Dog in a Bag!

Well muffled and duffled, I set off this morning with a couple of possible blips in mind... but something else always pops up!

As I wandered down the Mound, I spied, coming towards me, a woman pulling a suitcase on wheels. But hang on, isn't that a pair of ears I see sticking out of the bag? Indeed it was. I stopped to ooh and ahh at the dog. Which I probably would have done, even I wasn't a blipper. But if I wasn't a blipper I wouldn't've had my camera. In fact, if I wasn't a blipper, I wouldn't've been out!

I got the whole life story (the dog's, not the lady's) and in fact, it was quite hard to get away. The lady's name is Francoise and she spoke with a heavy French accent, so I didn't catch the dog's name. However, the dog was a rescue dog, but they don't know anything about her, she was found wandering. She's quite old and has sore legs/feet, hence the transport. She's very scared of noises. The man with the lawn mower was getting nearer. In fact, he just about finished that bit of lawn before we'd finished our chat.

Francoise was in town for the day with her husband, who was attending a conference at Heriot Watt University, so she and the dog were off sight-seeing. Guess where? Yes, Greyfriar's Bobby! Now that would have been a good blip! I should have followed them.

Instead of the household chores, I've been fiddling on Photoshop. I'm quite intrigued with the effects possible, but it's only a phase! The sky was uniform white/grey. So I replaced it with one of my other skies. (Don't look too closely!). It's sunny and blue this afternoon, so it's not cheating too much! I had fun doing that - years ago I spent hours on Photoshop, and I've forgotten lots. I've now taken out the sky altogether, as the skyline is very intricate.

It was quite hard to get a decent photo of her. In some of the photos she had bits of building growing from her head. It was impossible to get a landscape view without cutting out too much of the lovely buildings, but at least that would have cut down on the feature-less sky. And I prefer landscape for display in blip, as it would have a proper uniform black frame. And I forgot to call out to the dog so that it would look at me, so in some there's just a white bundle sticking out of the bag, and you may not have believed me that it was a dog! And of course, the endless passers-by getting in the way...

I did a B&W version and a colour version. But it was mainly because I have a pile of ironing and various other jobs awaiting... I eventually chose the latter, as I liked the bright colours and splashes of pink, and the folds on her coat..

I was down in Princes Street, looking at the mess ongoing tram works. A worker came by and I asked him how it was going. He said it'll be ready for the Festival Cavalcade. He regretted that it wouldn't be ready for Hearts Winning the Cup Cavalcade. I didn't respond, but I later realised he was referring to the upcoming final with both Edinburgh teams in it for the first time since blah blah... I think he expected me to either high-five him or start a punch up, depending who I support. I don't support any football team. I hate the violence and sectarianism in Scottish football. And that's just on the pitch! Give me rugby any day.

When I came home, there was a wee photo exhibition on in the old Marchmont Road School. I popped in for a look and had a wee chat to the young chap who had some photos on display today -a new exhibition next week. I did, of course, mention blipfoto. Don't know why photography students don't know about it!

So all in all, a productive day. I nearly forgot to be ill. Except when I was waiting for the bus and coughing and sneezing and producing endless man-sized hankies from my pockets. I did notice people edging away from me...