Smith Art Gallery Stirling

This weekend we visited the Smith Art Gallery in Stirling. It's a lovely little museum which packed in quite a bit. I was primarily interested in a Spirit of the Celt exhibition which was by 10 textile artists
and also in the Christmas Tingles. Hubby and tot shot through the art exhibit and went through to the history section which was very interesting indeed. There were even some dress up clothes but alas, they were too big for our little gal. She was happy just playing with the TV which was in part of an exhibit. We also took a walk around Aillie's Garden - it looks like a sweet garden but not for winter time. We hastily went inside for a cuppa - which was perhaps the most disappointing part of our visit as the prices were quite high. The highlight for me was hubby buying me a heart necklace from the Tingles collection - mind you I did blatantly point to it and say "Oh how pretty, I want it".  If you are shopping in Stirling and fancy a quick break, then go along. It's not far from the Thistles shopping centre. At the very least the view up to Stirling Castle is worth it.
Sorry for the quality of the pictures and the rather strange layout - I need a better camera and to pick up that book on HTML I bought over a year ago.

Paisley patterns. 

Kelpie

To teach girls household chores

Turtle teapot

Dress up clothes

Cut up shotgun - memorial to those killed in Dunblane 

Stirling Embroiderers Guild Hangman! 

Seats in the garden

This precious life

There are times where I wish the day would end, where boredom or a hard task makes me want to hurry the minute, hour or day away. There are times when I look forward to an event so much that I forget about living the days inbetween.
A few weeks ago, my aunt died. She had cancer but it was the survivable kind. It was her kidneys that gave out. Sad as she was a sweet lady. Even more so as she was the youngest sister of my uncle who passed away in June. I was feeling a bit emotional about it all which led to a sleepless night, which led to me looking on Facebook. Sometimes Facebook users suck. I found out from Facebook that another aunt's husband had died. But not any details. Normally I get a call from Dad with details.
The uncle who died had only just turned 40. He was a nice guy who married my aunt 14 years ago - one of the first mixed marriages in our family.
Over the coming days it emerged that he died whilst popping out on an errand on his motorbike. A freak fall off the bike and he banged his head on a lamp-post and died instantly. He's left my aunt and 2 very young cousins.
I can never get the "died instantly" - how can something that  is so ALIVE, so full of love, emotion, views and well, life get extinguished in an instant? There wasn't even a chance to say goodbye, for a last kiss with his wife and kids.
"Instant" sucks.
Facebook sucks.
I'm not wishing any more minutes away. 

Stones

I was sad to hear of Heavy D's death. For those that don't know, he was a rather large rapper who was most famous for his 80's hit "Now that we found love" - a very upbeat song. He was the same age as me. They don't know what killed him but there is already some speculation that it was linked to his obesity. It sucks to be obese. I'm feeling the bad effects of it as I have either got a stomach ulcer, or gallstones. Big contributing factors in the latter are a) being a woman  and b) being even slightly overweight like what I am. In the last few months, I've had attacks of the most excruciating pain - on one occasion I was stuck in  Edinburgh station with tot and hubby, doubled up in pain and trying to puke my guts out. Luckily, after asking for help from the police, we were taken to a quiet first class lounge so that I could ride out the pain. I have nothing but praise for the station staff and the policeman particularly as I was getting stressed about boarding a train then bringing it to a standstill as I writhed about like a possessed woman.
Since then there have been more attacks. My doc is trying to help with antibiotics, antacids, antispasmodics but the attacks continue to come every few days. This Tuesday it was so bad, that we called an ambulance. My poor tot was distressed as I was taken away. But by the time I arrived at the shiny new Forth Valley hospital the attack was over and I felt like a bit of a twit. I hope it is all sorted soon as at the moment it means I restricted to a low fat, high fibre diet which make for very boring cooking. And don't bring a curry near me as I'm liable to tell you to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

Hello, hello, is anyone there?

I have to admit that it's easy to become a bit stats obsessed. I mean no-one wants to be talking to themselves.
However, lately the blogger stats have gone a bit strange. I get spikes in numbers from America from odd referring sites. I'm not going to click to find out who they are and I seriously doubt that they are actually an audience.
In a way though this weirdness has done me a favour. Turns out I don't actually mind talking to myself. I just have to remember not to do it in public unlike a Uni mate of mine who used to argue with herself whilst walking down the high street.