Pretty pleased with this custom pendant…final version will have a clasp for attaching chain or leather…
STRAIGHT to the studio for an online guitar student after breakfast.
Next job is to make up and send out a questionnaire to the participants on the upcoming guitar workshop and also send them some basic info. I use Surveymonkey to gather the info to help me decide on content and structure.
After lunch I take a walk up the lochside then start some prep for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
Laura brings Violet for her guitar lesson and once they’re away I finish the custom brass pendant. I’m waiting on clasps to attach cord/chain/whatever as the wee jump rings I normally use are too lightweight for this.
MARTYN’S coming up this morning to go for a wander, so no long lie. That’s a good thing given the amount of time we’ve spent drinking coffee and doing emails in bed the last few days.
We have a good walk and catch up then I get busy finishing off the brass pendant for custom order.
It’s looking good and I message the customer to see if she wants anything engraved on the back or round the edge.
Duncan left a guitar cable here – not forgetfulness, but because I though it was mine then discovered it wasn’t. My bad, so I jump in the car and take it over to him.
We chat over coffee then I drive home and spend the rest of the day and evening editing more video and planning the next few days’ work.
ANOTHER lazy morning drinking coffee and catching up on emails and socials.
There’s still some tidying up to be done outside then I start work on design/artwork for a custom brass pendant.
Betty had asked me to pick some stuff up in Costco yesterday and it’s still in the car so I run along with it and help with some iPad stuff.
After finishing the artwork for the brass pendant I start processing it. It’s a lengthy process.
Then it’s into the studio to edit the video from yesterday’s garden concert. I sort all Duncan’s songs and send him the resulting video files.
I wanna try editing on the iPad so take the video files on SSD and start messing. Looks like Final Cut on the iPad Pro is gonna be a good tool.
Fast and flexible although not as feature-rich as the desktop version. iPad OS file management and the ability to edit I video directly from external media is a big advance in iPad functionality for me. Looks like it might be able to completely replace the cranky old laptop!
Duncan and I have a blast playing for the garden party guests…
UP EARLY and into Glasgow to get some shopping and supplies for this afternoon’s garden concert.
Costco dosen’t open ‘til 10am…but there’s other shopping to get a time’s tight so I hit the supermarket first.
When I get back Margaret’s got the stovies and soup underway. Duncan and Irene’s be here in half an hour so I get busy setting up the PA, lights and stuff in the garden.
We have just under an hour to finish setting up and get sound checked.
There’s the usual ghosts int he machine – the iPad controlling the PA goes down ten minutes before we start but I manage to get everything sorted in time.
The afternoon goes great and it’s good to have so many pals and neighbours round for this ‘thank you’ event.
Once everyone’s gone and we’ve got the majority of stuff tidied up we crash on the sofa for an hour…then dinner.
ANOTHER late breakfast then I get some work done and invite some local folks to tomorrow’s garden gig/get-together.
It’s a nice day and fairly calm-looking on the loch so I inflate the paddle board and get out for a short paddle.
My latest brass prototype depicting the Milarrochy Tree is much better. I soak it in some patina fluid, rinse it off and give it a burnish with some steel wool.
Next, I make a wee acrylic stand then take it to the studio and take some pix…while I’m there I run through some songs in preparation for the garden thing tomorrow.
I have a few wee bits of ‘happy new year’ tells to post round my socials then we get up.
My prototype merch experiments need some tweaking so I do a little work in the office then we wander along to first foot Betty.
We have a couple of drinks with her as well as Shona, Ian and some other pals that drop by.
Looks like a nice sunny – but cold – day on Friday and as we haven’t organized a winter garden gig this year we decide to invite a few local pals and neighbours round for soup, stovies and some songs from my pal Duncan and myself.
I send out some invites to local pals while we watch the telly…
Loch Lomond celebrations on ITV’s This Morning show…
OOOFT…Hogmanay. Where’s all the years gone?
We enjoy a long lie and tune into ITV’s This Morning show to see ourselves celebrating (spoiler alert – not live, filmed a few weeks ago!).
After a (very) late breakfast I do some work on a brass coin I wanna try out. Margaret has to go to the village so I go along too and walk home int he wind and rain. Good to get some fresh air tho’.
The rest of the day and evening is pretty chilled.
We tune into Bill and Dorothy’s Hogmanay livestream from Florida to bring in the bells then watch Jools’ Hootenany. Then bed. Are we becoming party-pooping old farts?!?
WET, windy and horrible outside….doubt I’ll be venturing any further than the studio today.
After getting some online stuff out the way and pottering around it’s afternoon and Catriona arrives to drop off the kids. We’re babysitting tonight and tomorrow.
I finally make it to the studio where I spend some time laying plan for my 2025 acoustic album and related Kickstarter campaign which I hope to launch mid/late January.
MATTY heads off after breakfast and I get busy with the Ikea stuff I picked up up yesterday.
First up, the coat/shoe stand. It’s pretty straightforward considering the huge array of parts and varying kinds of screws, bolts and fasteners.
After a coffee and email break…oh, and a bit of cake too…I unpack the coffee table. Actually it’s a TV table but a perfect height and size to replace the well-worn current table. Slightly smaller too which helps make some space for the coat/shoe stand and also give us some more room depth-wise.
Despite being a considerably simpler item, it looks a pain to build. I go for a walk up the lochside and tackle it when I get back.
I’m finished and tidied up in time to wander along to Betty’s for an aperitif with Greta, Karen and Hayley.
