Kelvingrove Park Renewal

So, the city of Glasgow is renovating the Stewart Memorial Fountain. We noticed the project the other morning as we were out for a bit of a walkabout, just wandering to check out the state of the flowers in the park, and popping in for a brief visit to the Kelvingrove Museum.

Some of the fountain’s sculpture had grown tired over the years, so they’re grafting new bits on, replacing other figures entirely, and getting it back into shape. It’s a good thing … but … well, some of the creatures are a might strange, in fresh sandstone.

This “owl” and … this … pelican? Albatross? Well … they struck us as quite the interesting creatures, not least of which because it looks like the pelican is carrying a flame-thrower beneath its wing. And the owl? Well, when’s the last time somebody took a real, close look at one? I mean, OK, they’ve got … eye-tufts. But … they don’t really have daisies around their eyeballs, and their beaks, while a bit diminutive compared to the rest of the raptors, are not hidden beneath their feathers, waiting to pop out like a switchblade in order to eat. Perhaps these pieces will look better when they’ve aged for another hundred years.

The museum, as always, was spectacular. We chose a good day for it, stretching our indoor time by having tea and scones until the rain departed. The play of light and shadow outdoors was wonderful for photography, despite having to walk through a bit of muck to get there.

And one day we really will have to check out a set of lawn-bowling equipment (for free, thank you Glasgow City Council for promoting “exercise”) and spend a morning trying to … do whatever it is that’s done while lawn-bowling. That’s what this whole thing’s about, isn’t it? Learning about the culture? Right. Perhaps we’ll subject our next house-guests to the experience. After we’ve figured out what the rules are, that is.

Things are flowering, despite the fact that there’s new snow on the hills, and today’s temperatures were barely above freezing (below, with the wind-chill). And Easter is around the corner. Whatever happened to Spring?