Just a short entry.
I've still to have a shower and I'm going round to Sri's this morning... Lent study group - thought I'd give it a go.
It's raining just now. More a drizzle than a downpour. Unfortunate since we could do with a good downpour to get rid of all the snow that fell yesterday!
Yesterday, the snow just didn't stop from morning to night so I got out the old cross stitch - the sampler depicting the eastern seaboard of America - which has been on the go since before my mother died. A good bit before, in fact. You know, I think we're talking maybe 15+ years ago!
I know I stopped cross stitching when I went back to work.
Anyway, I quite enjoyed myself so maybe I'll make another stab at getting it finished :)
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Saturday 6th February
Well... today has been a first for me.
I've been to an auction.
And yes, I did keep my hands firmly within my pockets!
If you want to find the auction room on the internet, it's at www.scotlandstreasures.co.uk - the venue was Taylor's Auction Rooms in Montrose.
And well, yes, there were some treasures there... in amongst the junk!
The auction house is a big, decrepid warehouse, the access to which is through a narrow door - on the other side of which is furniture often piled high with bric a brac, shelves and display cases - you can hardly move through the warren of little alleyways that lead you onto the area where the auction takes place as you constantly come across traffic jams as people stop to investigate or stand watching the proceedings from a distance or try to squeeze past others coming the opposite direction!
The day started with the paintings - some getting up as far as, on average, four or five hundred pounds.
Mind you, I'd keep my eye open for anything by J McIntosh Patrick because his paintings were going for thousands. One of them, 'An Angus Farm' went for £8000!!
The other name to look for would be James Watterstone Herald - his painting didn't make as much as J McIntosh Patrick's but a couple of thousand isn't to be sneezed at!
I checked these guys out on the internet and they're both dead - suppose that partly explains why their paintings are worth so much.
Not my style :(
Next up was the porcelain and again, I made note of what sold - pottery plates and vases by Walter Moorcroft were flyinying out for anything between £200 and £600 pounds.
I've decided you have to look for the stamp on the bottom and a blue or green signature to see if they are genuine - couldn't decide which signature was more valuable, maybe neither, maybe they just indicated a period of time - anyway they were always mentioned in the catalogue if they were there!
You see you learn something new everyday :)
And I've decided I quite like 'Satsuma' vases. Maura bought one, admittedly with a crack and a chip for £18!
These are examples of satsuma vases but they look nothing like the one that Maura bought. Although the one I saw and liked was not disimilar to the larger ones in the picture.
We left before the furniture went up for auction which was a bit of a disappointment - not that I was going to buy anything - even though I saw some really nice chests of drawers and a dressing table which I really liked - all solid wood.
We left because we'd been sitting there for hours and were beginning to feel a little numb!!
You sit, by the way, on the chairs that are going to be auctioned that day - maybe that's why they put them up for aution last.
I saw folk sitting on diningroom chairs, sofas and armchairs. There were a couple of chaise longue too which I quite fancied having a wee shot of, but two fellas had already nabbed them by the time we got there.
You'd really need to leave the chairs to the end when you think about it, wouldn't you. Otherwise folk would be coming over in the middle of the auction and ask you to get off their chair, "Excuse me, I've just bought that chair, do you mind?"
I forgot to hand in my number as I was leaving and the folk at the auction know who had what number because you have to fill in a wee card when you arrive. D'you think I'll get a phone call asking me to return card number 779?
I've been to an auction.
And yes, I did keep my hands firmly within my pockets!
If you want to find the auction room on the internet, it's at www.scotlandstreasures.co.uk - the venue was Taylor's Auction Rooms in Montrose.
And well, yes, there were some treasures there... in amongst the junk!
The auction house is a big, decrepid warehouse, the access to which is through a narrow door - on the other side of which is furniture often piled high with bric a brac, shelves and display cases - you can hardly move through the warren of little alleyways that lead you onto the area where the auction takes place as you constantly come across traffic jams as people stop to investigate or stand watching the proceedings from a distance or try to squeeze past others coming the opposite direction!
The day started with the paintings - some getting up as far as, on average, four or five hundred pounds.
Mind you, I'd keep my eye open for anything by J McIntosh Patrick because his paintings were going for thousands. One of them, 'An Angus Farm' went for £8000!!
The other name to look for would be James Watterstone Herald - his painting didn't make as much as J McIntosh Patrick's but a couple of thousand isn't to be sneezed at!
I checked these guys out on the internet and they're both dead - suppose that partly explains why their paintings are worth so much.
Not my style :(
Next up was the porcelain and again, I made note of what sold - pottery plates and vases by Walter Moorcroft were flyinying out for anything between £200 and £600 pounds.
I've decided you have to look for the stamp on the bottom and a blue or green signature to see if they are genuine - couldn't decide which signature was more valuable, maybe neither, maybe they just indicated a period of time - anyway they were always mentioned in the catalogue if they were there!
You see you learn something new everyday :)
And I've decided I quite like 'Satsuma' vases. Maura bought one, admittedly with a crack and a chip for £18!
These are examples of satsuma vases but they look nothing like the one that Maura bought. Although the one I saw and liked was not disimilar to the larger ones in the picture.We left before the furniture went up for auction which was a bit of a disappointment - not that I was going to buy anything - even though I saw some really nice chests of drawers and a dressing table which I really liked - all solid wood.
We left because we'd been sitting there for hours and were beginning to feel a little numb!!
You sit, by the way, on the chairs that are going to be auctioned that day - maybe that's why they put them up for aution last.
I saw folk sitting on diningroom chairs, sofas and armchairs. There were a couple of chaise longue too which I quite fancied having a wee shot of, but two fellas had already nabbed them by the time we got there.
You'd really need to leave the chairs to the end when you think about it, wouldn't you. Otherwise folk would be coming over in the middle of the auction and ask you to get off their chair, "Excuse me, I've just bought that chair, do you mind?"
I forgot to hand in my number as I was leaving and the folk at the auction know who had what number because you have to fill in a wee card when you arrive. D'you think I'll get a phone call asking me to return card number 779?
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Thursday 4th February
Tea will be a little late tonight!
I bought a chicken to do in the oven - fair enough. Loads of time.
The potatoes are peeled, the brussel sprouts ready to be steamed.
The chicken is sitting in its little tinfoil package - on a bed of root vegetables with a lemon placed delicately within - ready to go into a preheated oven when its heated up.
So?
Well that was the situation at 3.30pm.
I sat down to watch Larkrise to Candleford with a few pieces of chocolate covered toffee and a mug of coffee.
My intention being to give the oven 20 mins or so to heat up and then pause the episode and put the chicken in the oven.
Only things haven't worked out!
An hour later, I'm sitting there still with tears dripping off my chin - it had been a particularly harrowing episode in which a measle epidemic hit the village and little Alex died!
I rushed through to the kitchen only to discover that the chicken wouldn't fit into the small oven (the one that had been heating up for an hour) so I've had to put the large oven on which will need to heat up before I put the chicken in!
If you're reading this, darlin... there's no need to rush home for tea!
This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the posting but I think its rather pretty! Its one of my River Dee winter materpieces.
I bought a chicken to do in the oven - fair enough. Loads of time.
The potatoes are peeled, the brussel sprouts ready to be steamed.
The chicken is sitting in its little tinfoil package - on a bed of root vegetables with a lemon placed delicately within - ready to go into a preheated oven when its heated up.
So?
Well that was the situation at 3.30pm.
I sat down to watch Larkrise to Candleford with a few pieces of chocolate covered toffee and a mug of coffee.
My intention being to give the oven 20 mins or so to heat up and then pause the episode and put the chicken in the oven.
Only things haven't worked out!
An hour later, I'm sitting there still with tears dripping off my chin - it had been a particularly harrowing episode in which a measle epidemic hit the village and little Alex died!
I rushed through to the kitchen only to discover that the chicken wouldn't fit into the small oven (the one that had been heating up for an hour) so I've had to put the large oven on which will need to heat up before I put the chicken in!
If you're reading this, darlin... there's no need to rush home for tea!
This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the posting but I think its rather pretty! Its one of my River Dee winter materpieces.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Tuesday 2nd February
Still cold and snowy but beautiful and bright and sunny. Lovely!
I've gone back into Ancestry.co.uk, this morning, to fill in the information I've gleaned so far about Ian's family tree - form filling at the moment but you never know, it might bear some fruit.
Granny Barr's mum and dad are still a closed book - he, I just can't identify and she, seems to disappear straight after she got married... and the biggest mystery is why Granny Barr spent part of her childhood in the highlands of Scotland as a 'boarder' on a farm!
Interstingly, the next entry down in the same 1901 census (where I found Old Granny Barr on the farm) also has a 'boarder' from Glasgow living in the house!
I'm beginning to wonder if there was some kind of scheme going on at that time... could it be for moving destitute children/orphans out of the city, or was it to do with TB convalescence?
Intriguing... what was going on?
What I have discovered is that somebody else is also researching the Barr family - the link is fairly well back - George and Margaret Barr from Paisley - born about 1820. Ian's great great granny and grandad.
I wonder if it's Barry :)
Changing the subject completely, here are the photos from Sunday. Bit limited, I'm afraid. There's Luca or Luca and Gary and there's bathroom!
Sorry for the lack of variety in the settings!
And by the way Carole and Ian were also present on the day!
I've gone back into Ancestry.co.uk, this morning, to fill in the information I've gleaned so far about Ian's family tree - form filling at the moment but you never know, it might bear some fruit.
Granny Barr's mum and dad are still a closed book - he, I just can't identify and she, seems to disappear straight after she got married... and the biggest mystery is why Granny Barr spent part of her childhood in the highlands of Scotland as a 'boarder' on a farm!
Interstingly, the next entry down in the same 1901 census (where I found Old Granny Barr on the farm) also has a 'boarder' from Glasgow living in the house!
I'm beginning to wonder if there was some kind of scheme going on at that time... could it be for moving destitute children/orphans out of the city, or was it to do with TB convalescence?
Intriguing... what was going on?
What I have discovered is that somebody else is also researching the Barr family - the link is fairly well back - George and Margaret Barr from Paisley - born about 1820. Ian's great great granny and grandad.
I wonder if it's Barry :)
Changing the subject completely, here are the photos from Sunday. Bit limited, I'm afraid. There's Luca or Luca and Gary and there's bathroom!
Sorry for the lack of variety in the settings!
And by the way Carole and Ian were also present on the day!
Monday, 1 February 2010
Monday 1st February
No swimming today. Everyone was of the same opinion - don't want to drive over to Westhill with the snow!
Hence the reason that I walked to the supermarket instead of taking the car. What I should have taken was the camera; the scenery is lovely with all the trees edged with snow.
The journey to the supermarket was a bit of a trial when I decided to stick to the main road to avoid the snow - what a dreadful route. I won't be using that again! The cars zoom past none stop and the roar of their engines completely drowned out my ipod!
I got as far as the fire station and opted to go downhill to the river and to hang with the snow. Should have used this route from the start!
Couldn't afford to buy too much shopping as I was carrying it home so bodyswerved the trolleys and opted for a basket which I took to the self service till.
"Take the item out of your bag," the machine instructed... all I had done was to put my own 'Save the Planet' shopper on the shelf with the plastic bags.
An assistant and a big key later I began the task of finding bar codes on items to be scanned.
"There it is!" a finger pointed at a bar code on the newspaper I held helplessly, wondering how to get it through.
Not a quick way to pay for your messages!
Ian's home and i haven't started the tea yet, so I'll take a little break and download some photos when I get back!
Hence the reason that I walked to the supermarket instead of taking the car. What I should have taken was the camera; the scenery is lovely with all the trees edged with snow.
The journey to the supermarket was a bit of a trial when I decided to stick to the main road to avoid the snow - what a dreadful route. I won't be using that again! The cars zoom past none stop and the roar of their engines completely drowned out my ipod!
I got as far as the fire station and opted to go downhill to the river and to hang with the snow. Should have used this route from the start!
Couldn't afford to buy too much shopping as I was carrying it home so bodyswerved the trolleys and opted for a basket which I took to the self service till.
"Take the item out of your bag," the machine instructed... all I had done was to put my own 'Save the Planet' shopper on the shelf with the plastic bags.
An assistant and a big key later I began the task of finding bar codes on items to be scanned.
"There it is!" a finger pointed at a bar code on the newspaper I held helplessly, wondering how to get it through.
Not a quick way to pay for your messages!
Ian's home and i haven't started the tea yet, so I'll take a little break and download some photos when I get back!
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