Wee lead slippers

We're back .... with a whole new stream of gibberish

Aye, there's some funny things to be seen in the snaw.

 

But nae doot the main interest's in the bairns. So here we are. Two weans playin' just before their feet get to cold.

 

Mad hair day

Sometimes there's just nothing can be done with it.

Spot the difference

Take a good look at those ankles. See the difference? Fatty on the right and skinny on the left. That's what you get when you fall over at the top of a hill, twisting your ankle as you go. And then walk on it for the four miles back to the car.  

Autism here we come ...

Aye, wee Ellen had her MMR and some other jag today. Poor wee pet. I had to pin her down while the Wicked Witch of the Surgery stuck needles in her. One in each arm. Didn't wail. More whole-body heaving sobs of betrayal.

Haircare Brechin style

Yes, a boy's spiky bed hair cured by the application of a manky dish cloth. Because he's worth it.

  

A cartoon bump for Ellen

Check the napper on her. Went to a cottage for the weekend over the school holiday last week. Hardly in the place five minutes and what does she do? Throws herself down the stairs right onto her forehead, which immediately comes up in the most impressive cartoon bump. Didn't try pushing it to see if it would come up somewhere else but it was a dramatic swelling.

Anyway, the good people at NHS 24 decided that in the absence of bleeding from the ears, nose or eyes, dizziness, bogginess in the swelling (what would that show: brain?), we were spared the drive and long wait at a hospital. But was she deterred from climbing the stairs? No way.

 

The names

Aye, some people have been wondering.

First names - Ewan and Ellen are both characters in Lewis Grassic Gibbon's A Scots Quair. They appear in the third book Grey Granite. Ewan Tavendale is the son of Chris Guthrie, the main character of the three books. Ellen Johns appears as Ewan's girlfriend. He becomes a commie and dumps her to devote his life to the class struggle. But it's not meant to be literal. Apart from the names, a Scots Quair is set in the Mearns - Kircardineshire in the north east of Scotland. Oor Mandy's part of the world.

If you're interested in Gibbon have a look this trot's eye view or you can buy the book from Amazon.

Middle names - a bit of a middle class affectation if you ask me but Ewan's middle name is Denoon, the family name of Mandy's maw. Ellen's is Christina, which is a traditional name used by the Denoons. Though usually just for girls.

Hope - that's me. Their da.

Oor wee Ellen's a month old

Aye, it hardly seems like a month that I've not been to work. It's such hard work what with the decorating, the bread baking, etc.

And the software's all crapped up again. That iBlog should be nice and easy but it just doesn't work properly. This thing - Typepad - is a wee bit cumbersome, especially on the photo front but I think I'll get around that by just linking constantly to a .Mac web gallery and keeping that up to date.

Click here

But wee Ellen. It's the usual eating, sleeping and emptying by the usual methods. Other than that she hasn't actually done anything yet so no funny stories apart from this morning's projectile poo. Aye, poo! Fired it 10ft across the bedroom. Well, I say fired but sprayed is more accurate. Actually, "hosed" probably best captures the force, concentration and fluidity of it. Didn't get a photo of that but I'm sure you can conjure up a picture.

Still, happy first month to Ellen. Happy New Year to everyone.

Egg Roll

Aye, the wee man's taken charge of a wee digital camera and has started producing his own works of art

Actually, this one is entitled "Flat Egg". It's a statement about the place of man within the universe. "Flat" is, of course, a reference to the ancient flat earth understanding of the Earth as a flat circular plate. The runny yolk of the flat egg, waiting to be punctured, is clearly an analogy to the sun, centred on the earth and providing light and warmth.

In this image, the bap represents the universe, placing the flat egg in a pre-Copernican universe, where Earth (and Man) were at the centre of a universe created by God. Being wholemeal, the speckles of grain represent the millions of stars lighting the night sky, floating in the doughy dark matter that makes all those quantum physics things work.

The "egg" is, of course, a reference to the true nature of the earth as an oblate spheroid. The contradiction in the concept of "flat egg" is sublime, at once calling back to our primitive understanding and yet also acknowledging the true nature of existence.

The Robots plate, clearly looks to the future. What's that, more wine? Yes please.

New Hope for the world!

Aye, in these days of environmental degradation, war, famine, pestilence and general rudeness, it's good to add to the over-population.

Just in case you thought the reference to the imminent arrival of a No.2 was talk of jobbies, let me make it clear - Baby No.2 is on the way! Actually, it'll be along in just 5 weeks.

Of course, there's lots of talk of names. In fact, that's where the new blog name comes from - Ewan - suggestions are Banjo Cannon and Saskia Sparkley.

Banjo Cannon at least is a real boy. Star of The Runaway Dinner - here he is chasing Melvin the sausage and some other bits of dinner.