hello, sailor! (or a nautical valentine's)

Today is Saturday the 14th of February.  There were low lying clouds and a light westerly wind this afternoon when Graham and I went on an excursion.

 En route to our excursion's destination we saw the lovely graffiti above, which got the day off to a good start.  I hadn't seen a new piece of nice graffiti in a long time and I really liked this cowgirl and her lovely lashes.

We purposefully walked by this tree (spotted on new year's day) so that I could photograph it.  It's grown so much over the years that part of the fence is now inside it.  The fence is all bent and I like to think someone tried to rip it out but the tree was too strong.  If you live in Glasgow (and are looking for a cheap day out - ha!) I can heartily recommend going to see this tree in real life.  You can find it on Kelvin Way and that is the old bandstand in the background.

Graham says this car is Jim Lambie's latest project.  I don't think he was lying (?) so maybe we've saved ourselves a future exhibition entrance fee by peering over high walls!

Our plan for the day was to go and see (finally!) the tattoo exhibition at the tall ship, after failing to see it twice already.  It is a small exhibition but was really interesting.  It was all about the history of tattoos and how sailors started the trend in the west after visiting various peoples in far off lands, being amazed by their tattoos and getting some done themselves as a souvenir of their time and the people they met.  It also covered how western missionaries went to the same places and tried to ban tattooing and used it to brand those they saw as criminals.  Thanks to that, some cultures have lost a lot of the ancient techniques/designs they used.  I liked the cover of the book shown above.

We went aboard the Tall Ship while we were there and had a great time.  Who couldn't be happy with so many portholes around...

... and the word 'poop' written in so many places?  Tee hee!

I considered becoming a pirate and living a life on the ocean waves in a home on the rolling seas, but the fact I felt a bit seasick on a stationary boat made me reconsider.

We lunched at Big Slope (yum) but stopped for a nosy in the windows of the shop with entertaining signs (as shown above - click on the picture to see a larger version) on the way.  What a hoot!  I think I could be too easily amused...

This evening Graham is working.  I'm itching to try out my gocco but I think I may wait until I have the reassurance of some company.  I have plenty of knitting to be getting on with in the meantime anyway, as well as lots of birthday presents to be making.  But I think the gocco is calling... 

Fortunately, I don't understand what it's saying :)