Overnight 10,000 homes were without power, ours included.  Over 300 motorists had to be rescued from their vehicles.  Sadly a young girl was killed in a bus that was travelling with a school party.  The main route from Aberdeen to Inverness was closed just up the road from me. Roads were closed everywhere.  In some places there was at least a foot of snow that had fallen.  Here is one image taken from Central Scotland:

A farmer clears snow from the main street in Carronbridge, central Scotland. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Bear in mind that this fell just over the space of about 6 hours.  There was no snow before that.  We have just got over a really bad winter, and the weather was apparently the worst in about 30 years.  We thought that finally we were moving into good weather.  I was going to college without a jacket.  I was getting to put my washing out, then bam! Anyway, the weather forecasts advised people not to drive, and I certainly wasn’t risking our lives to travel 200 miles in that.

Someone caught this video yesterday, and it was deeper in some places:

My hubby’s mother was in hospital, and we were trying to get down to see her, but she came out of hospital last night. So we’ve put off going down until Monday.  The funny thing is, today, the snow was almost entirely gone! The heavy rainfall last night got rid of most of it, and there are only small signs that it was ever here – beautiful blue skies today, but still very cold. Weird weather.

Oh, I’ve changed my webhost, so some may experience technical difficulties accessing my page until propagation is complete.  It can take up to 72 hours. If you have any difficulties, please let me know, as I’m in constant touch with the hosting company until everything is sorted.

What this all means is that I’m going to be ridiculously busy over the next 4 weeks.  I’ve got so much to do!  I think the excitement is going to my head.  I say excitement, I actually mean anxiety.  I will try and post what I’m working on, but I’m afraid I won’t have a lot of time to comment on everyone’s blogs, but I will still be reading them when I have a free moment.  Also, it means I won’t have time to fix my blog just now – another thing I hope you’ll bear with.

I intend on taking a few days out to go visit mine and hubby’s family over on the West Coast, which means no drawing/painting/internet. A shame really because the scenery is absolutely stunning there.  I do hope to take in a visit to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow, so there’ll be some kind of art related stuff going on!

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I got so far into it, and decided I had to take the advice of some of my blog friends and try to divorce myself from my subject. I found once I did that I was able to let go a bit more. Am I copping out? I kind of think I am – at least that’s how I feel. Given the fact I’m such a beginner and that I have such a small period of time to finish a highly developed piece, I don’t think I’m equipped as yet to produce a realist piece. I’m not underestimating myself or talking myself down – I’m just being a realist.  I don’t have the experience. I mean, I can see the subtle changes in tone and direction, but I don’t seem to be able to get it down on paper because there’s just so much information.

I also struggle with colour mixing. I tend to go too dark, then too light.  I can never seem to get the shading just right. I think it’s probably lack of experience at colour mixing, and how to lay out my palette.  I don’t seem to be able to get this right. The problem is that I’m painting in acrylics, and in order to lay out my palette correctly I would need to lay out a range of shades, but acrylics dry too quickly meaning it just gets wasted, and I don’t have the money to waste that much paint. If I lay out too little then it dries up instantly. If I leave out too much it hardens over with a skin. I can’t seem to win either way, and I can’t paint fast enough to avoid it.  I’m at a loss. So, I just have to do the best I can with the ability I have at the moment, and hope that it will be acceptable to my tutor.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get the other 6 deadly sins down because it’s not in my nature. However, gluttony is one that I think most people can do with ease, and probably not feel that bad about it! I am of course referring to the Bacchanalian feast that is Christmas dinner…minus the alcohol. I don’t drink.

I seriously would like to know why we put ourselves through this festive torture. I mean, I’m a small eater, always have been. I can eat a pizza slice and feel full-up. Ok, it’s a deep pan pizza slice, but only from a 9″ pizza. We’re not talking monstrously large here. I have a bowl of soup, and I can’t move. I’m stuck in my chair like glue. And yet, there is this annual feeding frenzy we call Christmas dinner that we absolutely must go through or we would feel cheated. We would be cheating ourselves and our family of that bloating experience that we are compelled to go through every year. Why do we do this to ourselves, only to have go on a diet immediately after, making us all the more miserable because we’ve piled on the pounds after a few days feeding frenzy? It’s not because we have to preserve energy and store fat to get us through hibernation. We are not bears. We still have to venture outside, to work, to shop and general outdoor type stuff. No, we do it because it’s ‘tradition’. Why? Seriously, I’d like to know what this has to do with the birth of ‘Christ’, aaaand there’s another one coming: Hogmanay & Ne’er Day. Yet more opportunity to stuff ourselves to the gunnels.

Booze-fest

In my part of the world it is traditional to serve a full 3-course meal before midnight on Hogmanay: that is 31st December at 11.55pm. The meal has to be ready by then. We toast the bells, wish everyone a Happy New Year, then sit down to a full meal assuming you’re not out in the town/city square celebrating. Then we would go door-to-door around the street, booze in hand (preferrably whisky) and some food or a piece of coal (this is because coal is a source of warmth and fuel for cooking, and is a source of luck for the year round.) This too is tradition. You cannot go first-footing empty-handed. Anyway, back to the meal. I think it has something to do with beginning the New Year with a full stomach – start as you mean to go on – but I tend to think it’s because here in Scotland, the New Year is a 3-day event: from Hogmanay until the 2nd January. Only in Scotland do we get to have the 2nd January off work. In the rest of the UK, people go back to work that day. That means a full 3 days of drinking. We take our drinking seriously here! So, people start getting drunk on Hogmanay. That means 3 days drinking and not a lot of food being eaten except for the obligatory Dundee cake, crisps and nuts. Oh and of course shortbread. No New Year is complete without shortbread. So I think that because of this booze-fest that it is important to eat in order to line your stomach for the forthcoming onslaught of non-stop drinking. I know it’s not the original reason, but an important one nonetheless!

Second Christmas Dinner?

All it means is another opportunity to pig out in a ridiculous fashion, then crash diet for months afterward (and don’t think that being a vegetarian protects you from that, it doesn’t) until the next festival. Oh, yes, Easter! I can feel the pounds piling on already. Oh and I neglected to mention that I went to my mum’s for Christmas dinner, and because of the heavy snowfall, we weren’t sure if we’d get there, so we made a contingency plan and bought all the food in just in case we’d have to spend Christmas at home. That means that all this food had to be cooked. So, tonight, we had another three-course meal. I must be bonkers. I’m glad it’s only the one deadly sin I have to worry about!  Remind me why we do this to ourselves, again?  Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope you have a fabulous New Year.