Happy Christmas

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas. I am sorry for the lack of blogage in recent months. I hope to restart properly in the new year - got some news to share and some photos to show :-)
with love
Ali

nana's 90th

it was my nana's 90th birthday last friday and we went to Whitehead for the weekend to celebrate with her. She was in great form - keeping a running count of the number of cards she had and who all her flowers were from. It was really good to see her but I guess with so much going on I prefer to see her when its a bit quieter and we have a chance to chat and to hear her stories.

We had a big family gathering at my aunts house - complete with sushi. My nana used to make sushi every new year so its somewhat of a family tradition - dating back to the pre trendy sushi era!

Iain and Majlinda were over with the kids for the occasion- Alban and Emma have grown up so much since I last saw them (christmas last year). I managed to delete the contents of my camera so only have some fuzzy ones of Alban. Emma amazingly managed to sit still long enough for a photo to be taken. Its her second birthday tomorrow - happy birthday emma.

the birthday girl

cheeky grins

milky bars are on me

So its been a week since blogging. Work has been really stressful so i havent been doing very much else. Last saturday was however the social event of the century - fancy dress :-)
i went as the milky bar kid and jamie went as a 70's cop. It was much fun. I love fancy dress - any excuse to be silly.
enjoy the pics...


We were out at monser mash for kirsty's birthday yesterday. I love bangers and mash - what a fab idea to have a restaurant that sells bangers and mash!! And all set in a happy days kind of diner thing (www.monstermashcafe.co.uk),

Anyway I better get going and do some housework - it is a Saturday morning after all.

sorry mum

we're just about to go grocery shopping for tonight. We're having a fancy dress dinner thing. As usual jamie and i are a little last minute - still gotta think up a costume and make dinner for 20. its going to be a fun afternoon!

I think the highlight of the morning was mum sending me a picture text of her bottom. genius! i wonder if she'll be cringing when she looks at the blog at work?? i hope so :-)

hoping to get some fun photos of tonight too - watch this space.

team komolafe

mia and ruben

this week started well with a coffee with the komolafes - it was so good to see lynne and segun again. it has been a while since we last caught up. It was my first chance to see new wee baby ruben - and to get a cuddle. Mia has grown up so cute and really sweet natured too. Its so good to spend time with old friends.

mia is defiantely uber cute - she has the tshirt to prove it

brel

jamie mid set - better photos taken with the slr but not uploaded them yet


so its been a while since the last blog, but i wanted to tell you about our fun night out to glasgow last thursday. jamie had a support gig for the felt tips at brel in ashton lane, the west end. When we first arrived it was like being in spain - it was really warm and everyone was sitting about outside the bars. It turned out to be a fun night. i love glasgow. Jamie played well (if i do say so myself) and we got chatting with a reviewer from the herald who said he had really enjoyed jamie's set and took his number.
I think the highlight has got to be stuart's first ever kfc on the way home.

thats the very bag - a momentous event!!

How do you get that old without having tasted the delights of kfc??

needless to say - stuart enjoyed it

a quick hello

its been a busy week. not very bloggable but fun. Just thought i should say hi before i head off to work. jamie's off work this week and im enjoying getting my breakfast made for me :-)
Anyway gotta run.

walkies

after the business of the gig on saturday night I missed church on sunday morning (call myself a christian huh??) . which was a shame because EVERYBODY has told me it was really great. paul was talking about grace - at least i should be able to get parts 2 and 3 over the next few weeks!

sunday afternoon brought a peaceful leisurely stroll and catch up with our favourite springer-owning friends Karen and Jeremy and their little baby Nathan. Well... I say peaceful... it was appart from the guy pumping out beats from his turntable complete with mahhussive amps and own generator... as you do!

the big amps - sorry pic is small - i wasnt getting any closer to the madman or his followers!

baby nathan seemed to enjoy the hardcore dance anthems rocking out the braids

Cara really enjoyed the walk especially having jake to play with - I enjoyed a chance to get caught up with Karen :-)

sunday strolls

the 3 Tour

jamie in action

Jamie had a support slot on the 3 tour's stop in edinburgh. It went down well - 7 cds sold - and lots of compliments :-) it was really good to see yvonne and dl too and to hear them playing with neil alton and gareth davies-jones. i was really touched that my workmates and friends came along too. Thankfully they seemed to enjoy it (or at least they pretended to convincingly)

lots to catch up on... the dominion

the dominion

well it's been a while and I will endeavour to fill you in without missing anything out.
Last Thursday Bagger invited Jamie and i out to the cinema. But not just any cinema... the dominion - a family run cinema that is more of a night out than a quick film kind of place. It has really friendly staff and a bar and fantastic recliner chairs

jamie and bagger - how many cinemas let you take your beer in?? there were free pringles too - but I had eaten them pretty smartish :-) once you pop you cant stop

going on a thursday night meant the place was quite empty. The film we watched was ok - but not magnisficent - so ok that i cant even remember the name of it! But thanks to the dominion and a bucket of kfc it was defiantely a good night out!

the view from my very comforable reclined seat - dont worry you copyright people - it was just the pre film adds

poor puppy

the lack of pedicures has taken it's toll. Poor Cara needed another operation to remove another dodgy nail. This time she came home with what is described in Scotland as a red "stooky". It's very cute!

amazingly the sock hasnt been chewed off... yet

she even has a little wellie to put on when she goes out for walks/pees. Its made of a saline solution bag and a bandage. Cara's got quite used to it and now sits at the door with her paw up ready for wellification and more amazingly she sits when she comes in for de-wellification!

"oh wellies they are great gosh wellies they are swell..." mr billy connolly - genius

the saddest part of the whole thing is listening to cara groan in pain - every so often there's a little whimper from her. Is it wrong to make prayer requests for a puppies paw?

Where is mecca?

No jamie and kirsty are not prayin to Allah but having stretches for poor jamie's back :-(

blackford hill

kirsty at the top

I have just been for a walk with jamie, kirsty and the dog up blackford hill (well... half way up it!). the views were beautiful. The sun was setting and the sky had a pinkish tinge. There were lots of tiny tiny little frogs and some bats too. Cara chased rabbits for ages and has now crashed out on the sofa :-) best to let sleeping dogs lie.

gig at the lot

jamie had a gig on Sunday night - supporting erin hill at the lot. The lot has brilliant accoustics and atmosphere. All in all jamie's gig went well - apart from the pre-amp battery dying on the first song - and some tuning issues. I find myself over critical because I know how good he can be. I think everyone enjoyed it though. The website has had its first purchasees - need to be getting compliments slips etc sorted out.
Unfortunately Jamie has hurt his back (lifting a box of cds!) and is quite sore :-( poor jamie.

my ma

just a quick wee blog - its been a busy weekend. My mum has been over and we spent some time at the festival etc. here's some pics to tell the story...

going to the cinema on friday night - by the way the break-up is just as depressing as the title suggests

me and my ma

my ma - out on the town - lunch at the lot

From the bus stop

I'm having a go at blogging from my mobile. Have noticed that autumn is on its way. Check out these leaves!

brand new

well last week was full of brand new things...

1) jamie's new cd has arrived - well i say cd - i mean cd's - we have 6 big boxes of them hanging about the house. his website is up and running too - check it out - www.jamiewilsonmusic.com and please buy a cd - so that i can have my spare room back!












2) a new phone!! with 3.2megapixel camera - yay!! so i can take pictures all the time :-) for those "i wish i had my camera with me" moments. its been good fun so far - i'm sure after the fuzzy iain archer pictures you avid blog-readers will be glad to hear the news!



3) having my aunt marilyn and uncle ian over for a cup of tea! - sorry no pics folks - but it was really good to see them and to spend time with them. they normally live in africa so it was defiantely a brand new experience to have them round :-)

4) webcam - i had my first web-cam chat - i dont have a webcam but it was really cool to be able to see hazel and peter and to hear them talk. i reckon it would be really cool to use with kids - will have to try and talk my brother into getting one. although it would mean less of the pyjama-wearing computer use.

5) going for a whole week without blogging!

sweeping the clouds away

this is one of my faourite photos taken with my new phone - its the cloud over glasgow.

i love the golden edge to the cloud and the rain underneath - but i hav enever seen a cloud's shadow in the sky before and i was so glad to catch it with a camera - truely amazing!

it has been a while. last week was very busy with work and play. it has left me pretty tired out. its probably the reason for my bad tummy and my sleepy head :-( feeling a little fragile after it all. so i'm off work today.
saturday saw jamie and me going through to yvonne and dl's place for the evening. it was really good to see them and to get to spend some proper time with them... see the wedding photos etc. it was also a chance for jamie to have a go on yvonne's new guitar :-)

yesterday (sunday) Molly (from church) had lots of the young(ish) people round to hers for lunch - there were about 25 of us - it was really good - here's some photos of the crowds

mel and the gang - the big table

Iain Archer

the man himself - Iain Archer

well last night I went to see Iain Archer - live in Edinburgh :-) I'd been looking forward to it for ages and had bought myself and Sarah tickets for it for her birthday (hmmm... why did that not seem really selfish at the time - its a bit wrong to buy someone tickets to a concert that you want to see!) Anyway Sarah had to work :-( so to save the prospect of going on my own Arlene offered to accompany me having heard nothing of Iain's songs and nothing about him.
Well i must say i had the best night ive had in ages! Iain played some of hs older stuff and some new ones too. The best bit was standing front row and being able to see all his effects stuff - he must have had at least 20 different pedals and 3 different mikes!
He also had Matt Jones - who plays with lots of big names that i cant remember - on stage with him playing keyboards/tambourine/computerised drum thing/£1.99 argos kazoo kinda thing. He was genious - the tambourine was stuck to a stool with gaffa tape so he could play it with one hand while playing keyboard with the other!

this is matt playing an instrument that looke d like one of those kids plastic keyboards except it had a pipe that he blew in to get the noise - it was very comical to watch but with a cool sound

Iain talked a bit about Northern Ireland and his new album "magnetic north" is coming out soon. I wish sarah had made it cos no one cheered when he said he was from bangor (maybe co. downers dont cheer - they maybe think its uncouth?). He didnt play wishing - no surprise there I guess!
It really reminded me of going to see him when i was 15 in belfast - i remember the quote at the time that van morrison said "this boy is a litle bit special". I think that was meant to be a compliment!

this fringe is too long

A rather odd man with a backpack wandered up to my work today and asked many strange questions. He looked like Michael Palin and for a moment I could have been fooled. After realisation that he most definitely was not the mighty Palin I was losing patience (lets face it I probably would have lost my patience if Michael Palin walked up and asked 100 stupid questions too).
It was like being a tourist information point - he wanted to know what the fringe was... was it religious or political? I told him it was art - but it got me thinking... The fringe is all around me just now I have to fight my way into work and usually arrive with handful of flyers (despite my "no thankyou" efforts to dispel the enthusiastic fringe-evangelists). I stand at the bus stop to go home and the people that walk past are all different colours. I dont mean that racially I mean literal - orange and blue and pink - and with the most bizarre props. The worst fringeans being the street performers at the top of the road that shout things at you as you walk past - so that the crowd of 30+ people laugh at you - I wish I could make out what they say. Everybody is vying for my attention - desperate to tell me how exciting their drama will be or how amazing their musical is. To be honest even the most raving of reviews wouldnt get me to go near a musical! I feel kinda sorry for all these poorly paid performers who come to edinburgh and have to spend the best part of their day convincing people that they are talented.
It does bring a good atmosphere to the place and I am looking forward to seeing Iain Archer play on Thursday (I went to see him when I was 15 in Belfast!) but I'll be glad when they all pack up and go home :-)