On a lovely sunny day I went out for a walk in the West Lothian countryside and this is one of the things I saw.  An unusual sight you might think but not in that particular corner of West Lothian.  I was in Jupiter Artland which as well as having beautiful woods, fine views and a magnificent country house is also home to works of art such as this.

I ventured to Modern One for some more visual art, a much praised video installation about Frederick Douglass the American slave who gained his freedom and campaigned thereafter for abolition.  He was famed for his writing and his oratory and spent a couple of years based in Scotland.  The ten screen video installation was pleasant to look at but if I hadn't already known about Douglass or watched the "making of" video next door I don't think I'd have learnt much.  Does that matter?

Back to an art form I'm more at home with I went to the Traverse to enjoy their brief Play, Pie and Pint season.  Two of the three shows were excellent.  First Rose, about Rose Reilly.  Who she you ask.  As did I.  Played  international football for both Scotland and Italy,  named female world fooballer of the year, banned by the SFA who eventually saw the error of their ways.  It's a fascinating story and was brilliantly dramatised and performed.  Then A New Life which was a sparkling musical comedy with a tap dancing baby and a serious strand about post natal depression.  The third, which I saw first was called Celestial Body.  I thought it was mildly entertaing but the story of the entrapment of a gym going washing machine engineer by the parents of a child who had died in an accident caused (?) by him failed to set my dramatic sensitivites alight.

Musically the SNJO gave their first post lockdown concert, a celebration for their 25th birthday which treated us to a selection of pieces from their extensive repertoire over those years with a series of first class solos from a number of players, not least Tommy Smith himself. 

The SCO likewise presented their first post lockdown concert in which they played two suitably upbeat and exhilarating pieces, Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto and Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony.

Although the music has a Scottish feel to it none of it is scored for the pipes but I had the pleasure of visiting the National Piping Centre in Glasgow where the sound of the pipes is ever present in their little museum.  Not in their restaurant though where Andrew and I had an excellent lunch.  My traditional battered fish and chips was one of the best I've ever had and was washed down with a very tasty white Rioja.

I've had two more eating out experiences since I last posted.  Claire and Phil treated us to an end of summer barbeque leg of lamb of exceptional tastiness.  The taste lingered but not as long as the smell of woodsmoke has persisted in my jersey.  In a less domestic setting I had lunch in The Lookout on Calton Hill.  This is an offshoot of The Gardener's Cottage down below.  The views are of course superb.  The food was excellent.  The wines were winsome enough to encourage the opening of a second bottle.  The prices were outstanding.

After lunch I wandered down to the Mound Precinct where the Homeless World Cup had been being played and where the crowd were being entertained by the Fun Lovin' Crime Writers Band with Val McDermid on vocals.