Monday 30th November - A New Year begins

Yesterday was the beginning of a New Year - the Church Year.

It was the first Sunday in Advent, and I really felt I OUGHT to be allowed to start on my Advent Calendars.

 Instead I've had to wait another two days.

That seems reasonable in some ways; Advent is a time of waiting. For Christians, we wait to celebrate an event that happened two thousand years ago; the Birth of Christ. Also for an event that is yet to come, when Christ "will come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead".

I was always confused about the word "quick". I was never a very fast runner at school. About death, there can be no confusion at all.

I wonder if I will manage to keep up with Advent this year? There were times last year when I "had" to eat five chocolates at once from the chocolate calendar because I had fallen behind with opening all the little windows, under the pressures of School Concerts, Christmas Preparations, everything that had to get done.

This year's candle is tall and thin, so it should manage to be consumed by Christmas. Last year's candle was cone-shaped, and in the end I used to light it every time we got together. I think it lasted until February. There was something quite pleasing about the ritual.

I like candles, especially Advent candles. They have a gentle, soothing quality. Like night-lights, sitting in a saucer of water, chasing away the dark.


I'll keep you posted as to how things go.

Sunday 29th November - Early Mornings

Early mornings have been rather a feature of this last month.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn
Early morning in Xepon, Laos (July 2004)

Dawn (from an Old English verb dagian "to become day") is the time that marks, depending on the specific usage, the beginning of the twilight before sunrise, the period of the pre-sunrise twilight or the time of sunrise. When identified as the beginning of or the period of twilight, it is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the Sun itself is still below the horizon. (Wikipedia)


As often happens, I've started blogging about one thing (whinging about waking up too early too often) and found myself following a much more interesting trail. Did you know there were different types of dawn?

More Wikipedia:

Dawn of astronomical twilight

Astronomical twilight begins at the moment after which the sky is no longer completely dark. This occurs when the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon in the morning.^[5] Though it is possible to localize the direction of the Sun during astronomical dawn and dusk, people in general experience astronomical dawn and dusk as night, even without clouds. The zenith is dark and more than just the brightest stars can be seen (except low above the horizon in the direction of the sun).

Dawn of nautical twilight

 

Nautical twilight begins at the time at which there is enough sunlight for the horizon and some objects to be distinguishable; formally, when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon in the morning

 

Dawn of civil twilight

Civil twilight begins at the time at which there is enough light for objects to be distinguishable, so that outdoor activities can commence; formally, when the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon in the morning. At civil dawn there is no darkness in any direction, nor at the zenith. The sky is bright, even when cloudy.

 
 


 Looking at that, I think we have been waking up at all sorts of different dawns. Hey ho, tea is a good thing at any time of day or night.

Another cup? Don't mind if I do.

Saturday 28th November - Blog? or Bed?

Shall I blog?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_pen

or shall I go to bed?

Lit à la Polonaise (Polish style bed),^[13] Royal Castle in Warsaw, 18th century
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed

Choices....... sleep wins

Flaming June by Frederic Lord Leighton, ~1895
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep

Except my nightdress is dark blue.
And my hair is short.

Wednesday 25th November - Christmas Cactus

You are allowed to use the word "Christmas" in November when you are talking about flowers.

So here is the previous photograph, from 15th November

and here is what it looks like now:

The original bud is now twice the size, and to my great pleasure, there a quite a number of other buds coming along nicely. Actually, I'm catching up on missed posts, so this photograph is dated 27th November. I was about to write that I expect a day or two wouldn't have made much difference, but I think I'm wrong there. Once this plant decides to flower, it really gets on with the job. 

Thursday November 26th - My Bestest Thing

I wanted this from the minute, no, the very second, that I saw it. Do you remember those multi-colour selector biros that used to appear in Father Christmas stockings? This is a Very Superior multicolour coloured pencil selector, with a properly engineered clutch mechanism like Good Mechanical Pencils (not the cheapy plastic ones that come free with Killer Suduko booklets).

And the packaging. Oh my word, the packaging. No-one can do packaging like the Japanese 





I've already used it to "improve" one of my birthday cards.

 



So that's two secrets that are out now. It's my birthday.

And I am a stationery nerd.

Friday 27th November - emails

I opened it

I looked at it

I read it

I understood it

I closed it




err, what was it all about?


Bother. Open. Look. Read. Understand. PAY ATTENTION TO IT THIS TIME AROUND.

Got it.

Sunday 22nd November - Afterwards

The plans sort of worked.

That's probably because there was no salmon, so no bear was tempted to gate-crash?

No, it's because of so many willing hands making light work. Thank you to all the family and friends who helped set up and clear up,

and to all the family and friends who helped to make it such a great occasion.

The occasion?

My parent's 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration Tea Party.




Unfortunately my mother couldn't be there, as she was taken into hospital over a week ago with the consequences of a chest infection. There were serious conversations as to whether it was at all appropriate for the party to go ahead under the circumstances. However we decided to carry on, and then, as the day drew near, she suddenly began to show real signs of improvement. She's still in hospital, and has got a way to go yet. But the celebration became a CELEBRATION.

Add caption

Excellent.

Saturday 21st November - Perfect Planning

There's a lot to get done in a short amount of time with a limited number of helpers if this tea-party is going to happen.

I've followed the advice of my brother and created a sheet of post-it notes with jobs on them.

The idea is that everyone who wants to help can take a post-it and do the job described on it. I went one stage further and wrote the job out again on the paper underneath the post-it note.

• Set out the tables and cover with banqueting roll (you will need scissors and tape)
• Set out 80 chairs around the tables
• Arrange tea plates, napkins, table confetti etc
• Put sandwiches between serving plates, decorate with cherry tomatoes and watercress, and put on tables
• Put small cakes on serving plates and put on tables
• Slice large cakes, arrange on plates
• Prepare tea and coffee (milk, sugar, cups and saucers) and set ready for serving
• Prepare cold drinks (drinks, glasses, jugs) and set ready for serving
• Prepare Prosecco (drinks, bottles) and set ready for serving
• Create 10 small table flower decorations (teacups and saucers, oasis, flowers, greenery) and put on tables

What can go wrong?

http://techmash.co.uk/2014/03/20/man-catches-salmon-bear-likes-salmon-what-can-go-wrong/

Friday 20th November - Who is this looking at me?

Had a hair cut this morning; it's been on the to-do list for about a month. There's that point when it goes from being a bit on the long side to a crazy uncontrolled frizz.

That point was reached about a fortnight ago.

http://www.boredpanda.com/komondor-the-mop-dog/

So, hair-cut time had to happen.

htthttp://www.boredpanda.com/afghan-hound/

I think it is looking better; I'm not sure, because the hairdresser went to considerable effort to blow-dry it all smooth and neat, like a sort of helmet. Every time I catch sight of myself it is a bit of a shock.

I'm just off to wash it again (I washed it this morning!) so that it can resume it's normal wayward liveliness, and I can feel more at home with myself again.

Something like this?

http://www.boredpanda.com/polish-buff-laced-chicken/

Thursday 19th November - Kalawayo

Missed a post again. Life is happening around here.

My mother is in hospital, and last night what I really wanted was to be with her, and sing lullabies.

I doubt she would have appreciated it - I think sleep is what she would really want. And I don't suppose for a moment that the nurses and other patients would have thanked me either.

So I sang them in my head at home, (so as not to wake BB).

This Native American lullaby is a favourite. You sing it as a three-part round.

Then it was getting early (4am), and we were both awake (again) so I made us a cup of tea. If this carries on, my whole day is going to shift from a normal 7am to 10 pm and become 4 am to 7pm.

I'd love to upload the melody or mp3 file but can't find a way to do it.

Wednesday 18th November - to-do/check list

Supermarket number 1 (order and collect)

ready-made tea-time sandwiches      tiny cream cakes      tiny fresh fruit tarts
fruit cakes     chocolate cake     Victoria sponge


 
Supermarket number 2 (click and collect)

teabags     milk     sugar     coffee     orange juice     apple juice    
sparkling water     lemonade
cherry tomatoes     water cress (for garnish)
prosecco     glass hire


Garden centre (bought in advance, for table decorations)

two patio pots of chrysanthemums, in full bloom     two trailing ivy plants
3 blocks oasis


Party Shop (bought in advance)

table confetti     banqueting roll     paper napkins     gold foil paper doilies
Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary Banner - oh, I've given it all away.

Now you know. A checklist for a Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary Tea-Party.

The only thing that wasn't included in the planning is for my mother to have to go into hospital at the weekend. She's come down with a chest infection and at the moment has difficulty in swallowing. I didn't mention it earlier blog posts, as all the invitations and arrangements had been done, and we weren't sure what to do about the party. Well, sadly, my mother is not going to be well enough to come, but we have decided to go ahead with the party anyway. Some of the very close relatives (sister, niece) have travelled a long, long way get here, and will take the opportunity to visit her in hospital. The rest of us will all drink to her speedy recovery, and celebrate the Anniversary.

Tuesday 17th November - sequence, reflection, repetition

I'm teaching melody writing to one class at the moment - the room resounds to a gentle bonging of chime bars.

The trick is to show them how an effective melody may well consist of just two or three simple phrases, repeated.

Like Jingle Bells: (thinking only about the tune, not the words)

Tune 1  Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride
Tune 2  in an one horse open sleigh - Hey!
Tune 1  Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride
Tune 3  in a one horse open sleigh

Driving home, I was struck by how that works visually:

Watching a veritable storm of leaves rush against the windscreen in a wild disorder, like red-russet-brown litter, and then seeing rooks above the road whirling madly in just the same way, but sooty and black and shapeless, like ash from burning paper on a bonfire. The same motif, just slightly translated.

Seeing a silver glint through the heavy clouds, reflected in the standing water on the dull grey/black tarmac.

It put me in mind of an old LP of Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite (haven't thought about that in years)

I think this might have been the cover picture: and the link will take you to youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KCOXiTx-Lg

 Oh, and as for the rooks; they were  "a building" or a parliament" of rooks, not a flock.

Monday 16th November - Falling Asleep with Music

I've got some knitted over-ear headphones that I bought from John Lewis last year. They are brilliant. I can lie comfortably in bed, listening to things on my mp3 player without the ear-phone thingies sticking into my skull. 

When I'm lying awake and want to be asleep, I just reach for the mp3 player, put the headphones on, and choose whether I want to listen to music, a book, radio 3 or radio 4 (a bit crackly, but I've found the optimal position for the mp3 player and the lead to make it work. I'm usually asleep within 15 minutes, while the music/words flow on and on and on...

and then, I wake, because

the music has changed from something gentle to something wild or weird

the radio program has gone from a dry lecture on economics to an emotional and overwrought drama

or my ears have got too hot.

So I lie awake, trying to get to sleep... 

Sunday 15th November - The Christmas Cactus

What shall I do? Give you the three-hundred-page novel "One weekend in my life"?

Nah, it's bedtime. You are getting a few sentances about flowers. Probably just as interesting as the electric-cooker saga (we don't have an Aga) would have been.

It takes the Christmas Cactus several weeks to go from bud to flower.

We've just noticed that the first bud has slowly been growing (on the side towards the window, which is why we didn't see it earlier).

I'll keep you informed as to its progress. 'Cos I like watching the flowers grow even if you don't.

Saturday 14th November - Ticket to ride to Happy-Land

It's been a mixed couple of days, with POSITIVE things - hurray - and negative things - BOO - being said, or things that have happened in the various different lessons, classes and instruments that I teach.

So, I am practicing remembering all the GOOD things about my teaching, remembering the comments, cards, positive feedback I have received.

I shall join in with this great board game (we must buy our own set!) called "Ticket to Ride" and finish the day in a positive frame of mind.

Friday 13th 2015 - Bedtime and I haven't blogged

Was just on my way to bed - at least I remembered before I went upstairs.

Today has been too full. Things to do, places to go, people to see, phone calls to make, texts to send, emails to construct, music to write, etc etc etc

Tell you all about it another time.

In the meantime here are pictures of ornamental cabbages; I planted up these purple ones some time ago (actually it was probably only last week). There are a couple of pots of them by the front door.

I finished planting up the primulas - so pretty - and the white ornamental cabbages today. (No pictures yet)

I'm very partial to ornamental cabbages.

Thursday 12th November 2015 - A Technical Post

Actually I stay away from the innards of computers.

Ours has been getting more and flaky over the last couple of months, until yesterday it became totally unreasonable. Particularly about email.

Our resident technical expert set this going, and after about four hours the progress bar had got this far

The whatever it is was started around 6pm, and finished whatever is did at about 3pm the next afternoon. I think the message was to the effect that after five years of pretty intensive use, the disk was dead.

He's bought a new disk, and installed it. He says it should have finished the formatting process sometime in the wee small hours of this morning.

Then the data needs to be transferred, (if possible) from the old disk to the new one, which will fill most of Friday and maybe Saturday. If not, our most recent back-up was on Tuesday, and I happened to have copied the couple of Word documents I created after then to a memory stick for work, so that's fine.

Who knows, but the world might be back to normal by Monday?

At five years old, our PC is pretty much on borrowed time.

The next question will be what do to next. Rebuild? Replace? Buy a laptop?

Well. as far as I am concerned this has been an intensely technical post. I hope my more technically inclined readers are suitably impressed.

(I'm blogging on my laptop which is only a mere four years old. Plenty of life left in it).

Wednesday 11th November - I'm not wearing a poppy

That's because I gave it away to a little girl who had lost hers.

I did find a spare one from last year, shoved it in my pocket as I was in a bit of a hurry. Found it there this evening when I got home again. So it will go back into the odds'n'ends place again until next year.

Do you remember this? Did you manage to see them somewhere?

 I took it at the end of October last year. I remember it feeling oddly quiet, as we slowly walked around the Tower of London, in spite of the crowds and the traffic and the hustle-bustle everywhere.

November's moving along a-pace. Soon be December. Soon be 2016. Before be know it, we will be remembering all over again.

Tuesday 10th November - half way through the week

Half-way?


Copyright John Atherton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/29087

Well, yes, it is, for me.

I have taught fourteen lessons so far, on Monday and Tuesday. That's an average of seven per day. But I've only have fifteen left between Wednesday afternoon and Saturday afternoon - an average of four per day, with three non-teaching mornings, and one non-teaching afternoon.

I have a to-do list of housework tasks, and Diamond Wedding Anniversary Tea-Party tasks to deal with in those non-teaching times.

Top of the lists is Take a Break on Wednesday morning.

Monday 9th November 2015 - A full day with unexpected pleasures

Yes, I did manage to remember EVERYTHING!

Starting at 8:30 this morning, I taught six brand new piano beginners their first lessons today, and had remembered everything that I wanted/needed to take.

then

I rushed off to my harpsichord lesson. That was an intense hour, and have to say that my concentration collapsed toward the end. But, I did bring my music. And he did say that I was "beginning to develop the right style". I dawdled on my way back to the car, because I had the opportunity to watch the Christ's Hospital School marching in to lunch, while their band played. Quite a sight. I'd love to go back another time (when it isn't so chilly!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ%27s_Hospital_Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brUX1pkFeio

then

along the back lanes to the next school.  I took a fifteen minute break in the car, where I munched through my packed lunch (a ham sandwich, some cucumber sticks and some cherry tomatoes) at speed. While I chomped away, I took time out to notice the effect of the watery autumn sunshine on the village church tower, warming the colour of the stone, and turning the red berries on a nearby tree to an improbably fiery red. It was all so peaceful, quiet, gentle....

then

I taught a hectic djembe lesson to a class of lively young children.

then

I drove back into town for the final two classes; ukulele and choir - and, amazingly, I had packed all the right music and equipment.

then, I summoned the energy to wheel everything back to the car on my trusty sack trolley and load it all in.

I arrived home to find supper minutes away from being served - just as well. If I had been left to my own devices I might have just made a bowl of porridge, slurped it down and gone to bed!

However, food is tremendously reviving. Especially when you don't have to prepare, cook, serve and clear it up yourself.

Finally, I was called by one of the parents from this morning to say how much her child had enjoyed his first lesson. I don't think that has ever happened before.

Sunday 8th November - Nearly Forgot

Once again we had made our mugs of hot chocolate (a small one in my case), fed the cats, shut them in the kitchen, gone upstairs - and then I remembered I hadn't done the blog post.

That's three nights in a row - am I trying to tell myself something?

Today has been a day of sort of sorting things out ready for tomorrow.

And I am sort of sorted - I shall know how successful I was after delivering 6 piano lessons (remember the registers, teaching materials), having a harpsichord lesson (remember the music and the money), lunch somewhere (remember to make AND take my packed lunch, delivering a djembe lesson (remember the djembe), and ukulele lesson (remember the uke and the music) and finally leading a small choir (more music)

I'll let you know...

Saturday 7th November - Christmas Catch

Saturday was packed with this that and the other, which is why I didn't remember to post until after I had gone to bed.

The same thing happened on Friday night, but I was still awake enough to get up out of bed and rattle something off.

Not so, last night. So there you are - the first week ends with a blog fail.

Anyway, one of the things I did yesterday was write a little "Christmas Catch"

It's a two-part round - with a catch.

I'm using the word "catch" in its narrower meaning, of a round where there is a hidden word or phrase which only becomes apparent when all the parts are sung together.

Friday 6th November - It's harder than it sounds. Or Looks.

I'm wrestling with this as the moment.

well, not the original manuscript; not even a nice copy in a book. I've downloaded it from an "out-of-copyright" sheet music site.

I'm learning the slow movement in my harpsichord lessons, at such a slow speed that even a tortoise would struggle to keep in time.

Oh, didn't I mention that I'd become the proud possessor of a digital harpsichord? Digital, because the real thing would take up the WHOLE of the dining room and needs constant "fettling" and tuning, whereas the digital version is the size of a small side-table and copes with changes in temperature and humidity without becoming all temperamental (that's an "in" joke).

When I turned up for my lesson, my teacher had been called away to another class, so I spent the hour practicing.

By the end of the hour I was able to place the first line - that's the bit before the tune starts - they way I wanted it. And it took the whole hour to achieve it.

Eventually, it might sound like this? Well, one can dream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIhteTLwwqs

Keep listening; he does the Goldberg Variations next...

Thursday 5th November - Porridge and Computer Artificial Intelligence

The conversation this morning went something like this...

"The difficulty is in finding the right size cup to measure out the oats and the milk in order to get the right amount for my breakfast. The one I used was about right, but I had to fill it completely full of oats, so it got a bit tricky when it came to adding two and a half cups of milk without spilling it everywhere."

"Which you did you use?"

"The one with the diagonal edge"

"We don't have a cup with a diagonal edge."

"Yes we do."

From which description he was able to correctly identify which measuring jug I used:

After a moment, the conversation turned to how far computer recognition software has to go before it can interpret your average domestic conversation.

This all came back to be this evening when we were discussing the roast carrots (which were delicious) at suppertime:

"They're a bit overdone - I always find it hard to judge how long they take to cook."

"I usually find they take longer than I expect, except when they take less time."

"yeah"...  

I think it is because real conversations are full of half-sentences, grammatical errors, weird descriptions, stray references to other things. Once we get these computers going, we'll all have to have artificial conversations carefully constructed so that the computer can understand them.

I wonder what kind of poetry and literature computers will generate in years to come?

For me, perfect microwave porridge is 75ml oats, 140 ml water, 220 ml milk. Microwave on high for 2 mins, stir, micro on high again 1 min, tip it into the bowl and wait for it to cool enough to eat.

Current packet is "Rude Health Fruity Date Porridge".

Wednesday 4th November - Numbers, Passwords

As I parked at the school I teach at on Wednesdays, I delved in my memory for the numerical code for the front door... oh yes, that's it...

Which set me thinking - how many passwords, numbers, pin codes, telephone numbers, addresses do I know by heart?

I didn't have time to count them, and anyway, I'd have to write them all down to keep track, which would defeat the purpose of keeping them secret.

The list includes the number plates of my first and current cars, one of the cars my mother used to drive when I was a child, the telephone number of one of the houses I grew up in, the house we lived in when I was a teenager (but in a foreign language as the local taxi drivers didn't always speak English),

and so on and so on and so on...

I'm not sure how you go about forgetting some of these numbers... and I'm having increasing difficulty in remembering new ones.

Tuesday 3rd November - Talking about pianos

http://shafferpianos.com/harling/

I used to teach someone who had a piano similar to this one. Her mother thought it was "a lovely piece of furniture", which is true. It was lovingly cared for, and had pleated red silk showing through the fretted front panels and candle holders, with candles in them which they lit at Christmas.
Apparently this one dates from 1850. I'd guess hers was about 50-75 years later, with much less decorative carving.

But it was a rubbish piano, in terms of playing rather than looking at it. A piano is a mechanical contraption, when all is said and done, and mechanical contraptions do wear out. We got as far as beginning Chopin and Beethoven, and then the beautiful piece of furniture's shortcomings as a musical instrument became all too clear. I guess it could have been restored, maybe? For a price? New soundboard, new tuning pins, restringing, sorting out the action? Would have cost a lot.

What has provoked this post? Talking to a number of parents about what they need to have in order for their child to start piano lessons. Namely, A PIANO. (Or a "digital" or "stage" piano). A keyboard is NOT the same thing at all.

Rant over.

Breathe. Pour the second sherry. Relax.
 .

 

Monday 2nd November - Reboot-Reload-Restart

Over half-term my car went to the garage to get the rear wiper sorted out (loose connection - fixed in minutes - no charge - thanks!)

That meant unloading my car so that the mechanic would have half a chance of getting at whatever he needed to get to.

I haven't seen my car look so tidy since the day I bought it:

I got everything ready in the hall to put back into the car ready for teaching. That kind husband of mine drove off to buy me a sack-trolley. It's there, with a red plastic crate and a couple of bungee cords at the back.

And in it all went... djembe (in a black padded case), repinique (in the blue bag), red plastic crate, Roland small guitar amp (in the white cloth bag) brand-new lightweight and extremely useful folding sack-trolley. There's also the white plastic crate of car bits and pieces - spare bulbs, first aid kit, instruction manual, tyre-weld canister, yellow hi-viz jacket, but you can't see it behind the djembe.

Front seat: blue bag for choir and ukulele on Monday evenings, pink bag for everyrthing, purple handbag for everything else.

 



Back seats: two bags of boomwhackers (I'm not using them very much, but until the shed gets built there's nowhere else to keep them - oh, hang on, I think he has other plans for the shed...) orange bag with 5 dinky little xylophones, bag with travel rug, bag full of bags of instruments (tambourines, claves, shakers, etc)

 

And off to work I went. Tomorrow I will add a lap-top, but remove the blue Monday evening bag.

That sack trolley was brilliant - the djembe weighs about 6 kilos, and wheeling it in to school (carrying the guitar amp and the purple hand bag and hoping that I didn't need anything out of the pink bag which I left in the car) made a huge difference.

Likewise, loading up the red crate with the blue choir/ukulele bag, guitar amp and pink bag and dragging it across the car park was so much easier than draping everything across my shoulders and plodding like an over-laden donkey....

Somehow I've managed to put everything in so that nothing rattles. I was getting tired of sounding as though I had a morris dancing team in the back of the car the whole time.

Sunday 1st November 2015 - November

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness".... dunno about the fruitfulness but it sure was misty all today.

Have you read the whole poem?

Here it is.... in facsimile... from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Autumn






You can read the whole thing if you go to the Wikipedia page. And the meaning, themes, structure, and everything else.

There's nothing "fruitful" left in our garden. This year our harvest was mainly apples (now in the freezer) and chillis.

"Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them,..."

No, think not of the songs of Spring. It's going to be Christmas Carols for the rest of the year.