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Friday 21 September 2012

Saturday 1 September 2012

Map of the Week


This is a detail from a map I bought from the National Library in Edinburgh recently.  It's a reproduction, obviously - a copy of Blaeu's Extima Scotiae, 1654.  The kind of map that gave me ideas for the original Sea Penguin characters and location.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Found items from the Bay #2 and #3

 A stone that looks like a whale,  and a stone that looks like a shark.  Magic wand in the foreground.
On the way to the Coral Beaches,  Isle of Skye.

Sunday 19 August 2012

Camus Malag and Blaven beyond.

Found Items from the Bay #1

It's not that unusual for items to make their way across the Atlantic to the shores of the west coast of Scotland.  I just haven't found any,  till now.  This is a "plant pot" - i.e. a receptacle in which one grows "plants", or "green-style things".  I was terribly excited when I spotted it on the shore at Camus Malag,  Isle of Skye (photo to follow).  That looks Mexican!  I shrieked, swiftly nipping my fag and breaking into a trot.
It isn't Mexican, but it does have "Made in the Dominican Republic" printed on the base.  Has it floated all the way from there, to the shores of Scotland?  I hope so.  On the other hand, it COULD be a souvenir that Kylie McGumphy brought back for her nan from her honeymoon, circa 1985, that got flung out when they were clearing her house after she went into the care home.......
I'll never know.  Either way,  I'm going to plant a heather in it,  and raise a glass to Kylie's nan, the late Mrs Effie McGumphy.  Yes, she died after going into the care home.....