Tuesday, 6 May 2025

Tuesday 5th May - concentration

Books

My current ook needs concentration to remember which century I'm in, who the characters are, and keep hold of the two mysterious back stories... I can't remember which blogger recommended Kate Morton, but thank you, who ever you are! I've downloaded The Lake House, which I'm reading now, and Homecoming, the next in the series.

 A welcome change from 'Wifedom' by Anna Funder, which was a biography (with fictionalised episodes fleshing out details from her notebooks and other people's memories) of George Orwell's wife, Eileen Shaughnessy. It's also a fierce diatribe against 'the patriarchy'; George Orwell doesn't come out  too well...

Sewing

I'm currently obsessed with the Collaboration Cover Story for this month! There are 10 edges to be decorated, and I've done 6 so far. I'll slow down soon I'm sure; I'm not one to stick at anything for long these days.

Gardening

Not so much planting, but assembling. We had two cheap, and now elderly benches 7nder the apple tree. One would definitely have collapsed if sat upon, and the other might well have done. I ordered two more which were delivered today. BB has assembled one already.

The old benches will have a bit of repair work done and then become raised pot stands along the side of the house. They'll last another year, but I'll make no-one is able to sit on them!

I bought a bunch of mint, mainly to add to bulgar wheat salad. It's been sitting in a jar of water, and I noticed quite a few of the stalks were growing roots, so I've stuck them in a pot and see what happens. 

Music

It takes a lot of concentration to play Steve Reich's 'Music for Wooden Instruments'. I'm astonished this ensemble can play it from memory. 

The score looks unbelievably complicated, but it us based on repeating patterns. I guess the trick is to learn the patterns, and then... go for it!

I suppose it's similar to the drumming and samba rhythms I used to teach. But several degrees more complicated!

I realise that not everyone will want to listen to it. Personally I rather enjoy listening to the way the rhythms weave together.


Here it is again, the same piece, but with a graphic score to watch;



8 comments:

  1. Make sure your mint stays in a pot! It is such a walking fiend if you plant it in the garden. I always enjoyed books by Kate Morton. I wonder if you have read any by Erica Bauermeister?

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    1. Oh yes about mint! I once did the thing about growing it in an old metal bucket with no bottom sunk into the earth, but it got away somehow! I haven't come across Erica Bauermeister, I'll look her up.

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  2. My mum used to love Kate Morton. She doesn't seem to write many books and Mum would always be on the lookout for them when they did come out.

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    1. It's always nice to find a new writer who writes the kind of thing you like. Freya North us another fairly recent discovery.

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  3. You are way ahead of me on the CoverStory stitching. Hoping to get going now I have my new glasses!

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    1. I'm sure new glasses will make all the difference !

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  4. I really like the Steve Reich piece and to see the score is really quite special.
    I like clapping rhythms, and drum quartets, too.The concentration required is phenomenal.

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    1. I loved it when the drummers, adults or children, were able to stop counting the beats and just feel the rhythms. You could see us all getting on the zone and relaxing

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