John Knox House. Edinburgh

John Knox House: Edinburgh

Hunt for the devil hiding in The Oak Room ceiling and try your hand at our portrait puzzles that have stumped many visitors in the past. Try on costumes and just ‘feel’ the atmosphere.

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John Knox House dates back to 1470, which makes it and Moubray House which is attached, the only original medieval building surviving on the Royal Mile. The house is associated with one of the most dramatic and turbulent times in Scottish History – The Scottish Reformation – which resulted in the outbreak of civil war and the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Although John Knox only stayed in this house for a short time before his death in 1572, it was his association with the house that saved it from demolition in the 1840s. During an excavation of the house, time-capsules were found buried in the gable wall of the house to commemorate the moment the building was saved. One of these time capsules is displayed in the window of our bookshop.
James Mosman – jeweller and goldsmith to Mary, Queen of Scots – lived in the house in the 1550s until his execution in 1573. He was extremely loyal to Queen Mary and was part of the ‘Queen’s Men’ who seized Edinburgh Castle in an attempt to restore Mary to the throne after her forced abdication in favour of her protestant son James VI.
You can get a guided tour and an audio tour but I’d phone in advance if that was your intention.

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Organisation

Nobody would ever accuse me of being organised.
I’m messy and normally have a desk covered in various pieces of paper.
I can never find bills, statements or writing. I can never find anything I’m looking for.
And so although it may be odd for some I am incredibly proud of my previous two days of organised chaos and work.
So I want to show you!!!!

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Yesterday I was part way through but had ended up with a lounge like this. And this is after HOURS of sorting!!

Now it looks like this.
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So I’m done!!!
And I’m very, very proud of myself!!

I’m Cheap!!!!

For those that know me this will come as no suprise but I’m cheap.

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Yeah, one and the same thing right?

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This is what I like to see. This is the price I like to pay. I don’t want to be cheap and cheerful, for a change I’d like to be rich and miserable.

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See above picture? I would be so HAPPY. I LOVE books!!!!

Which gets me back on topic.

I’m actually paying for this book!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electricity-Ray-Robinson-ebook/dp/B003GK22L6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1410463860&sr=8-4&keywords=ELECTRICITY

Now, obviously I haven’t read it yet but expect it soon!!!!!!

Product Description

Lily’s epilepsy means she’s used to seeing the world in terms of angles — you look at every surface, you weigh up every corner, and you think of your head slamming into it — but what would she be like without her sharp edges? Prickly, spiky, up-front honest and down-to-earth practical, Lily is thirty, and life’s not easy but she gets by. Needing no-one and asking for nothing, it’s just her and her epilepsy: her constant companion. But then her mother — who Lily’s not seen for years — dies, and Lily is drawn back into a world she thought she’d long since left behind. Forced to renegotiate the boundaries of her life, she realises she has alot to learn — about relationships, about the past, and about herself — and some difficult decisions ahead of her. ‘An eviscerating debut novel . . . Its fast, furious plot, kaleidoscopic imagery, blunt observations and a wry, ingenuous, hugely compassionate heroine make Electricity a breathtaking assault on the senses’ Guardian ‘An energetic debut, bristling with talent . . . It’s black, savage, funny and rather uncomfortably haunting’ The Times ‘Ray Robinson’s Electricity is a thorny, uncompromising novel, with attitude. It is also — thanks to Lily O’Connor, its sharp-edged, hard-living, tough-talking narrator — mesmerising, uplifting and unexpectedly tender’ JIM CRACE
I’ll let you know how it goes!!!!

My Dream Office/Study

I read  this post http://playfullytacky.com/2014/07/14/my-imaginary-office/ by Playfully Tacky and decided I wanted to have a go.

Now I actually love my big old desk https://eruthvenstevenson.com/2014/07/24/1-where-i-work-my-magic/ but it got me thinking about my own dream study and how I would furnish it….

 

So I thought long and hard as this would be the room I would mostly be in and I trailed through thousands of photos and sites to find just what would be perfect for me.

 

Now my animals are really important to me and actually spend a lot of time right next to me. The dogs bed is next to the desk and when I can convince the cats not to be on top of whatever I’m working on, they sleep on the desk shelves. So, I’d sort them out. Below is a bed for Jazz, a really cool scratching, climbing post and I’d add shelves specifically for them so they’d not climb mine.

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And so with the animals taken care of I’d get the desk.

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I love it, it’s not something you’d see everyday anywhere else. I love the fact that it’s very natural feeling.
Now the desk chair was harder.I could get one to match the desk but realistically if you’re spending vast amounts of time there you want a big, sturdy, comfy  thing.

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I actually think both are ugly but they look comfy at least.

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I’d have these chairs dotted around. Just with my favourite books in them. If I’m getting a dream office then next door I want a dream library, picture the one in Disney Beauty and the Beast!

But I’d also need a comfy chair, I found this one,

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But the one I’d really want I can never find. Cast your mind back to the nineties, remember the hot chocolate advert for Cadbury’s, the tune was show me heaven and she sinks into this lush, deep, purple chair.. That’s the one I’d want.

Now I did a little extra thinking here aswell. I give you my lighting.

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My soft furnishing, rug, curtains and cushions.

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I love it. The only thing missing for me would be a view. To be assured of the one I want I’d get one of those big wall mural things.

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Now my office wouldn’t suit every one but it suits me. It’s a mix of everything I love and I don’t care if things mach or not.

Now all I  need to do is win the lottery so I can get it all!!!!!!! Rest assured people if you buy my books then this is what I’m saving up for!

 

Oh and while I wouldn’t want them in my dream office I love these so just had to share them with you..

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1. Where I work my magic!!!!

So, it is a well-known fact that I always write on paper first. I do not mesh well with computers. I know, I know, I’m supposed to be the generation of technology.. I’ve been told it a million times before. Doesn’t alter anything, I’m afraid. Not even the two years of office and business studies I took when I was at school (in Scotland) helped. I can type and I know my finger keys and I can still picture the teacher peering over my shoulder, breathing down my neck…
Well.. That is neither here nor there any more, suffice to say that computers and I are not very good friends.
That said, I do write at my desk. I LOVE my desk.

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This great big wooden monstrosity was a boot sale find that I managed to convince my mum to give me! It is far too large for my room and partially blocks one window but I love it nonetheless.
It is scraped and scratched and dented. There are gouges and shelves that have been ripped out and repositioned.
I was going to clear it all down, the husband suggested it would make me appear more organised, but the truth of the matter is that I’m not organised.   I would never allow anyone a glimpse into the drawers. That is where everything I’m working on is stored and really shows how unorganised and messy I am.
With a combination of books, DVD’s, knick knacks and pictures, the shelves are overflowing. The shelf at the bottom, where feet go is home to my many, many scraps of paper holding random ideas and scenes.
There are many pens littering the top and always a bag of mints lovingly supplied by my wonderful friend and her mother who run the local sweetshop, Nicola and Yvonne. I run the risk of bankrupting myself whenever I step in their store!!
My two cats are currently being fed on my desk. Not ideal but till I can work something else out it has to do as the dog steals their food otherwise. The two bottom shelves are always kept empty anyway as both cats have habits of getting up anyway, Gid is very keen to sit on the paper I am writing on and Nessie is very enthusiastic about pens!!
The computer monitor, when I am writing, ends up covered in post it notes.

 

 

 

From Highland Fairlings series – Book One – Ina

“A collection of books that lined one wall were not nearly as many as the books that lined the little used Brothaigh library but each looked well-worn from many readings. The Laird’s desk was a heavy piece of furniture that was cluttered with many pieces of parchment and various objects that held great mystery.
Alasdair had once heard that you could tell a man’s character from his possessions and he found that Laird Elliot’s manically arranged possessions did not give a hint to the man who was too busy allowing his daughter to fight like a man than anything else. Or perhaps it did.”