edinburgh

The beginning of summer has been lovely. Hanna's back in London and I can't wait to catch up with her at Glastonbury in a few weeks. Our trip up north was great, providing a bunch of nice photos like this (a weird yet pretty old cottage of death we stumbled upon while trying to find our place).

Hanna's making a film of the trip I believe and has kindly posted a video of 'outtakes' in the interim on facebook-basically clips of us being silly and tripping over (mainly me...) I've been working in Edinburgh, and will be for the rest of the summer, with an immigration law firm. The work is interesting and the people are among the nicest I've met! The office is in a beautiful old flat in a leafy terrace, made even lovelier in the sun. 

The views of the city are gorgeous too-I really think I'd like to live in Edinburgh at some point, during summer months anyway...

Natalie xX

lost and found

I was over the moon to come across some spools I thought I had lost/ forgot I had the other day. Some photos are from things we've mentioned on here before, like the Mitchell Library,

Hanna filming in the park,

and from even before then when my hair was longer and my nose was big and glowing...

We're off to a little house near Inverness next week with our friend Angharad for a post-exams wind down. Our cameras will be accompanying us so photos of hills, lochs, food and our daft big grins will be coming soon. 

Natalie xX

sweet lyme

Just a little update from me - spent Easter in Lyme Regis and despite the freezing cold, the sun came out and I managed to take a few photos of this beautiful seaside town. Apparently my mum used to take me there a lot when I was little but of course I can't remember much!

Here's a foot photo for you Natalie! Two seconds after, my feet were engulfed by a freak massive wave.. sadly there is no photo of that moment.

I only noticed the fisherman in red after I took this one - but I think he looks rather good against that stark black wall. I just couldn't resist those bright yellow and orange buoys.. and took far too many photos.

I find myself very interested in the things people get carved into memorial benches, and this one was particularly intriguing and strange - "After noise solitude". Take from that what you will...

 

(In case you're interested here is one of my favourite benches, in Glasgow's Botanic Gardens. "Pure heavy beautiful here man". I think one of the reasons I like it so much is because of the way it sounds so Glaswegian to me, and of course because it's so bittersweet.)

Going to start editing/cobbling together some footage I took in Lyme into some sort of tiny film soon, but should really prioritise exam revision...

Until next time!

Hanna xx

king creosote's strops

His mic wasn't working properly and this disruption wasn't appreciated by him or his fans. It got sorted quickly though and he continued with what was a brilliant gig-a mix of beautiful songs and funny banter. King Creosote, or Kenny Anderson to his pals, played at the Oran Mor last night. Stephen and I were lucky enough to get tickets on Gumtree, since it sold out long before I got wind of it.

His 2011 album 'Diamond Mine' with Jon Hopkins brought him the sort of recognition he was long overdue (like a raised profile and a Mercury Prize nomination). I'm sad to say I hadn't heard of him until a dear friend gave me this album; anyone I have since gave it to has similarly fallen in love.

He wasn't pulling shapes like this last night since he's broke his ankle, and delighted us all with a musical number about all the ways this didn't happen. 'Bats in the Attic' was a musical high point, and the story of his brother inventing chips and cheese was a comic one.

He's still touring south of the border (FYI Hanna) and anyone who makes it along is guaranteed a wonderful night.

Natalie xX

the end of the month

Thought I'd post a few photos from this month before it ends. All of the snow flurries were a surprise, although once I got over how pretty it made the place look, it's just been a cold nuisance really.

In a bid to brighten up these weirdly wintery (I do love some alliteration) days, I've been buying a lot of tulips, and making, eating and giving away, lots of jam. I thought I would try make my own as a little experiment a couple of months ago, and it's now became one of my favourite ways to spend an afternoon. It's easy and unlike cakes etc it lasts for so long and can be shared out to a fair amount of people. My last batch was peach and vanilla-very nice.

I couldn't find the recipe I used but here's one from Seasons and Suppers. Their recipes are usually good and they always have lovely photos too. 

http://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/peach-vanilla-jam/

Here's a snap of my jam on toast. The number of photographs I take of plates of food is becoming sad.

Anyway that's been my March. Hanna's away home to London for Easter so I'm awaiting her return next month. I'll try tempt her back early with flowers and preserves...

Natalie xX 

loomings

I have finally finished editing the short film/music video I mentioned in my last post! It has been really interesting to actually film, edit and FINISH a short film, and although there's a lot about it that I'm not completely happy with, I'm still quite pleased with how it's turned out. Looking forward to getting on with my next project soon!

Thank you so much to Natalie, who put up with my camera dying after two minutes on the first day... hope you like the end result.

Please watch in HD if you can! Here it is...
'Loomings'

Hanna xx

Mums and Cake

Off to K&J soon, expecting a busier shift than the average chaotic Sunday since it's mother's day. Happy mother's day to Hanna and I's lovely mums on that note.

It was International Woman's Day on Friday. There was a few things going on around uni, like a production of the Vagina Monologues which I didn't end up seeing, not sure if Hanna did. I didn't realise it's actually a national holiday in some places, and in others it's tradition for men to give the women in their lives gifts-no such luck for us British girls. Anyway I observed the day in my own way, challenging outdated gender roles etc etc... and spent the following day baking!

 

It's always a bit haphazard and messy (my sister wasn't best pleased at the state of her kitchen) but the end results are tasty so there's no complaints. We got some extra mother's day gifts out of it too.

Natalie xX