view of the city

There is music in the dry grass

And wisps of smoke in our eyes

As the fog rolls in over rooftops and bright lights.

We are together for a brimming moment

Sunburnt days, and nights we danced over worn floorboards.

Now we will fold summer between our embraces

Tuck it into bed as our breathing slows

Let it fade as photos will

To subside finally and ever so gently into Fall and memory.

And now a fitting song from my favorite Glaswegian musical bunch! And another fitting song from Beirut of whom I am also quite fond.