The Green Isle of the Great Deep

Farewell to the Crystal Serenity, originally uploaded by ccgd.

On the Beach at Cromarty - big vessel, 70,000 tonnes and 750 passengers.

Posted by Calum at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

Golden, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Snapped from a DUKW tour :-) Last Sunday.

I'm home now.

Great colours - I tweaked the contrast, but otherwise as we saw it.

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Boston Dawn, originally uploaded by ccgd.

I'd been in Boston all week, and of course was waking up very early. Just back in the UK - Gatwick waiting for the first plane home - and of course my body is on US time.....

From the 23rd floor of the Cambridge Marriott.

Posted by Calum at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

Reflections, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Well I'dm sitting in the MIT Co-op food hall, logged on through the MediaLab wireless network, drinking a latte and eating a cherry strudell. And blogging through Flickr, whilst all the sudents and staff hurry past from the Subway Station just to my right.

Not my usual Wednesday Morning, and a long way from Cromarty. Also Blogging from a free public network whilst drinking latte is so cliched that it should be outlawed.

Nice coffee though.

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MIT Windows, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Posted by Calum at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments

Leading edge, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Over Newfoundland on Saturday night.

Posted by Calum at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

The sutors, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Sunrise, sunburst through the Sutors. Took this about two weeks ago, and have hardly been home to walk along the beach since then.

Stuck in Heathrow at present, waiting for a flight to Boston. Should be in Dundee with Magnus (and the Flickr crowd), but he has travveled down with the rest of the HIMBA crew. Rain and low clouds all over the UK.

I wonder what the weather will be like in MA?

Posted by Calum at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

Fort in Funchal, Madeira, originally uploaded by ccgd.

I was in Madeira for 36 hours, presenting at a conference. Managed to escape for 30 mins....

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Training preparation, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Well he made the Scotland Youth MTB squad, so training is no longer a chore. Nice late spring/early summer days help as well.

What was a bit of a surprise was he made the Scottish Youth Road squad as well last weekend, after only 2 or 3 competitive road races. His coach was delighted with his "competitive attitude". So were his Mum and Dad.....

People photos are not my strongest area, so I was pleased with this portrait. Magnus is now used to being photographed, which helps, but I like the light and shadows on his face, the colours of the tulips and the classic rule of three composition.

Posted by Calum at 6:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

Fat Man, originally uploaded by ccgd.

This buoy has a remarkable resemblance to the 1945 A-Bomb.

Its down at Balbair, where MacDonald - Sheepark - keep their workboats.

Posted by Calum at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

And the sun dripped blood...., originally uploaded by ccgd.

Shakespeare could have used this sunset as an omen in any of his more "bloody" plays.

Over the Cromarty Firth - Scotland.

Posted by Calum at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

167 Renfield Street - 1981, originally uploaded by ccgd.

On the steps of the Glasgow School of Art in May 1981. We had just finished our last exam, and were celebrating with some cheap and cheerful bubbly.

Posted by Calum at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments

Alhambra Wall, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Well, its official. This summer we are going on holiday without the kids. Just ourselves, touring around Southern Spain, doing all the things that teenage boys tend to find "not fun". Museums, Art Galleries. Cathedrals. Restaurants that have cold soup. Staying in nice hotels.

The funny thing is we are both racked with guilt, as we have always gone on holiday together - that's what families do for goodness sake. But Charlie is 20 (Ruth and I were married when we were 20!) and Hamish 18, both young men with summer jobs, and Magnus has Scotland training camps, Braveheart trips to Belgium and races coming out of his ears.....

Time to spend a full day in the Alhambra looking at what we want to see, methinks.

Posted by Calum at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

The road to Eilean nan Roan, originally uploaded by ccgd.

A view of Eilean Nan Roan (Islands of the seals) from above Scullomie Harbour. Eilean nan Roan was the last island in Scotland to be abandoned, in 1938. The road leads to a decaying Harbour, with the empty island beyond. After that its due North until the Pole....

The island was home to a population of about 120 people in 1871. Because of changing economic circumstances, and loss of young men in WW1, by 1938 there were only 12 people left on the island. They left (abandoned) the island for new homes on the mainland.

There is a family story that an ancestor came from the island and I was taken there as a baby in the early 1960's by my Grandfather, on board the FV Primula,

see www.flickr.com/photos/ccgd/7773950/in/set-110161/

for the Flickr story about that vessel.

Posted by Calum at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

The first 10 seconds, originally uploaded by ccgd.

SCX Second round Fort William. Magnus is riding 601.

Despite a puncture at end of his first lap he went on to win the race, and qualify for the Scotland Youth Squad.

Posted by Calum at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments

Where is Cinderella?, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Beachcombing is an interesting occupation. I wonder who lost a shoe?

Posted by Calum at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments