Slippery Slope - Pet's Corner?

Ciggy + Licksey
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

Now I've posted the Hamster up why stop there - these are my cats Ciggy (Fag Ash) + Liquor (the black one), I've been wanting to add them on for ages so here, with very little excuse, they are ... How long before Karen puts Tomas and Maurice on?

Anstruther Cappachino

Lovely Fife
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

On a great weekend out from the Film Festival (more of which on the Somewhere Blog) Tim and I headed out to sample the delights of the Fife coast for the weekend. The last time I drove this route across the bridge and along the coast was 9 years ago with Karen when we began A Hypertext Journal. It was great to see it all again - I have an awful memory so when stuff does actually resurface I'm always delighted. I do remember we didn't have a decent cup of coffee in the whole month we spent on the road - this visit saw the best cappachino and croissant I've had in ages sitting on Anstruther Harbour! I did have a really awful meal there later though so some things haven't changed.

By contrast my time in Edinburgh was marked by one fantastic meal after another - all cooked by my friend Ruth the Chef behind Faking it in Edinburgh a home delivery dinner party service I can't recommend highly enough (+ owner of ginger below). When I looked back over the start of Hypertext Journal I realised she and Al were the first people we visited on our journey back in 1996 - sadly I had forgotten this!

Little Creatures

Ginger
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

Sorry I couldn't resist posting this totally gratuitous image of my friends Ruth & Al's girls hamster Ginger! As soon as I arrived there last week to stay in there fantastically hospitable Edinburgh home, out came ginegr and into the Barbie car ... I think the girls sense a more than willing audience for pet tricks with me.

I'm hoping tonights lecture by my friend Lucy Kimbell: One Night With Rats in the Service of Art (at Camden Arts Centre) will provide more rodent entertainment!

Blogger's Bar-B-Q

On friday night arrived back from Grizedale and went straight to Borough Market for the annual Bar-B-Q there ... I still have a soft spot for the market since we had a studio there back in 1999. The area is now unrecognisable and a good summary of the change is that what was once Backspace (home to much early net art) is now a Starbucks! Anyway the Bar-B-Q is held by the market traders for the tenants of the Peabody Estate there, where our friend Tony lives ... and this year we met some of his other mates one of whom (Simon) has a good blog with photo-montages of London - including our night in the market. Funny what you get to chat about over an ostrich burger ...

1940's armpit dress shields anyone?

Kentwell Hall
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

I'll soon be switching posts on this topic to my re-enactment Blog to be kept on Somewhere with Karen ... but in the meantime a short update on what we've been up to.

Tomorrow we leave for Kentwell in Suffolk, where we've been doing some 'research' into re-enactment over the last three years - joining the huge annual Tudor Re-enactment they have there. This year we're turning research into a live project called "Sometime Later ..."

Sometime on Saturday we will be joining their WW II re-enactment for the first time and I am currently experiencing the extreme costume/lack of historical knowledge anxiety that I felt pre-tudor re-enactment 3 years ago. Where, for example, am I going to find some authentic seamed stockings, a dark green beret and a solution to my short hair cut before Saturday morning? Also no sign of the WVS repro. badges ordered to go on our new itchy WVS uniforms yet. As if to top it all the usual pre-event mailout arrived from Kentwell this morning stating that if we have no 1940's plate and cup we will not be eating or drinking ... that's that then!

At least our shoes are on the way. Our ever fabulous assistant Jane trekked across Hertfordshire yesterday to the home of Claire's parents (our also fabulous tailor) ... all of whom have now been caught up in the quest for two similar pairs of 1940's shoes. We are raiding the stock-pile hoarded by Claire during her days as a fashion student when she based her collection on the 40's ... for which we are eternally grateful as size 6 vintage shoes are, it seems, like Hen's teeth.

Hopefully it all comes together with camping kit and our blogging keyboards Saturday at Kentwell - let's hope it doesn't rain but also that it's not too hot, those WVS uniforms are wooly.