Preparing to go to another capital city

Very happy and excited to be getting ready for my London trip tomorrow. Preparations going well so far. My first trip for two years and eight months so much cause for celebrations, especially as doctor at hospital gave me some steroids to take yesterday and I can already feel the benefit, more energy and strength. Keep this up and I might manage another Munro to add to my measly fifteen and brings Peru a bit more into the picture, if Dr McLean brings good news on 23 July. Can you believe we're now deep into July and festival will be almost upon us by time I get back to civilisation. And as my mother used to say not a stroke done yet.

I trust you're all enjoying your summer wherever in the world you happen to be. I think the Edinburgh summer came and went last Wednesday.

I went to the summer exhibition at City Art Centre yesterday, just called Scottish Art, as far as I can remember. It's on all four floors and covers landscape, people, still life and abstraction, with a selection of visitors favourite works in the basement/lower ground floor. It's worth a visit if only to amaze at all the wonderful art produced by Scottish artists over the past hundred or two years. Some very well known paintings , many I've seen before, maybe in other exhibitions or galleries but the kind you can never get tired of seeing. It was very quiet when I went on Tuesday, just a few stragglers  with their weans in tow. I'm sure it will be busy as festival approaches. Give the cafe a miss. It's quite awful, so go across the road to Fruitmarket Gallery instead, which is much cleaner and friendly.

I also went to the Lee Miller and Picasso exhibition at the Portrait Gallery in Queen Street. Some great photos of the man and his entourage caught in very relaxed mode. She seems to have been very close to him and was one of his best friends, enough to photograph him over a thousand times, and he painted her six times, one of which is in the exhibition along with a drawing and many many of her photos. It's wonderful to be able to see so much of their lives so intimately. I will probably have to go back. I'm a member so costs me nothing but is £9.00 if you're not a member so make most of your visit if you decide to go.

I don't get to the cinema as much as in previous lives, but I managed to see Mr Holmes starring the magnificent  Ian McKellen and a young star of the future called Milo Parker, whom I hope to live long enough to see a few more times. Excellent movie, as much about ageing process, friendship and approaching death with dignity as it is about detective story, but that is there to if such is your thing. Go see it for yourselves. I went with my pal Gordon, who told me he was taking me to a 1960 Mexican movie at the Film Festival, but he got his venues mixed up, so we saw Mr Holmes instead and quite frankly between you and me I think it turned out rather well, probably better in fact. But don't mention to Gordon.... I think he's getting older poor thing.

That's all I have time for and I see I've not told you about my art purchase, but remind me and I will do so next time.