Monday 18th August - There and Back Again

 Wasn't 'There and back again' the subtitle of The Hobbit? Or was it Lord of the Rings?

We had a lovely day out with friends in Oxfordshire today. I've know her since I was 2 and she was 4; we were next door neighbours. Luckily our respective spouses get along too...

They live a generous 2 hour drive away... for some reason (well I know the reason) I decided that leaving at 9.30 gave us plenty of time to get there for 11am... 

9.30 - 10.30 - 11. 

What came over me? So I had to ring and say we were going to be an hour late. She's a very understanding friend. 

We sat outside and had a bbq  -  meat done in the oven, (that was probably my fault!), vegetable skewers on the bbq - and an enormous selection of salads. Everything tastes even better in the open air, looking at a view like this

There is a small river in the hidden valley at the bottom of the wheat field; that line of trees is further away than you might think! From time to time red kites would slowly ride the thermals over the field.

Coming home was a bit of a confusing journey.  I don't know what was going on in our heads, and things were not helped by Google maps taking us home by a completely new way to avoid congestion on the M25... 

We ended up retracing our steps no fewer than 5 times from constantly choosing the wrong exit at roundabouts. 

Weird. 

We even, I kid you not, missed an exit less then 5 miles from home and explored one of the brand new housing estates springing up all round us. 

Still, we arrived home safely - hence 'there and back again'...

Music

We're ready for an early night. Here's Chenyin Li again, with a very recently composed lullaby by Jelena Poulíčková;

Jelena Poulíčková is the winner of the Pianist 2025 Composing Competition. All judges fell in love with this thought-provoking Lullaby. The score appears inside the June/July issue of Pianist (No 144).

Sunday 17th August - Lullaby by William Byrd

 Anything I was thinking of posting today has dropped into insignificance after listening to the Gesualdo Six singing Byrd's Lullaby 'My Sweet Little Baby'. (Yes, there are only five singing, no, I don't know why)

I was actually looking for something different, but came across this and it is so beautiful I looked no further for anything. 

A friend of a friend has just had a baby in... let's  just say it's a country that's at war.

That's nothing special (sadly); babies are born in war zones everywhere, all the time. But I have seen a picture of this newborn baby, asleep, innocent of all knowledge.

oh, oh, my heart... it's when the abstract becomes real, when the crowds become individuals...

The full text for this lullaby concerns Herod's slaughter of the Innocents...

Saturday 16th August - Magic Drawing

 These odd diagrams do turn into faces... at the moment they are blocky, just explaining the general shapes. It feels like I'm drawing portraits of Kriton from the Red Dwarf but I can see how they will turn into people as I  carry on through the book. Just like magic.

In the same way doodling with a pen over random blobs of paint becomes flowers; I finished the second picture from yesterday this morning 

I like the way my very untidy lines (ballpoint pen) somehow make sense of the paint and bring energy.

Finally, I sat and doodled for a bit

Books

More books that I ordered arrived today. Of the three, two are presents so I don't feel quite so extravagant. The third is this;

I read a review some time ago and finally succumbed, adding it to my order. But I MUST finish the BIPs before I start reading it! (Books In Progress). I've currently 2 books and 2 audio books on the go.

Music

Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman playing Halvorsen's Passacaglia. Heaven.

Friday 15th August - a bit of colour

 After several weeks of not getting around to using my water colours, I cracked... I splodged some colours onto a couple of pages like this;

And took a black fine-liner to them once they had dried...

Then I watched the tutorial to find out how I was supposed to do it!

I haven't got at the first picture with my pen yet, I'll maybe do that another day. 

Soggy Bottom Avoidance Tactics 

I meant to photograph this before I started in on it...

Supper tonight was a Crustless Quiche... 

The original recipe (for 4 people) uses 6 eggs, 100g grated cheddar, a chopped onion, bacon (I used pancetta),  tomatoes, herbs etc. No cream, unlike some other recipes. 

This time around I skipped the tomatoes and added some red and yellow peppers instead.

I made half quantities, and cooked it in the air fryer for a few minutes less and and a slightly lower temperature. My serving (slightly less than half) is on a plate halfway between a tea plate and a dinner plate in size. It was delicious! 

And no soggy bottom... although I think it wouldn't get any marks in pastry week on Great British Bake-Off if I hadn't made any pastry!

Thank you, Sue for recommending this book on your blog.

I sent off for a second-hand copy, and am delighted with it. Much as I like Hugh Fearnely-Whittingshall's book 'Love Your Leftovers', I find this book, all just plain text, well arranged, with clear suggestions and amusing asides 

much closer to my style. For example, her suggestions for using up left-over wine... I entirely agree with her 'handy hint'!

Music

I know the first three Gnossiennes by Erik Satie, but numbers 4-6 are new to me. This is luscious...  Played by Chenyin Li.

Thursday 14th August -

 It's amazing what one can do when one follows some instructions;

I did these using a Kindle scribe book. I'm quite taken by surprise at what I achieved. 

Today's main event was a routine hospital cardiology appointment in the morning. The result; no change, everything's fine (all things considered!). For some reason my blood pressure was Sky High... but the consultants didn't seem worried. I didn't walk as far as last time - 247m as opposed to 270m in 6 minutes- but I took it Very Gently. I'm sure I could have got the extra 23m but I was a bit spooked by the BP.

'Just take it at the same time each day at home for a week or so, and then we'll see' they said. 

I did take it this afternoon; 117/68. Nothing wrong with that. So I'm not going to worry. 

Today's non-event was that my blood test this afternoon was cancelled. Some kind of 'incident' the text said. Unfortunately I need to get the test done this week, so I'll have to go to the next town tomorrow morning as there aren't any local appointments until Monday, which would be too late for Wednesday's infusion of Zolendronic Acid. 

I LOVE the name of that drug! It's an annual infusion for osteoporosis. I always feel that I should glow in the dark for at least a week afterwards. 

Music

Respighi again, 'The Magic Toyshop'. He writes such engaging music!

Here are some excerpts from Wikipedia;

Sections of complete ballet

Overture (Tempo di Marcia) – Allegretto – Meno mosso – Mème mouvement – Vivo

Tarantella (Allegro con brio) 'La Danza' – Vivo

Mazurka – Vivo – Lento – Moderato – Più vivo – Poco meno – Vivacissimo

Danse Cosaque (Allegretto marcato) – Animando un poco – Vivo – Allegretto brillante (Valse) – Vivace

Can–Can (Allegretto grottesco) 'Petite Caprice Style Offenbach' – Vivacissimo – Poco meno vivo – Andantino mosso

Valse lente (Andantino moderato) – Un poco più mosso – Con brio – Tempo I° – Più animato – Tempo I° – Pizzicato, Allegretto moderato – Allegretto moderato

Nocturne (Andantino) – Allegretto

Galop (Vivacissimo) – Fuga, Allegro brillante – Prestissimo – Tempo I°

La Boutique fantasque, also known as The Magic Toyshop or The Fantastic Toyshop, is a ballet in one act conceived by Léonide Massine, who devised the choreography for a libretto written with the artist André Derain, a pioneer of Fauvism. Derain also designed the décor and costumes for the ballet. Ottorino Respighi wrote the music based on piano pieces by Gioachino Rossini. Its world premiere was at the Alhambra Theatre in London on 5 June 1919, performed by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

Massine's scenario centers on the love story between two can-can dancer dolls in a toyshop, incorporating elements of comedy, national folk dance and mime, as well as classical choreography.

Wednesday 13th August - Birds, books, audiobooks

 

Illustration above from the Bodleian Library

I'm enjoying reading La Vie by John Lewis Stempel so much that I might download the audio book as suitable 'going to sleep' material. I've reached the month of May in the book, and the farm is full of birdsong. This is my second time through the book this year! 

I'm still listening to Ronald Blythe 'Next to Nature' as bed-time listening.

Some programs on BBCSounds I've also been listening to after lights-out are;

• Alec Guiness reading his diary for 1987 (I think) called 'My Name Escapes Me'
• Ian Hislop; two series; 
• I, Object! about an exhibition at the British Museum about objects which were created as a protest.
• Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes, tracing the history of British humour (but be prepared for some truly filthy riddles in an illuminated Anglo-saxon manuscript discovered in Exeter Cathedral library, which all have perfectly innocent answers...)
• More or less; behind the stats. They investigate some of the numbers that come up in the news, especially some of the odd things said by politicians. It's numbers, but not really maths...

I like spoken word, rather than music, to lull me to sleep, and preferably something calm, without much plot or story telling so that I don't get caught up in it and start pressing the 'extra time' button! 

Music

I've chosen The Birds by Respighi, played by the Academy of St Martin's in the Fields, conducted by Neville Mariner. In La Vie JSL lists birds that I never see or hear near us; turtle doves, cuckoo's, nightingales, swallows for a start. Plus hoopoes... although they don't get a movement in the Respighi!

The first movement will be very familiar to people who watch the Aniques Show on TV.

I've copied and pasted an excerpt from the Wikipedia page below. 

From wikipedia;

The Birds (Respighi)

The Birds (Italian: Gli uccelli) is a suite for small orchestra by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. Dating from 1928, the work is based on music from the 17th and 18th century[1] and represents an attempt to transcribe birdsong into musical notation, and illustrate bird actions, such as fluttering wings, or scratching feet. The work is in five movements:[2][3]

"Prelude" (based on the music of Bernardo Pasquini)

"La colomba" ("The dove"; based on the music of Jacques de Gallot)

"La gallina" ("The hen"; based on the music of Jean-Philippe Rameau)

"L'usignuolo" ("The nightingale"; based on the folksong "Engels Nachtegaeltje" transcribed by recorder virtuoso Jacob van Eyck)

"Il cucù" ("The cuckoo"; based on the music of Pasquini)

At least three of the movements make use of specific instruments picked to resemble birds. "La colomba" uses an oboe to resemble a dove. "La gallina" uses violins which are said to be "clucking in imitation of the gallinaceous beauty."[4] "L'usignuolo" uses a woodwind over sylvan strings.[4]

The suite was used for the ballet of the same name, with choreography by Cia Fornaroli, first performed at Sanremo Casinò Municipale on 19 February 1933; with choreography by Margarita Wallmann at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, on 27 February 1940; and by Robert Helpmann, with design by Chiang Yee, by the Sadler's Wells Ballet at the New Theatre, London on 24 November 1942.[5]

Between 1965 and 1977 the first movement was used as the opening and closing theme for BBC TV series Going for a Song. The music played along with the sound of a bird in a cage automaton.