Have fun with the ghosts and ghoulies trick-or-treating this evening! If you're not a business (I charge businesses for usage), and you're not into handing out sweeties, perhaps you could hand out my coloring pages to your visitors tonight. They are free for parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers to share with the little ones in their lives. Find all my Halloween-themed coloring pages HERE!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Have fun with the ghosts and ghoulies trick-or-treating this evening! If you're not a business (I charge businesses for usage), and you're not into handing out sweeties, perhaps you could hand out my coloring pages to your visitors tonight. They are free for parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers to share with the little ones in their lives. Find all my Halloween-themed coloring pages HERE!
A side project at ECA
Throughout my studies here at the University of Edinburgh College of Art, we have been given briefs to do various projects. They're good for students who don't quite know what they want to work on, and they're excellent for trying out new ways of working.
You may recall the 15 prints project I did last year - The Wild Hunt via woodcut. This year we've been assigned a CD cover, tying together the ideas of Landscape (for an upcoming conference on the theme), music from our homes, and created images. I decided to go with an Appalachian bluegrass tune from our mountain home in Epworth - "Muddy Road to Ducktown." I loved that it was so distinctly American and also honored a friend...
The tune was written by a copper hauler trying to calm his beasts as they trudged along the Ocoee River Road, hauling copper ore to Cleveland, Tennessee via mule or oxen. If you've read my novel, A Bird on Water Street, you'll know that the area was completely deforested as miners cut down trees to feed the smelting pits that spewed sulfuric dioxide into the atmosphere and came down as acid rain, which killed any remaining plant life. In other words, the road in and out of the area was nothing but MUD.
I've written stories (not yet published) about how the song has been handed down from fiddle player to fiddle player, a cultural treasure, but I'd yet to illustrate it. Now, Lisa Jacobi, my friend and one of the latest treasure-keepers of the song (it was handed down to her by 99 year old Bob Douglas, who played it live one year later on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in celebration of his 100th birthday), she will get on me about the oxen - they used mules more often than oxen. But they did use oxen too, and that's what I've had in my head for ages. So, in the very short amount of time I had to do this project, I went with the oxen. Here's my process.
It began with a quick sketch.
Update! Want to hear the song? CLICK HERE!!!!
You may recall the 15 prints project I did last year - The Wild Hunt via woodcut. This year we've been assigned a CD cover, tying together the ideas of Landscape (for an upcoming conference on the theme), music from our homes, and created images. I decided to go with an Appalachian bluegrass tune from our mountain home in Epworth - "Muddy Road to Ducktown." I loved that it was so distinctly American and also honored a friend...
The tune was written by a copper hauler trying to calm his beasts as they trudged along the Ocoee River Road, hauling copper ore to Cleveland, Tennessee via mule or oxen. If you've read my novel, A Bird on Water Street, you'll know that the area was completely deforested as miners cut down trees to feed the smelting pits that spewed sulfuric dioxide into the atmosphere and came down as acid rain, which killed any remaining plant life. In other words, the road in and out of the area was nothing but MUD.
I've written stories (not yet published) about how the song has been handed down from fiddle player to fiddle player, a cultural treasure, but I'd yet to illustrate it. Now, Lisa Jacobi, my friend and one of the latest treasure-keepers of the song (it was handed down to her by 99 year old Bob Douglas, who played it live one year later on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in celebration of his 100th birthday), she will get on me about the oxen - they used mules more often than oxen. But they did use oxen too, and that's what I've had in my head for ages. So, in the very short amount of time I had to do this project, I went with the oxen. Here's my process.
It began with a quick sketch.
Update! Want to hear the song? CLICK HERE!!!!
Susie Wilson - Book Exhibit
Something I have embraced here at the University of Edinburgh is the art of the handmade book. There is an entire community of people who love, collect and make handmade books. And their ideas of what a book is are all over the place.
Take this recent exhibit by Artist-in-Residence Susie Wilson. If you look at the presentation in the College of Art library, it explains a bit about the project.
Our ECA librarian Jane Furness and I have become friends (you know I love librarians!) and so I had the chance to meet Susie during the recent official opening of her project.
Check out more of Susie's work at her website.
Take this recent exhibit by Artist-in-Residence Susie Wilson. If you look at the presentation in the College of Art library, it explains a bit about the project.
Our ECA librarian Jane Furness and I have become friends (you know I love librarians!) and so I had the chance to meet Susie during the recent official opening of her project.
Check out more of Susie's work at her website.
VIDEO: Sir Ken Robinson
Did you know that Sir Ken Robinson did another TED Talk about education? (The first one went viral to millions.) It's worth your time. Click the image to watch on Youtube.
Class Rep
One of the many things that the University of Edinburgh does very well is check in with the students regularly to make sure everything is going okay. They do this through an incredible support system of tutors, advisors, and student representation. I've recently become part of the support structure in this last capacity. Along with Ann-Kathrin Müller, who is the class rep for all our MA & MFA1 Illustration students, I am the MFA2 Illustration class rep.
At my level as a post-graduate student, that is not a tremendous job - there are only four of us including myself (26 total between the MAs and MFAs 1 and 2). But for the undergrads, that can sometimes mean representing over 200 students - being their voice – and that is no small task. Training teaches us how to listen, then objectively and anonymously share topics with advisors.
Being a class representative is also a nice responsibility to share on one's resume. For an undergrad, that can be a big deal. Granted, at my stage in life I don't need the resume help so much (I’m an older student). But it is nice to be a person students feel comfortable coming to as needed. Click the logo to learn more.
At my level as a post-graduate student, that is not a tremendous job - there are only four of us including myself (26 total between the MAs and MFAs 1 and 2). But for the undergrads, that can sometimes mean representing over 200 students - being their voice – and that is no small task. Training teaches us how to listen, then objectively and anonymously share topics with advisors.
Being a class representative is also a nice responsibility to share on one's resume. For an undergrad, that can be a big deal. Granted, at my stage in life I don't need the resume help so much (I’m an older student). But it is nice to be a person students feel comfortable coming to as needed. Click the logo to learn more.
Friday Links List - 28 October 2016
From Bored Panda: 15+ of the Most Creative Halloween Costumes - I like Peter and his shadow best!
Via Nathan Bransford: A fantastic diagram that breaks down The Big Five US Trade Book Publishers and their imprints. WOW!
From Nine Kinds of Pie: How to Read Harold (and the Purple Crayon)
From The Federation of Children's Book Groups - and idea to celebrate NATIONAL NON-FICTION NOVEMBER 2016
Nathan Bransford is blogging again and shared some awesome links:
From shouldiworkforfree.com - a handy dandy hilarious diagram mapping whether you should work for free or not
From bookends (a literary agency): Never Will You Just Write
Via Nathan Bransford: A fantastic diagram that breaks down The Big Five US Trade Book Publishers and their imprints. WOW!
From Nine Kinds of Pie: How to Read Harold (and the Purple Crayon)
From The Federation of Children's Book Groups - and idea to celebrate NATIONAL NON-FICTION NOVEMBER 2016
Nathan Bransford is blogging again and shared some awesome links:
From shouldiworkforfree.com - a handy dandy hilarious diagram mapping whether you should work for free or not
From bookends (a literary agency): Never Will You Just Write
Janice Hardy's UNDERSTANDING SHOW, DON'T TELL
The Problem With Telling, Not Showing Telling
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
Writing styles evolve and change, and reader taste changes with them. One of the more obvious ways is how we handle show, don't tell. A hundred years ago, books were filled with told prose and heavy passages of description. Books written as recently as a few decades ago can feel dated and stale to today’s readers. The more visual we’ve become as a society, the more shown we expect our books to be.
This is why it’s so important to understand what telling is, what it sounds like, and how it affects your writing, so you can best judge how to handle it. The thriller writer who uses omniscient point of view with multiple characters has different needs than the first-person point of view young adult writer. The same sentence can feel told in one passage and shown in another.
Because of this, there are two sides to the show, don’t tell problem:
• Problems writers face
• Problems readers face
Problems Readers Face
Readers might say, “Tell me a story,” but a great story is more than relaying facts and details in a logical order. Readers want an immersive experience with enough descriptive details to bring a story to life in their heads.
Telling robs them of that chance. It explains all the reasons why things are as they are, it telegraphs what’s going to happen, and it leaves little to the imagination. It’s the difference between seeing a movie, and having someone tell you all about the movie, describing it scene by scene.
Half the fun of reading is anticipating what’s going to happen next and how the story will unfold. Readers love to wonder about the characters and try to figure out the plot twists and story secrets ahead of time. If it’s too easy, or all the answers are told to them, there’s really no point in reading.
What a reader considers good writing also varies. Readers of literary fiction might want as many adjectives and word pictures as they can get, enjoying the wordplay and use of language. Readers of thrillers might prefer a little explanation (telling) to keep the pace moving quickly, while romance readers want the focus on the emotions and how everyone feels more than dramatizing the action.
For example:
• Monique dashed along the riverbank, sending flowers dancing into the air, only to land softly on the gentle waves before sinking below the surface.
• Monique raced along the river bank, seconds ahead of the killer.
• Monique ran along the riverbank, Philippe’s warm hand in hers, soft as the flowers beneath their feet.
Problems Writers Face
The number-one problem writers face is finding and identifying told prose in their work. It’s hard to be objective, and reading your own words as you “tell” your story feels perfectly normal. Writing, “John was angry about getting fired” is exactly what’s going on in the story. John is angry about getting fired and you’re writing all about his anger and what he does about it. You imagine all the emotions, thoughts, and actions that support John’s anger, but often, those details never make it onto the page.
Let’s take this sentence and expand it into a typical paragraph that might start a chapter or scene:
John was angry about getting fired. He yelled at his wife, his kids, even the neighbors. None of his friends wanted to talk to him, and it had gotten so bad they pretended not to see him when they ran into him at the grocery store. Naturally, this pissed him off even more, and it was the poor dog that suffered his wrath.Is this paragraph shown or told?
Some people will say this paragraph is shown, but others will say it’s told—and they’re both right. What the writer intends this paragraph to do will determine whether or not it feels told.
• If this paragraph was intended as a quick summary and the point of the scene built off John being angry, this paragraph could smoothly set the scene and readers would read right past it.
• If this paragraph was meant to show how badly John is treating his family and friends, and this is all the reader gets to understand that, then it probably feels told and explanatory.
• If this is from a omniscient narrator, it probably feels shown, but if this is John’s point of view, it likely feels like a summary of a scene, not an actual scene. Look at what happens when I dramatize this sentence instead:
John slammed the door behind him. Who did that stuffed shirt think he was anyway? Fire him? That cesspool of an office would wither and die without him.
“You’re home early,” Maria said, coming in from the kitchen.
“Am I interrupting your bon-bon eating or something?”
Her smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t get any damn respect, that’s what’s wrong.”
When you compare the two pieces now, how do you feel about them? Odds are the first feels much more told and summarized, while this feels shown and in the moment. It’s obvious John is angry and lashing out, it’s clear why, and you’re probably much more curious about what will happen next than you were in the first paragraph—maybe even dreading what John might do.
This is why it’s hard to spot told prose. Often, told prose stands out when compared to how the rest of the novel is written. A tiny bit of detached, explanatory prose here and there blends in and bothers no one, but use a lot of it, and the entire novel feels flat.
The second major problem writers face is that both readers and others writers have different opinions on:
• How much telling is acceptableThe person who prefers distant third-person narrators will have a higher acceptance for told prose than the first-person fan. The point of view styles are handled differently, and readers react differently as well. It’s very subjective.
• What telling sounds like
• What to do about told prose in a manuscript
Don’t let this discourage you, however. Understanding this annoying fact is what will allow you to really understand what show, don’t tell means. You won’t be following inflexible rules, but looking at your work and determining where it feels weak and how it could be made stronger.
Do you struggle with show, don't tell?
Check out my new book, Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting it), and learn what show, don't tell means, how to spot told prose in your writing, and why common advice on how to fix it doesn't always work.
Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy and the Foundations of Fiction series, including Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook, and Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft. She's also the founder of the writing site, Fiction University. For more advice and helpful writing tips, visit her at www.fiction-university.com or @Janice_Hardy.
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Why so quiet? Formative Reviews Time!
Have you wondered why I've not shared a big outing, meal or adventure of late? It's because it's time for formative reviews. We're already half way through our fall semester (can you believe it!?) and this is a marker for how we students are doing.
Monday I turned in what I have so far of my dissertation. Must admit, I geeked out and overwrote my topic. But this will be the only opportunity I have for my tutor to actually see and comment on my work specifically before the actual deadline. Academic writing is new to me, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can at this stage.
The other formative review is for my studio course. Here's what my desk looks like as I type.
None of my projects are complete at this stage, but they're all coming along quite well. I'm pleased.
But I'm also antsy. I have so much to do! I need back in my studio with all my stuff so that I can keep working!
Monday I turned in what I have so far of my dissertation. Must admit, I geeked out and overwrote my topic. But this will be the only opportunity I have for my tutor to actually see and comment on my work specifically before the actual deadline. Academic writing is new to me, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can at this stage.
The other formative review is for my studio course. Here's what my desk looks like as I type.
None of my projects are complete at this stage, but they're all coming along quite well. I'm pleased.
But I'm also antsy. I have so much to do! I need back in my studio with all my stuff so that I can keep working!
Coloring Page Tuesday - Halloween Story Time
CLICK HERE to sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of six literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.
VIDEO: Never Alone
A classmate turned me onto this game available for iPad and iPhone (maybe Android too), NEVER ALONE. I don't really play games and I don't have the right device, but I was still able to enjoy the video about the story behind this gorgeous app. Click the image to watch a short video about it. 
Friday Links List - 21 October 2016
From The New Yorker: The Fantastic Ursula K. Le Guin
At HuffPost: The Latest Trend: Beautifully Illustrated Non-Fiction Picture Books
From 99U: Career-Propelling Money Advice for Creatives
From Digg: Paper Sculptures Made From Old Books Might Be The Best Way To Enjoy Literature
From Muddy Colors: (this may be a repeat, but deserves it) How to Invoice
From Muddy Colors: 20 Artists, from Photo to Final (!!!!)
From Steve Antony: My Guide to the Bologna Children's Book Fair - a while away, but good advice!
From Mile High Reading - Q&A With Adam Rex (Good!)
At HuffPost: The Latest Trend: Beautifully Illustrated Non-Fiction Picture Books
From 99U: Career-Propelling Money Advice for Creatives
From Digg: Paper Sculptures Made From Old Books Might Be The Best Way To Enjoy Literature
From Muddy Colors: (this may be a repeat, but deserves it) How to Invoice
From Muddy Colors: 20 Artists, from Photo to Final (!!!!)
From Steve Antony: My Guide to the Bologna Children's Book Fair - a while away, but good advice!
From Mile High Reading - Q&A With Adam Rex (Good!)
Bomi Park's FIRST SNOW
We're getting a bit frosty before it's time, but I have to share this fabulous debut picture book by Bomi Park. All the way from Seoul, South Korea, she stopped by to discuss it with us...
Bomi: Out of the many possible subject matters, I’m always observing and keenly thinking about certain images, topics, or short words that might become seeds for my stories. If a seed has the potential to sprout, I save them up no matter what it is. Out of those seeds, I draw a thumbnail sketch which gives me a general idea of the story’s plot or allows me to examine whether the seed provides the framework to become a long story or not. Then I flesh it out.
The fact that this process was possible with three of my picture books was in a way really fortunate for me. It was because I was able to complete the books without much trouble or difficulty. However, I decided to change my method after experiencing a great slump from relying on intuition. After much trial and error, currently I’m sketching out all of the pictures and coloring them after some corrections. I don’t think that my first method of relying on intuition is wrong. This is because each author has his or her own way.
I’m not sure how my process will change in the future. The biggest charm and appeal of drawing a picture book is changing my methods every time I run into difficulty and uncertainty.
Bomi: It is hard to choose just one material among those that I’m familiar with.
If it’s a material that best corresponds to the feeling of the subject, I don’t limit myself to one material or several materials. Instead I try to use everything that is on hand.
I don’t really differentiate the process of sketching and coloring. I also don’t prefer planning out the process either.
The main materials for “First Snow” were pencils, acrylic paint, oil pastel, ink sticks, digital work and others. However, the most important material was “paper” that had a rich texture. I spent a lot of time figuring out how to express white snow on white paper.
The solution to that was using a paper with grain thick enough to hold slightly heavier paint and crayon. I wanted to express the warm and tender feeling of snow.
e: Is there a unique or funny story behind the creation of this story?
Bomi: “First Snow” was a picture that I painted to complete my course at an illustration school.
While taking courses for several months, I put a lot of effort into making a three dimensional miniature house for an exhibition with the topic of “season” and “house.” However, less than one month before the exhibition I realized that my plan and image concept was wrong. I was devastated.
However, I didn’t want to give up on the exhibition and after a lot of thinking I came up with a new plan called “First Snow.”
I didn’t have much time, so I thought of the clearest image inside me and that image was of “A child rolling a snowball on a snowy day.”
(I’m currently working on a nonfiction picture book with 100 pages and it’s just exhausting.)
That may have been the reason, that even though I grew up to become an adult, I still developed a mentality of wanting to receive compensation for my childhood. This might have provided me with the motivation to become a picture book author.
I want to live in an exciting story whenever possible and I also want to create “a world where children create for themselves” in which children can live without interference or attention of adults.
Bomi: I’m currently working on a story about Korea’s lunar calendar seasons (subdivisions of the seasons) which are very distinct. The content is also very wide in scope and the book is quite long as well.
Although it includes the fictional story of one child who lives in different animal’s houses every two months for one year and has various adventures and experiences of the past, it is true that the book is overall nonfiction, so it has many points to study, and requires a lot of energy and patience to create.
If I complete the book, it will become a very rewarding journey for me. The book is very natural, and I’m continually surprised of my ancestors’ wisdom of dealing with 24 distinct seasons that only occur in the East. Therefore, I hope to introduce the book all over the world.
Other than that, I always dream of freely imagining myself flying around in my stories.
Check out Bomi's work space...
Bomi: Out of the many possible subject matters, I’m always observing and keenly thinking about certain images, topics, or short words that might become seeds for my stories. If a seed has the potential to sprout, I save them up no matter what it is. Out of those seeds, I draw a thumbnail sketch which gives me a general idea of the story’s plot or allows me to examine whether the seed provides the framework to become a long story or not. Then I flesh it out.
The fact that this process was possible with three of my picture books was in a way really fortunate for me. It was because I was able to complete the books without much trouble or difficulty. However, I decided to change my method after experiencing a great slump from relying on intuition. After much trial and error, currently I’m sketching out all of the pictures and coloring them after some corrections. I don’t think that my first method of relying on intuition is wrong. This is because each author has his or her own way.
I’m not sure how my process will change in the future. The biggest charm and appeal of drawing a picture book is changing my methods every time I run into difficulty and uncertainty.
Bomi: It is hard to choose just one material among those that I’m familiar with.
If it’s a material that best corresponds to the feeling of the subject, I don’t limit myself to one material or several materials. Instead I try to use everything that is on hand.
I don’t really differentiate the process of sketching and coloring. I also don’t prefer planning out the process either.
The main materials for “First Snow” were pencils, acrylic paint, oil pastel, ink sticks, digital work and others. However, the most important material was “paper” that had a rich texture. I spent a lot of time figuring out how to express white snow on white paper.
The solution to that was using a paper with grain thick enough to hold slightly heavier paint and crayon. I wanted to express the warm and tender feeling of snow.
e: Is there a unique or funny story behind the creation of this story?
Bomi: “First Snow” was a picture that I painted to complete my course at an illustration school.
While taking courses for several months, I put a lot of effort into making a three dimensional miniature house for an exhibition with the topic of “season” and “house.” However, less than one month before the exhibition I realized that my plan and image concept was wrong. I was devastated.
However, I didn’t want to give up on the exhibition and after a lot of thinking I came up with a new plan called “First Snow.”
I didn’t have much time, so I thought of the clearest image inside me and that image was of “A child rolling a snowball on a snowy day.”
(I’m currently working on a nonfiction picture book with 100 pages and it’s just exhausting.)
That may have been the reason, that even though I grew up to become an adult, I still developed a mentality of wanting to receive compensation for my childhood. This might have provided me with the motivation to become a picture book author.
I want to live in an exciting story whenever possible and I also want to create “a world where children create for themselves” in which children can live without interference or attention of adults.
Bomi: I’m currently working on a story about Korea’s lunar calendar seasons (subdivisions of the seasons) which are very distinct. The content is also very wide in scope and the book is quite long as well.
Although it includes the fictional story of one child who lives in different animal’s houses every two months for one year and has various adventures and experiences of the past, it is true that the book is overall nonfiction, so it has many points to study, and requires a lot of energy and patience to create.
If I complete the book, it will become a very rewarding journey for me. The book is very natural, and I’m continually surprised of my ancestors’ wisdom of dealing with 24 distinct seasons that only occur in the East. Therefore, I hope to introduce the book all over the world.
Other than that, I always dream of freely imagining myself flying around in my stories.
Check out Bomi's work space...
What I'm Working On: Dissertation
It's backwards here in the UK - you write a Dissertation for your Masters and a Thesis for your PhD. So, I am in the thick of writing my Dissertation. No play time for me!
My title is, "Comparing and Contrasting a Decade of the US Randolph Caldecott And UK Kate Greenaway Medal Children's Books to Identify Trends, Similarities and Differences Between the US and UK Markets." And it is fascinating. I am learning so much by really examining these titles and seeing how they are presented to their respective markets. You may be familiar with the Caldecotts...
That's just a taste of what I'm learning. It's also why you'll only be seeing the top of my head for most of this term as I lean over reading, studying, and writing, writing, writing.
My title is, "Comparing and Contrasting a Decade of the US Randolph Caldecott And UK Kate Greenaway Medal Children's Books to Identify Trends, Similarities and Differences Between the US and UK Markets." And it is fascinating. I am learning so much by really examining these titles and seeing how they are presented to their respective markets. You may be familiar with the Caldecotts...
That's just a taste of what I'm learning. It's also why you'll only be seeing the top of my head for most of this term as I lean over reading, studying, and writing, writing, writing.
Coloring Page Tuesday - Skull and Spider
CLICK HERE to sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of six literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.
VIDEO: Just Some Motion
I love the sheer joy of Parov Stelar dancing in his living room - Just Some Motion. I dare you not to join him. Click the image to dance along.
Fireworks!
I was stumped what to share with you today, dear readers, because I have been laid up in bed sick for most of this week. PAH! But no worries, this is Edinburgh. Sometimes, the wonder of this town comes to you. I started to feel a little better so had moved to the couch. After dinner, we heard an odd noise outside. And then again, and again.
"That sounds like fireworks?"
Indeed it was.
Turns out the end of the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival was being celebrated with a Virgin Money Fireworks Concert on Calton Hill...which is right up the hill from our flat. This was our view. We got to see the whole thing. The ball of light on the left side of 'our tree' is the moon. The ball of light on the right is the fireworks show getting going.
"That sounds like fireworks?"
Indeed it was.
Turns out the end of the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival was being celebrated with a Virgin Money Fireworks Concert on Calton Hill...which is right up the hill from our flat. This was our view. We got to see the whole thing. The ball of light on the left side of 'our tree' is the moon. The ball of light on the right is the fireworks show getting going.
Sunday in Cupar
I suppose it's an American thing to do leisurely Sunday gatherings too, but it's truly become part of our lives since moving to Edinburgh. Uni keeps me extremely busy, but I usually try to give myself one play-day per weekend, so I really value these gatherings.
Karin's (Romania) and Antti's (Finland) flat was a warm and happy place, filled with treasures, where we all relaxed.
Catherine (Chile), Me (US), Antti and Karin.
Nadee (Thailand) and Antti.
Stan (US).
Boris (Taiwan) and his adorable new wife, Vicki (Taiwan).
The reason I mention everybody's home countries (including ours - the US) is because we counted up, and between us and the dishes, we had no less than 17 nationalities represented. I absolutely adore how international our lives have become here! It's such an easy and comfortable thing that I wish more people in the world would get to experience.
Karin's (Romania) and Antti's (Finland) flat was a warm and happy place, filled with treasures, where we all relaxed.
Catherine (Chile), Me (US), Antti and Karin.
Nadee (Thailand) and Antti.
Stan (US).
Boris (Taiwan) and his adorable new wife, Vicki (Taiwan).
The reason I mention everybody's home countries (including ours - the US) is because we counted up, and between us and the dishes, we had no less than 17 nationalities represented. I absolutely adore how international our lives have become here! It's such an easy and comfortable thing that I wish more people in the world would get to experience.