This week iHeartFaces jumps for joy so here’s Andrew jumping for joy since we’re done looking at boring scenery.

Which puts me in mind of his first visit to Disney World in Florida. He was little, like 4 months. Huddled together with the tired masses on the ferry over the sea back to the real word a big boy of 4 spotted him grinning in my arms. He tugged at his Mum and pointed at my son asking “Why is the baby smiling Mommy?”…. “Because he’s leaving honey, he’s happy cos he’s leaving”.

A comment popped up at the end of my Best Laid Plans post a couple of weeks ago that sent me into a grinning flap. A blank one at that.

Ian Hamilton QC – he’s over there on my blogroll, is a bit of a folk hero of mine and I’m not overstating that.

He has a full and detailed Wikipedia entry you can go check out, but the story my father told me of Ian Hamilton took place on Christmas Eve 1950 when he and three fellow Scottish Nationalists liberated the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey and returned it to Scotland. Its rightful home.

It was especially magical to me since, then and now, I’m from Scone.

On the morning of April 11th 1951 the stone was left on the high altar at Arbroath Abbey, where on 6th April 1320 the Scottish nobility had gathered to sign the Scottish Declaration of Independence, you know the one….

“…for so long as a hundred of us are left alive, we will yield in no least way to English dominion. We fight not for glory nor for waelth nor honours; but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life.”

Or was it? It’s part of modern Scottish folklore that the stone found there that morning was a mere replica and that the real stone is secreted away somewhere safe to this day.

In a 2008 movie of their escapades, Stone of Destiny, Ian was portrayed by Charlie Cox, he of Stardust fame.

I don’t think it’s gilding the lily to say that their actions gave Scottish Nationalism the kick in the arse it needed, and continues to need to this day… just a boot now and again to remind us what we could be and stop dwelling on what we once were. Ian lands a good number of them over on his blog, which I thoroughly enjoy and believe every person of voting age in Scotland, and even younger, should be encouraged to read.

In November 1996 the Stone of Scone was returned to Scottish soil amidst much fanfare and laid out in a display room at Edinburgh Castle. As far as we in Scone are concerned it aint home yet.

So now you hopefully understand why I was grinning and flapping a bit when he asked me to write a few words for his blog on a subject of my choice.

How blank can a mind go?

After a bit of correspondence and despite disagreeing with much of what I said, he published my post on his blog last night.

I’m tickled pink, I’m grinning insanely and so honoured.

And I can’t wait to tell my Dad!

I’ve been sent/tagged/gosh not sure what the the correct term is… anyway tis an award with a pretty badge and everything, by the hilarious (I hope she means to be…) MUUMMMMEEEEEE…… @ No Wine on Wednesdays (she has more self control than me, what’s wrong with Wednesdays I ask? Why should they be left out?).

I really must knit more often…. or do the photos count? Please say the photos count! They are a lot less effort and I only get one blurry eye as opposed to 10 stiff fingers.

So I’d like to thank the Academy (Perth Academy – they taught me everything I know about Art – which I didn’t take so meh), my MOM, she who taught me to knit, Nikon for their wonderful cameras and MrW for having the courage to spend an amount of money I don’t care to have revealed to me on my lovely prime lens. Have I gushed enough? Look this is a big deal, it’s my first…. and you always remember your ahem, first… and second!!! of course you always remember your second…… three to n are probably worth forgetting though.

So the deal is I have to tell you 7 things you don’t know about me then pass it on to 7 fellow bloggers.

It’s times like these you learn to live again I feel an anonymous blog would be handy, but I’ll do my best. MUUMMMMEEEEEE…… has already covered petty theft, bestial foreplay and creative glueing so she’s set the bar high.

7 Things about me I haven’t mentioned on this here blog yet

1. I used to wear a mullet and I really liked it. Believe me I have tried to find a photo cos I really really liked it. It was 1984 and we didn’t call it a mullet back then, it was a Pat Kincaid, since she was the only stylist in Perth who did this magical thing with our shaggy old rocker perms. I met MrW in 1984, we were both a bit shaggy rocker and both ended up with a Pat Kincaid. He kept his for a few more years than me and I feel it’s only right that at least one of our wonderful mullets is unveiled.
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2. Fish phoned me. Remember Marillion? Kayleigh? That Fish. Summer of 83. I was 16, it was the night before my Chemistry “O” Grade exam and I was in bed. The band were just back from Germany and holed up at a hotel in London with a really long phone number. I know this cos my MUM chatted to him for ages and not believing it was actually Fish, didn’t get me up and didn’t take down the phone number properly.  Believe me I frantically tried just about every combination of that London phone number, well as frantic as you can on an old rotary dial phone. I spoke to some pretty baffled people before I had to leave for school at 08:15. Gutted. He’d said to call him back before they left the hotel at 11am, which was exactly the time that my first Chemistry paper ended….. oh the 16 year old pain as I watched the minutes tick away!
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   I knew it was him as I’d written a long, now completely forgotten, letter and given him my phone number. So I wrote back cursing my Mother’s scepticism and he phoned again. This time I got the call and could barely speak let alone think straight. He told me all about filming the Garden Party video… and probably much more but that’s about all I can recall after 27 years. He asked my how my “A” Levels were going, I told him I was sitting “O” Grades. He didn’t phone back (DUH! why didn’t I just say “Great! Brilliant!” ?) but he sent me a lovely signed photo (lost in some house move much to my sadness).
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   These days he sends me (well me and anyone else who wants to subscribe) regular e-mails, has a website, takes part in fan forums and e-mail groups, holds conventions and is so pally-wally with his fan base it’s hard to imagine there was a day when I had to put pen to paper, send it off to EMI and hope against the odds it found its way to the hands of the man I wrote it for. I never dreamt I’d get a reply, let alone a phone call.
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   Incidentally he looked more like this back then, which is why I kicked myself for years that I hadn’t had the wits to just say “Great! Brilliant!”.
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3. I am a fucking clever clogs. You wouldn’t know it given my recent stumbles through academia but I am a smug-off smart cookie. When I feel like it. I even have a letter to prove it. Of course I totally failed to even finish my next course… or the one after that. I think me and the degree are a bit like me and the diet… I know where the self destruct button is. There really is a thin qualified person in here trying to get out. I just keep shoving her back in for some reason… yeah not that clever I guess. I did get an A pass in my Chemistry “O” Grade though.
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4. I’m allergic to latex. Aye, latex. Bummer…. well not literally bummer but… oh you know what I mean. I didn’t become allergic til my 30s and found out when I grew a trout pout after blowing up some party balloons… actually I waited til the dentist shoved a latex gloved hand in my gob and it erupted on one side to confirm it. The “come hither for a bit of what you fancy” look only really works if it’s evenly spread, otherwise you just look like you’ve walked into a fast moving fist.
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5. Emmm… oh I’m struggling now… you do know my man is an “eminent edublogger”? It must be true cos the BBC said so and he’s often in TESS, well not “Ollie Bray often” in TESS but enough to make sure I remain circumspect-ish on this here blog. So with that in mind, carefully moving on to 6….
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6. I drunk a whole bottle of Smirnoff Blue Label vodka when I was 17. It was Hogmanay. I was still sober at the end of it. I was pretty annoyed about that at the time.
   
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7. The first single I ever bought was Substitute by Clout. My Mum took me and my sister on the bus to Kirkcaldy and gave us 50p each to spend on a record in John Menzies (yes I am still speaking English). My sister chose Forever Autumn by Justin Hayward and I was torn between Clout and Racey’s Lay Your Love On Me. Have you guessed the year yet? 1978. 32 OMFUG years ago.
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I think that’s enough sharing from me for now. So to the tagging bit.

Who would I like to see reveal 7 almost interesting things about themselves?

Livi, because she took this and I love it.

Marylin because I’d like an opportunity to spell her name right for the first time and since we’re planning on a wee swally soon I think she better fess up anything she’s hiding.

Barbara – same reason as Marylin (which incidentally has a great big red line under it) but at least I can spell Barbara.

Catherine because I just found her (thanks to Tara’s Gallery) and she’s local and she’s a camera nut even if it is a Canon

Lorraine because she describes herself as an “obsessive photographer” which calls to me somehow…

Kerry because she and me are creating new us and you don’t get much more creative than that!

Jinedin because she used the word macrame in a post and I can do that

If any of you have already been gifted/tagged/invited/want to tell me how the hell to describe these things then sorry – but you’re just popular.

I slogged for those 3lbs!!

Sort of kept a diary here.

I guess I am going to have to pack in the wine altogether.

This will be hard since we haven’t really had the sort of fall out me and tequila have.

Onwards and downwards!

If you’re looking for my Guest Post Day courtesy of Bare Naked Mummy – lower, lower… yeah bit lower… there ya go!

So iHeartfaces Fix it Friday  – this one was a bit of a bugger actually. I’ve tried all sorts of skin effects since the photographer pointed out skin blemishes as something that was a bother, but they all looked too plastic. I try to avoid that Stepford look if I can! So here’s the original and 3 fixes. Incidentally I am offering Free Fixins to anyone who’s looking for a fresh eye and a bit of Tattyshopping.  Just for fun! See here for details.

Original

Fix 1

Fix 2

Fix 3

I’ll not kid on here, I struggled with the colour versions – in every edit the eyes just darkened so much – I could fix it with a bit of time but it’s another mental Friday morning here, swimming lessons, airport runs, dr appts – aarrgh! Why does everything happen on a Friday?!?! No wonder I enjoy a bottle of red at the end of it.