Wick (Moss & Diamonds): Weeks 13-15, 23 March

I’m back home after my trip south.  It was only 12 days, but felt longer.  The burgeoning of Spring was apparent further south, where the hedges along the motorways were starting to sprout with green.  The signs of Spring here are quieter; the leaves on the roses are starting to grow, as are the buds on the clematis.  Another sure sign of the turning season is the sudden blossoming of ‘For Sale’ signs on local houses.  Our neighbours’ is one; they are moving to England after two decades in Caithness.

New growth on the rosebush

The primary purpose of my trip was to attend a short course on making and playing bamboo pipes at Cadhay Manor, near Exeter in Devon.  In this beautiful venue, a small group four pipers and five recorder players made and played pipes.  Most of the recorder players were completely new to pipes, and took to it like ducks to water.  Two attendees had travelled from the US specifically for the course. It was an intensive few days, and far too short.  We’d barely begun before it was over.   

Cadhay Manor

After the course I visited friends in Southport and Edinburgh.  In Southport, we did lots of nothing, which is what I needed after an intensive few days.  Our only activity dropping off Gordon’s stereo for repair in the town centre, as it had failed over the past few years.  In the evenings, as my friend hadn’t seen it, we binge-watched ‘Ted Lasso’.  I enjoyed re-watching it and caught up on my knitting.

Rhododendron

The next stop was Edinburgh.  I visited the ‘Botanics’, the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh, and had a wander round.  It wasn’t particularly warm, but it was mostly sunny.  The daffodils were blooming, as were some late snowdrops.  The rhododendrons were starting too, with large flowers of white, pink or red.  I had a good wander around, finding a few nooks I hadn’t seen before, and ended with lunch at the café.

Sculptures at the Botanics

After that, I visited an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of the photos of Alfred Buckham.  Mostly taken in the 1910s-30s, these are aerial landscapes taken from open cockpit planes.  He refused to wear a seatbelt and leant over the side of the plane with his glass plate camera, after having tied one leg to the seat!  He is best known for his composite photos, the most famous of which is an aerial view of Edinburgh Castle, with a biplane flying over it. The negatives of the castle, clouds, and plane were combined in a print to form the final image.  All editing was done on the print, not the plate, as was usual at the time. He meticulously catalogued and stored his plates for future use. 

Spiral staircase at Cadhay

While I lost a few days’ knitting while at the course, I did manage to catch up during my visits.  The first sleeve was finished and the stitches for the second picked up before I went away.  Now, the pattern bands on the second sleeve are nearly finished, and then it will be plain sailing with k5 p1 to the k2 p2 cuff.  This gansey seems to have sped along.  If I keep it up, it may be finished in under four months.