Today I'm wearing a T-Shirt!

Yes indeedy!  There has been a decidedly spring-ish feel to the air the past few days and I am soaking up all the sunshine I can get.  I have been amazed at how quickly the days are changing, just a few weeks ago it was still getting dark before 5, and now its still light at close to 6.  I did enjoy some aspects of the shorter days, late sunrises meant that non morning people like me get to see them a little more often.

The sunrise walking to the bus stop at about 8am a few weeks ago

There hasn't been much excitement happening, lots of work and some walks in the park.  I'm spending a lot of time in the computer lab drawing maps for the book publication, and have settled on writing about urban agriculture for my dissertation.
Pics from the past week:

The fox that lives in our garden came back

Holyrood Park

View of the palace from the hill

looking across to Carlton Hill

View over Dynamic Earth to the Parliament

The Craigs

Making shadows in the late afternoon sun

We also got presents from Australia. Another supply of Kingston biscuits from Mum and Dad and a hand made quilt from my very talented sister.

The quilt on the sofa

Crazy weeks!

So the last few weeks have been a bit of a blur.  School is back in full swing, the main project for the studio class this semester is producing a book about out research into Edinburgh and Casablanca - so have been having meetings about preparing content and have just started talks with a graphic designer about papers, bindings, printing processes etc.  The production process is quite interesting, particularly looking at how the content will shape the format of the book, and how subtle choices in layout, paper stock etc can affect how the book will be read.  We've also been making weekly presentations about the progress in the format of a Pecha Culcha.  Basically its a presentation with 20 slides, each timed for 20 seconds - its a good way to get good at getting information across succinctly.

Doing Pecha Culcha

Owen and I also celebrated our 10th anniversary by going to Malaga and Granada for a long weekend.  It was absolutely amazing, we saw Moorish forts and palaces (and the Alhambra, of course) and generally did a lot of eating and walking and looking at gardens, architecture and museums.  Down side was that we missed Burns night - but we did have dinner with friends on 29/1 which was the day Burns Night was originally celebrated (because the original celebrants got the date of Burn's birthday wrong), and there was haggis and tatties and neeps.

The courtyard at the Picasso Museum in Malaga

Tapas!

The fort at the Alhambra, one of the oldest sections of the complex

Detail of the carving in the Nazrid Palaces

!!!

View from the gardens to the palaces

Holidays

So the last couple of weeks of December were a mad rush of finishing assignments.  The end of term was a crazy couple of weeks with close deadlines following the Casablanca trip, luckily a care package arrived from home and tasty treats got me through the last little bit.

My desk

All assignments in, Owen and I went to Lancashire to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Had a great time filled with far too much food.  We did take a walk up Pendle Hill which was a very good way to spend Boxing Day, and even saw some grouse. 

Top of Pendle with Owen, David and Natalie

View from Pendle

Pendle Hill in the distance from Clitheroe Castle

Cromwell's Bridge

Sun set from Clitheroe Castle

New Years was spent back in Edinburgh, and Hogmanay was a great way to welcome in the new year.  We climbed up Carlton Hill and watched the street party and the fireworks, watched lanterns floating up from all areas of the city and saw lots of men in kilts (out in the thousands!) - unfortunately I also forgot my camera, but it was spectacular! 
Best wishes for 2011 everyone!

Casablanca

Between all of the end of year uni work, we squeezed in a field trip to Casablanca, Morocco.  The trip was designed to be incorporated into the studio, as a contrast city to Edinburgh.  In terms of city rankings, Edinburgh and Casablanca are Gamma cities, they have strong ties to the surrounding region, looser ties globally and are key financial centres.  They also both had large housing developments built post WW2.  So, the trip in pictures:

Arid landscape between Marrakesh and Casablanca with stone wall courtyard houses

One of the post WW2 housing developments.  Many were designed to provide similar living arrangements to traditional village housing.  These estates further out of town were designed bot Moroccans, while the inner area of the city was reserved for European settlers/colonisers.

Lots oh the older 1940s-70s housing stock has been informally modified, mostly by adding on 1-3 storeys.  Building out to create verandas on the street level is common.

At the collective arts centre (former abattoir site), lots of graf art amongst other things.  The arts collective was created as a mixed arts space for studios and gallery space, performance space for theatre, music and dance.  Workshops are held by a variety of organisations for people of all ages and is designed to add arts education into the community, as arts are not a part of mainstream school curriculum.

The best stencil graf art I think I've ever seen.

In one of the main arts spaces

Abattoir buildings

Old machinery tracks

Ventilation

Main arts space with installations

Casablanca is a city of white buildings.

In the habbous

The administrative centre with the catholic church in the background.  The administrative buildings are all designed along traditional courtyard house design.  The church also uses more Moroccan style techniques - the stained glass is set straight into the walls and not lead light.

The Nouvelle Medina.  Another post WW2 housing estate.  This one has been heavily altered, the original layout was squares of 8mx8m half of which was courtyard, half two roomed house.  The courtyards have been built in and several storeys added to each square, ground floors converted into workshops and businesses.  Its quite a good example how infrastructure is appropriated and modified as need requires through self organisation.  It is interesting to note that the areas where this happened transitioned from housing only to mixed use.

Downtown.  This is the area of town was designed Parisian style with wide boulevards and narrower feeder streets - good for creating beautiful vistas lined with high standard architectural designed apartments, and for mobilising an army during civil unrest.

There are pockets of informal slum housing throughout the city, this is on the outside of the old Medina wall, about 300m away from the multi million dollar Hussein II Mosque. Morocco, like many developing nations has no middle class.

Inside the Mosque

The craftsmanship is amazing in it detailing.

Mint tea

Outside the mosque

Spice market in the old Medina (which, by the way is mot that old.  Rebuilt after fires destroyed it in the 1950s)

Waiting for the train at Marrakesh station

One of the many white art deco buildings.

And I got a lovely week of sunshine.  I love living in Scotland, but I am realising as the days grow shorter that I am just a bit solar-powered, and need regular sun fix.  Am enjoying the crisp blue sky days and crunchy frost though. 
Thats all for the moment, there are another 1500 or so pictures - some of which I might post at a later date.  For now its back to the final assignment of the semester.....

Beautiful Snow!

I knew it snowed here, I wasn't quite expecting it to snow so soon, or so furiously.  I was expecting to get a 'practice' snow first; for it to snow a bit, get a bit slushy, rain a bit and wash the snow away then maybe snow for real in about a month.  But instead we have all the snow right now!  I have experienced snow before, been skiing a couple of times but I have never been snowed on before, or really seen it falling from the sky.  It is beautiful, and it completely changes the city.  The colours are amazing with grey stone, black bark and white, white snow.  And watching snow falls is kind of like watching a fire, always changing and active and mesmerising.  I have already stepped in a puddle of slushy wetness and got snow in my eye too.  Right now I'm enjoying the snow from inside, with hot tea and ugg boots.  Makes for some cosy essay writing.  Here are some photos from the trip to the library the other day.....