Author Archives: Don
The Shrimpers —
Been a busy day – I’ve carefully cleaned and hung my new ‘pic’ —
From around 1888 – fisher women netting shrimps – possibly on the mudflats left by the receding tides of the River Tay estuary.
As for copyrights – in the UK they last 70 years. I think this pic is over 100 years old so I should be OK on that score 👍
Helen’s Studio —
This is only one small part of it —
That gannet is truly spectalular and shows those daily crossings of the Cuan Sound on her way to and from work in Oban were not wasted 👍
The Shrimpers by Robert McGregor —
With H off to Ireland for her grandson’s birthday I came across a note in her studio asking me to frame her latest landscape painting which I have called ‘The Water’s Edge’ —
I had a mount that I thought I could make fit but no suitable frame —
Nothing daunted I took the easy way out and headed off to a major antique centre thirty five miles away – thinking I might find something suitable containing a non-descript painting or photo which I could pop out and replace with Helen’s offering.
Well – I did find something interesting tucked away in a corner gathering dust. The sizes were about right and I thought – ‘thistle doo’ and got it for a song —
It was only when I got home and inspected it properly that I thought – ‘wait a minute – this looks interesting’.
Signed by the artist – Robert McGregor it said on the sales label ‘The Shrimpers’ and Google soon provided a whole lot more info. A Scottish artist who lived 1847-1922 – Robert painted mainly fisher folk and farm workers going about their daily toil.
His paintings are well sought after nowadays with prices running into thousands of pounds when they come on the market. My purchase certainly looks old enough and tired enough to date from Victorian times – I wonder 🤔
Helen with the V-Strom 650 —
Looking across Loch Leven to Glencoe —
Those were the balmy or perhaps barmy —
high-kicking – pre-covid days – when we would nip off the island and up to Mallaig or wherever for an ice cream —
Thirty Years Ago —
Heading out on the Exup —
perhaps I should have stopped riding motorcycles then and taken up gardening —
but just think of all the ‘fun’ I would have missed 😎
Bramley Apples are Looking Good —
We have spent our third summer in Comrie and a need for something to do during the pandemic saw Helen and I dig in five different fruit trees.
Of the five – two have produced fruit this year and pride of place goes to the Bramley Apple —
The recent rain has played it’s part and the apples filled out nicely after a slow – dry start.
I can see ‘apple pie’ being on the dinner menu a few times this winter 🤠
Hidden Gems —
The viaduct carrying the disused railway over the River Fleet in the forest covered hills of Dumfries and Galloway —
and the bold Yamaha Tenere XT660Z was the perfect tool to take me round them 🤠
Auchmithie —
where I was living with my mother and two older brothers in a room rented from fishwife and landlady – Jessie Cargill in 1945/6 —
when my dad came marching home at the end of the Second World War …
Bet that was the first time my hair had been combed — 🙄
givitsum-from-a-distance 