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We're not sure whether this is art or not, but we like it a great deal.

The seemingly chance juxtaposition of iron, wood and stone beautifies one corner of a basement stair outside Braewell Gallery on Dundas Street.

By design or good fortune, it offers a charming and understated meditation on Nature and the City at the gateway to the capital's New Town. Simply perfect.

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Mark Rees added the finishing touches to Odette this morning, one of two beautiful pieces combining body casts, marbles and glass beads on display in Coffee Angel on Brandon Terrace.

Café manager Chris Lynch recently chanced upon Rees's work in a Cumberland Street gallery, and – intrigued by the angelic connections – offered him a new venue in which to reach a new audience.

The hands and face of Odette are based on those of Rees's wife, but the inspiration for the pieces came from a conversation with Antony Gormley last year.

Plans for 80–100 residences and 150–300 square metres of commercial floorspace on Beaverhall Road go on display today.

The drop-in session, which is free and open to all members of the public, will be held from 2–8pm in Broughton Primary School. Representatives from Springfield Properties PLC and Yeoman McAllister Architects will be present.

A development on this scale will have significant effects on residents throughout Broughton, and we urge as many of you as possible to go along, ask questions, and make your views known.

The August Spurtle bannock is browning nicely in the oven of production, and will be ready soon.

Current affairs covered this time include: trolleyloads of trouble, 15 sacks of litter, pile-drivers, planning questions, hustings heads-up, 5-cornered oblongs, chocolate, fancies, cocky nits and queasy soldiers, geraniums, waving grasses, sleepy teenagers, an humungous Hummer and 15 Ford Anglias all in a row. Plus a newly discovered artist who put the Colourists in the shade.

If you have sore feet, too little time, or are too exhausted even to read Ali G's Oot! when it appears here in August, why not choose your Fringe shows on the basis of proximity?

Four parks in and around Broughton have won Green Flag awards in this year's competition run by Keep Britain Tidy (KBT).

Inverleith and Victoria Parks achieved the accolade for the first time. Hopetoun Crescent Garden retained its award for the second time since its first win in 2009. London Road Gardens also retained an award. In total, Edinburgh took 20 of the 34 Green Flags across Scotland.

Labour candidate Karen Doran lifts the lid on the bees in her bonnet.

I am delighted to have been selected to stand as the Labour Party candidate, in the City Centre Ward, for the local by-election being held on Thursday 18 August.

All candidates in the City Centre (Ward 11) by-election have been invited to outline the main strands of their campaigns. John Carson (Independent) kicks off.

Spurtle will host a hustings on Tuesday 9 August from 7.15–9.15pm at Broughton St Mary's Parish Church in Bellevue Crescent.

Although the Spurtle is a Broughton-based entity, this is an event for everyone in Ward 11 (see map). STV will blogcast live from the event.

Here, for reel enthusiasts, are photos of the Green Goddess sold today at Lyon & Turnbull for £5,000 (£3,000 more than expected).

Apparently the machine was in perfect working order, except for the siren.

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