going glasgow

i decided to take a wee trip to the land of kilts and good whisky - not whisk(e)y - this weekend. partly as an exercise to clear my head, but also to celebrate a landmark anniversary.

it was a pretty big one for me now that i think about it. i've made it a whole year living in the uk and to some degree i think i've been successful in actually creating a life for myself. the honeymoon period is definitely over, but i don't think that fact really hit me until this weekend either. it's been over for months without me even realising.

after having shared so many good times in edinburgh it was hard to explore its scottish counterpart of glasgow on my own. glasgow is more of a *city* that's for sure. not being the capital there seems to be less money floating around and more grit. but i should like grit, right? i do after all live in the pool. scouseland.

i spent most of my first afternoon finding my way around after discovering as i was walking to my guest house that i was staying practically right next to the glasgow school of art - i can hear j9 squealing from here - which was really cool and one of the things i wanted to check out. the glasgow museum of modern art is also worth checking out, but it was the newly refurbished kelvingrove museum that renewed by faith in...well...just about everything.

the picture to your right is the installation in the main hallway that was what really drew me into the place. i'd seen a little piece on the news about the reopening of this museum, which is what made me want to check it out. the collection is now curating in such a way that objects are placed next to each other beause of their relationship with each other, not just their historic context. the art discovery space actually plays on the fact that people read text panels in museums and galleries and asks direct questions about the art it *wants* you to look at.

how smart is that? i have new respect for interpretation in museums and it made me even happier that i'm now going to be back in a gallery setting. back in my favorite reality amongst beautiful objects and simply trying to comprehend their provenance and age.

now i'm going to try and do some sewing on the machine i inherited from val. that is if i can figure out how to work it and, well, it still works.