Good morning, Edinburgh

The guy in the center of this photo was standing there drinking a cup of coffee, taking in one of the nicest little views in Old Town. This is one of the million reasons why this town is A-O.K.

Perhaps my brain got a little warped over the holiday break or something, but it's clear that taking the 10 day trip home, in order to return refreshed, really did the trick. Or it's a trick of the light. Either way, it's good to back in Edinburgh. I've said it about fifty times, but I really am happy to be back to a routine of classes. Perhaps after working a regular full-time job for almost five years, I've become more accustomed to having to be somewhere most days at a certain time. Over the six or seven weeks that I was on break, even though I was 'busy writing a paper' and traveling a little, I felt aimless and sort of stupidly useless. But now! The sun is out, the temperature has been more than tolerable (crossing my fingers it stays that way), classes are off to a good start, and it's good to see everybody again. And I'm taken again, anew, with the beauty of this city.

This term, I'm taking two classes that are strongly related to curating. One is a history of Scottish Art since 1960, which is to say most of the artists we will be studying are still alive and working, so there's the added dimension of display and the process of the artist as well as the historical significance of their work. I'm also in a class called the Cultures and Politics of Display which will explore the theory, politics and types of exhibitions. This museum and gallery-geared work is much more up my alley than the heavy theory and methods-based approach last term, so I'm pretty stoked.

I'm betraying my art nerdiness here, forgive me. Like I said, the sun is out, so it might be a trick of the light. ;)

Cheers!

Kate xx

Good morning, sunshine.

Nothing beats the beauty of early morning in the spring and summer. It has always been my favorite time of day, although I usually begrudged having to wake up early to enjoy it. It's a Catch 22, you see. However, I've been waking up much earlier recently.

When I was young, and traveled to art fairs with my dad in the summertime, we would be up super early to go set up his paintings at the show. We'd sometimes grab a doughnut, or waffles at Bill Evans, but it was that sense of purpose, early in the morning when the air was already warm, that I still feel when I get up early.

And sometimes I think about a weekend trip I took to the Welsh countryside in Spring of 2006, where, staying at the amazingly-located Baskerville Hall Hotel in a bunk room with seven other girls, I got up at the crack of dawn and went for a walk by myself down winding roads, around quilted hills. It was magical, and I remember it still today. It's those little moments that mean the most, and something about the promise of a new day and the clarity of the morning sun make morning an experience in itself.

P.S. The cat is a family cat, Roxie. She was curious about the flowers this morning, too.

Days to Edinburgh Move-In: 123