Monday 30th June - tooooo hot

 Suddenly, in the afternoon, I couldn't bear to be indoors another moment. It was so hot, and the air so still in spite of every window and door (except the front door) being wide open.

BB helped me transfer myself to underneath the apple tree with books and coffee and writing stuff and drawing stuff and painting stuff and O2 cylinders (2) and a cushion... I was settled in for a good long stay!

Inside the leafy cave it was cool and shady and there was a breathe of air - it was definitely cooler, slightly fresher.

I finished writing up my holiday diary, did some drawing,  partly of the holiday,  partly of what I saw around me;

Until it was time to go back inside several hours later. It's going to be the sane tomorrow;

Whenever I am sure I'm going to melt, I reread this entry for 14th June, the second one, from a collection of diary entries for each day, in an old book I found;

('Starved' is an old-fashioned word for feeling very cold)

.....

Cover Story; Ang and I both received our parcels from each other today. I'm going to send her a picture of her work and as she forgot to do that before she posted it.  So I'll share my pictures of both pieces tomorrow. Now comes the final part of fitting it onto a notebook; I might have to buy one first!

.....

Music

It's still much too hot for Tchaikovsky or Elgar or Dvorak. But this tinkly piano piece is perfect. I'd run out of inspiration and turned to my copy of 'A Year of Wonder' by Clemency Burton-Hill for ideas. This was her choice for 28th June.

I remember teaching this; such a gorgeous piece to play as well.

Sunday 29th June - Experiments in prayer 2 - Colouring

 Last Sunday I wrote about praying 'with the breath', taken from Miranda Threlfall-Holmes' book 'The Little Book of Prayer Experiments'. 

I've been geen trying this all week, repeating a phrase or a verse in time with my breathing as a way of staying focused, connected. It's something I shall continue doing.

Another 'experiment' relates to Ang's recent post about a Scripture Journaling workshop she went to. M T-H calls it 'Colouring the Bible'.

You can create your own page to colour in, or there are plenty of free sheets to download and print, and even books of prayerful phrases to colour.

Eg www.flamecreativekids.blogspot.uk

In order to avoid copyright issues I've just quickly roughed out an example;

The idea is that as you colour in the picture, you let your mind dwell on the words, and think about the meaning of them, letting them sink into your mind. She puts it so much better in her book! Anyway, I shall give the colouring prayers a go this week and see how I get on.

Music 

Having discovered that so many suites called 'serenade' have been composed by so many composers I thought I'd explore further. Here's Elgar. I'm surprised how familiar they sound. I've obviously been listening to them for years without realising who composed whatl

Saturday 28th June - phase 1 done

 Pat on the back! Gold star! Proceed to next level!

Here's the old table with a few boxes stacked on top. I've offered the tile cutter set, and indeed the actual table around our church. If there are no takers then off they go to charity. This was the state of play last week.

This morning, before the day heated up, BB cleared the boxes to... to... to somewhere else and dismantled the table. Then we, or rather, he hoovered the carpet AND the wall (!) and cleared the old desk in our bedroom. 

I have a feeling this desk dates back to the beginning of yhe last century, as we know that the country house it came from burned down in around 1905, give or take a few years, and this was rescued from the fire.

We dusted off the desk and moved it in. To our surprise we discovered that it has  matching false drawer fronts, including handles, at the back! Presumably it was designed to be a free standing table in the middle of a room.

Now it needs a more thorough dusting, and a proper polish. The plan is for this room to become a study / spare room, once we have excavated the accretion of stuff in and around and under and on top of the high sleeper bed on the other wall. 

All this clearing and shuffling is complicated by the fact that the room is 9nly about 8 feet by 8 feet!

....

My Cover Story Collaboration stitching is now trundling across the country, and will probably cross paths with Ang's, as we both posted them at our respective post offices this morning.

I decided mine needed an extra addition, and quickly stitched away before posting. Only running stitches, so it didn't take long.

After many years of trying and failing to get on with traditional metal thimbles, I came across leather thimbles. What a game changer! Here's mine on one of my stubby fingers. 

It has made everything so much easier, and well worth investigating if you can't make a metal one work. I wondered if the eye of the needle would pierce the leather and stab my finger, but that hasn't happened in all the years I've been using it.

....

Music

After reasonable temperatures this morning, this afternoon suddenly became so, so, hot. It's only now, at about 7.30pm, that I'm beginning to get any energy back!

Here's the first movement of the Serenade for Strings Dvorak as a suitably gentle way of easing into the evening. Or morning. Or afternoon or whatever time it is when you read this! I think this is op 22... there are so many serenades for strings I'm losing track.

Friday 27th June - small victories!

 We managed to get all the way to the wall in the snall bedroom, uncovering the table that we were trying to clear right down to the wood. And the dust. No spiders, thankfully,  at keast, not that we actually saw.

Our efforts were punctuated by cries of 'I was looking for this the other day' (the LEGO maze kit we built and played with one Christmas) and 'what on earth...?' (Son's GCSE Design and Technology project from mumble mumble years ago).

Four more bags for charity, one bag of rubbish, and several crates of defunct computer bits for electrical recycling. 

(I don't want to even open the door of the other spare bedroom... guess where a lot of stuff got moved to!)

I've finished the Cover Story Stitching for June, and will pack and post it tomorrow. The next stage will be to attach a lining and choose a note book for it. I can't wait!

Music

Bilbo's song, sung by the vocal group Cantabile, on their album Lullabies and Goodnights. 

A favourite song from a favourite album.

Thursday 26th June - overnight rain

We watered the garden yesterday evening,  and so it rained overnight. That's how it goes.

As for today; it's a three-zoom day today; a long piano lesson / coffee / chat zoom for most of the morning. 

While I was on the zoom BB went off for a hair cut - long, long overdue. He hair had got so long  that I cautiously trimmed his fringe/forelock with my embroidery scissors while we were on holiday! He came back from the barber looking transformed; very neat and sharp. 'See at you at Christmastime!' called the barber as BB left...

I don't think this is much of a likeness, but you get the idea.

I was very amused when he said he could hear more clearly without all that hair over his hearing aids!

.....

I've done a bit more Cover Story stitching; just a few letters and numbers to go. Tomorrow should see me finished.

....

We had part 2 of the M and S Chinese Feast for 2 box meal. These is so much in the box that we now save half of it for a second meal later in the week! I added to it with stir fried veg and extra noodles. Delicious. 

....

Another piano lesson zoom this afternoon, then home made soup (carrot, onion and potato) for supper.

In half an hour I've got my lovely lovely church group zoom this evening. There are only five of us, which is a good number for zoom meetings. Once there are more than six it can feel a bit unwieldy. 

.....

Music

Well obviously,  in view of the rain last night,  it has to be the Raindrop Prelude by Chopin.

Wednesday 25th June - losing weight

But not my personal body weight!

It's all a bit convoluted, but in order to be able to bring a sweet little old desk from my father's flat to this house, we need to move the desk from our bedroom into what was our son's room, which means we need to dispose of the small pine table he was using as a desk, which means we need to unearth it from beneath a great stack of stuff that has accumulated since he left nearly 20 years ago... I could go on but it's never-ending....

Clearing space on bookshelves downstairs is part of this process as we also want to replace a small shelving unit with an oriental medicine cabinet.

Procrastination has suddenly got an end-date imposed upon it of 6th July! Urk! 10 day's time!

So, this morning we filled 8 whole bags with our1 books (never fear, son and daughter, we left yours alone) and took them to the charity shop straight away, delaying only to phone ahead to see if they would accept them all. 

This afternoon we filled another 8 bags, this time some books, and various cases etc that had been put aside ready to go, and a canteen of cutlery I had been given by my godmother as part of her decluttering back in 2019. Once again, we went straight to the charity shop again. 

Hurrah! We can at least see the table our son's room again! Our downfall has always been stacking up the stuff to go, but not actually taking it for weeks. (Months, to be truthful) (sometimes years, even).

I know we could sell it online, but this way we are supporting the British Heart Foundation or Cancer Research or whoever. It works for us.

My resolution is always to take 2 bags of stuff to charity shops every month, but hadn't done so this year. I reckon we've smashed the target for the first six months.

Still a long way to go to be ready for 6th July!

Music

Scicilenne by Paradis, with the wonderful Pinchas Zukerman 

Tuesday 24th June - breaking the barrier at last...

 I check my weight most mornings and note it down in my diary. I couldn't do this while I was away, so I shouldn't have been surprised when I stood on the scales on Saturday morning... 'what!' I got off the scales, on again... 'I'm not writing that down!' Sunday,  Monday, same story. Today... not wonderful, but I was prepared to start writing my weight in my diary again. 

I'm only aiming for a very slow rate of weight loss; 100 grams, about three and a bit ounces a week is fine. I'm 'working' if it could be called that, on breaking through the 10 stone barrier, or 140 pounds, or 63kg. I had just done so before we we nt away (62.95kg , so by 50g, or 1.75 ounces). I'm not  sure that the scales can measure that accurately - it's all a bit of a game. 

Years ago I did weight watchers properly, with over 2 stones of 'baby weight' to lose. It took me over a year, following the scheme and aiming for 2 lbs a week (around 900g). I stuck with it, mainly because I was so embarrassed to be paying more per week to weight watchers to lose weight than many people in the world had to buy a week's food for their family. I've still got my tiny little golden key for reaching my target!

My current 'plan' includes some biscuits, some chocolate and some crisps. A little bit of each. So I can't expect rapid loss! But I have been on a very low downward trend for several years now so that will do me fine.

The advantage of writing the weight in my diary is that I can look back to previous years and give myself a pat on the back.

....

I've just slipped out to do some minimal watering. V, my lovely gardener friend, has come round and started to sort out my tatty patio pots, planting up all sorts of delights for me to enjoy. Two areas in particular needed urgent watering,  and there were two full cans in the garden... job done. 

My experience is if we do water the garden, it will rain hard overnight. If we don't, it won't. I'm hoping that I will have fixed it in my favour; I've done a bit of watering so might it rain a bit? Yes? Maybe?

.....

Now watching 'Bake-off, the Professionals'. Teams of professional chefs compete to make perfect French-style patisseries, ruthlessly judged by Benoit and Cherish. 

'Chefs, these are not identical', says Cherish, measuring the connections with her ruler... They make Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood look slapdash and laid-back.

You would think that this would very an odd choice of television viewing for someone who is vaguely trying to keep their weight under control. However I find that although I find the processes and end results impressive,  beautiful, amazing, the cakes themselves are so rich and complex, with so many layers and flavours that on the whole I have no desire to actually eat them!

.....

Music

Shostakovitch waltz from Wind Quintet, Carion Quintet.

This seems somehow familiar, and I love the staging. If I hadn't read the title I would never have thought of it being by Shostakovitch. 

Monday 23rd June - start the week!

I'm starting the week by posting what we had for supper on Saturday evening; this delicious minty pea and potato soup for 4 from the Good Food website;

As usual I just quickly skim read through the recipe, and then made a start, with only a vague idea of quantities. I don't think it can be crucial as our soup came out fine. I tweaked the seasoning with some lemon juice, and we ate some Tesco puff pastry parmesan twists left over from our holiday last week.

Onions and peas from the freezer, mint from the garden and one of the instructions potatoes from the bottom of the fridge.

I feel like Old Mother Hubbard at the moment; every time I go to the fridge to make lunch or supper, I open the door and find it almost bare... there's plenty of food in the freezer though. It's the fresh stuff I've used up. I put in an extra grocery order yesterday and it was delivered earlier this evening, which will meal naking much easier!

I'll make the soup again - especially as it is so quick and I've usually got the ingredients to hand. Meanwhile I'm looking wistfully at pictures of cordless stick blenders...

A few days ago there was a local news item that suggested a hosepipe ban was imminent. It hasn't materialised yet, but I'm sure it won't be long in coming. We've lined up the buckets, and started saving bath water. BB carried 4 buckets downstairs from his last bath.

 I remember from last time that just chucking it out of the window into a large tub below was a complete failure, as well as causing great alarm to an unsuspecting BB in the kitchen below, working with the kitchen door open. Carrying it down buckets is far more successful. But much less fun.

Music

Slow movement from Petite Suite by Gounod. I don't think I know any music by Gounod apart from the Ave Maria.

 This is scored for an interesting combination of 1 flute,  2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and 2 horns

Monday 23rd June - Piano playalong Moonlight 4

 Shipwreck approaching...

This is the first bar of the third line. The 'rock' is the fourth beat, where people with large hands merely stretch the interval of a ninth, from the A with the thumb to the B with the fifth finger.

If you peer closely at the music you will see that A marked with the letters l. h. and fingered 2. The cunning dodge is to take that note with a slick, well- practised move of the lh, abandoning the minim bass note. The lh then nips back to play the E octave at the beginning of the next bar. Try it out a few times until it is inserted into your memory and you ard watching your hand, not the music. Don't panic. Sloth speed.

Practice the rh notes following the fingerings and just leaving a gap where the lh is going to come and help out. Ideally you want to be able to play that without being fixated on the page.

Now gently, carefully, combine the two hands. When it is happening without panic or tears, go back to the beginning of the bar a few times, then a whole bar further back.

The pedal is your friend! It will hold the notes that you have to let go.

This type of rock appears a number of times. I mark them in my music, every single one. If it's the original copy I use pencil so I can erase it later. I like using a photocopy to learn from too, so I can go crazy with coloured pencils and highlighters.

Sunday 22nd June - Praying with the breath

 While we were visiting Launde Abbey on Friday, the last day of our holiday, I bought a little book which I thought might be interesting and helpful;

I had bought the teenager version of this book I was involved with Junior Church and looking for ideas. It was certainly full of interesting ideas, all tested by her son!

I thought I'd share some over the next few Sundays and I encourage you to give them a go.

Praying with the Breath is a golden oldie, and features in many world religions. In the Christian context (says Mranda Threlfall-Holmes) you are not so much trying to empty your mind as to fill it with the presence of God.

You take a short prayer, or line of scripture, or phrase, and repeat it in time to your breathing. The most famous is 'the Jesus Prayer'

As you breathe in    Lord Jesus Christ

As you breathe out   Son of God

As you breathe in   have mercy on me,

As you breathe out   a sinner.

Sometimes I will use Psalm 23; the Lord is my shepherd / I shall not want (meaning 'be in need')

Sometimes I'll just repeat the name of someone who has asked for prayer or is going through a difficult time.

Today I put myself in the situation of becoming very badly out of breath (dashing up the stairs to go to the loo, and not realising that the door had blown shut on my very long trailing oxygen cannula!)  I don't get this breathless very often, but it is scary until I recover, as I know I will within about 5 minutes. As I sat there praying for peace and calm I repeated "this too / will pass". No mention of God, but it was definitely a prayer! Thank heavens God is with me even in the bathroom (slightly embarrassing thought). Oh, and we've fixed things so that door won't slam shut again!

Music

The flute seems a suitable instrument for a blog post on breathing; Spring by Debussy, played by Emmanuel Pahud

Saturday 21st June - hot

 We got a lot done in the garden together this morning but this afternoon... it's just too hot.

I might write more tomorrow morning, before the temperature rises.

Music

Jeu d'eau. Ravel. 

I'm off to get an ice cream out of the freezer.

Too hot.

Saturday 21st June - Piano playalong - Beethoven Moonlight 3

 Here's a very specific way of dealing with the little 'bell - like' motif that starts in the second line.

I've copied the bit, marked up to show the three steps to make it really easy to play; 

Firstly, get the nitty-gritty of the rhythm sorted. At the speed of a sloth, play the octave G sharps, then the 2nd finger C#, then the 3rd finger E, slip in a cheeky little top G# and replay the octave again. Don't worry about exact timing to start with; this is to sort the coordination. My hands are too small to use a 4th finger on the top G# without PAIN! and TENSION! Both of these are no- no words, so I use my 5th finger both times.

Once you've got the order in which your fingers play the notes clear in your mind and muscles, we can think about the rhythm. The quavers are triplets, three notes to each count. Think of a clock face; if you divided it into thirds, the markers would be at 4, 8 and 12.

The 'bell' is a dotted quaver followed by a semiquaver. Looking at our clock, if we divided it into three quarters followed by one quarter, the marker would be at 9.

So at 12, we play an octave, at 4 the C#, at 8 the E and at 9 the top G#. Finally when we're back at 12 we're playing the octave again at the beginning of the next beat.

That's just a visualisation! Don't go crazy watching a clock!

The point is that the triplets carry on in their unhurried way, and the top G# slips in just after the E without causing any fuss. Don't drop it in like chucking a rock into a lake, more like a little bubble rising to the surface. 'Was that a fish rising over there?' as opposed to 'who is throwing stones at us?!'

This is massively quicker to do than explain. I just talk too much.

Now revise the triplets that begin the next bar;

Nearly there;

The burning question is 'can you do the purple bit (first extract) followed by the green bit (second extract) without any fuss and botheration?' Start at sloth speed, right hand only, and work up to playing tempo, keeping it all very casual.

Set up the lh chord, fingers all ready, and just, ever so gently, push them down at the right moment. Red bit below.

You might want to stop now, come back to it over a day or two. You can carry on when you are ready, because it's the same idea for the next section. 

Here's the thing to make it SO MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL; the triplets need to be soft, soft, soft. Make sure your thumb understands this. If you are rowing across the lake, slip the oars in without splashing. Somehow you need to weight the sound so that the bell - 5th finger - gently rings out over the water. 

Start by totally exaggerating the fifth finger - sloth speed, remember - it's tricky because the thumb WILL try to interfere. Think, then play the octave, balancing the sound, before continuing the triplet. Add a few more notes, but only a little at a time. Constantly monitor the sound, monitor for tension, monitor for impatience or getting cross.

Be gentle with yourself, celebrate the successes. If you are  not in the mood go and clean the oven or read a book. Come back later.

This can take intense concentration if it is a new technique. Honestly, digging a ditch is easier physical work. But once you have learned it you will have it forever.

It's real hare and tortoise stuff, and we know who won in that story.

Friday 20th June - travelling on...

 This is in the garden under the apple tree this afternoon;

But this is where we were this morning;

It's Launde Abbey, in what used to be called, and still is by the locals, Rutland. Can you see the 'ha-ha', the sunken ditch, at the end of the lawn? 

The parkland which I blogged about the other day flows on up to the unfenced lane and beyond,  with the sheep and cattle.

At the back is the Chapel, all that remains of the original Priory after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. 

I would have liked to go inside, but it's a Retreat Centre now, and although anyone can wander round the lovely gardens and visit the café, the Chapel is reserved for people booked in for a retreat.

This was the last day of our stay at Hill Farm, in The Cow Shed (cows long gone, I'm glad to say!). It's a working farm with sheep and cattle, and growing the feed for them. For all that it was a 'real', large farm, it was quiet and peaceful with swallows darting everywhere over the yards and barns. 

We planned our stay in consultation with our university friends who live in North Yorks. They were able to drive South to near Lincoln cyesterday (2 hours each way - phew!) while we drove an hour North. It was the only way I could think of getting together, and it worked like a charm.

We visited Launde Abbey today for an hour, and then set off on the three/three and a half / four hour home. Thank heavens for air-conditioning. 

Now, at 7pm, everything's unpacked, we've had a late lunch at 6pm (you read that right!) and it is as though we'd never been away... except for memories, souvenirs, photographs, and the Rambling Rector!

Music

Summer Evening by Delius. I'm not at all familiar with his work...

I've added the YouTube link as there was a little more information in the description. 

Thursday 19th June - a day with friends

 I have been looking forward to today for weeks, months even.

We had breakfast with my cousin, in her gorgeous courtyard garden. She had set out a table with breads, warm croissants, fruit, jams, butter, cheese, cereal, milk, fruit juice, with tea or coffee to drink. 

We caught up on news, and she gave me a couple of books belonging to our grandmother which I'm looking forward to spending time with;

The combined prayer book and hymns is falling apart from use, and full of bookmarks and cards. The other is one of her many books about theology. 

I was charmed to see she had strengthened the dust jacket of the book by gluing it to a piece of Christmas wrapping paper. That does seem to imply that she valued that book.

I also made the acquaintance of the Rambling Rector, a rose that I had met in many novels, but didn't actually know. I have very warned that it is extremely enthusiastic, and very thorny. She cut me some pieces as it is supposed to be very easy to root. It was looking very limp by the time we got back. I trimmed there's and stuck them in water and it soon revived.

We could only stay for an hour or so because we had arranged to meet university friends for lunch at a pub an hour's drive away.

Again, a lovely meeting with people we haven't seen for years but were very close to at university. So much to catch up on. How we've changed, but are essentially the same as we were 50 years ago...

They had found us a cool shady spot in the outside area. Perfect on such a gloriously sunny day.

We talked and talked and talked... 'do you remember that time when...?' and 'whatever happened to...?' and so on.

This is from Carole King's album 'Tapestry', part of the soundtrack of our lives back then.

Wednesday 18th June - Snow in Summer

 Snow-in-Summer is a real thing! Not weather (I hope!) but an attractive little plant. I think I did know that... 

The title of today's post came to me as I was baking in what must have been one of the hottest days of the year so far. I foolishly walked across the paved area in bare feet to get from the sun-trap where I had been sitting to a shadier spot. 'Ow! Ow!' I went with every cautious step!

Earlier in the day I had been doing some stitching to the Cover Story collaboration project that Ang and I are doing together. We're at the penultimate stage of adding our names and the dates, something we have done in our two previous projects. I'm keeping the threads and the material together in an old Christmas shortbreads tin while I'm working on it. Slow progress; one word, or nine letters/numbers at a time is enough, before I lose concentration. 

I've started reading yet another Three Pines / Inspector Gamache whodunit, set in Quebec, near Montreal, where winters are long and spring comes late. This one is 'The Better Man', and these lines were in the opening paragraphs;

"The sky was gray and threatened rain. Or sleet. Ice pellets or snow. The dirt road was covered in slush and mud. There were patches of snow on the sodden grass. Villagers out walking their dogs were clumping around in rubber boots and wrapped in layers of clothing, hoping to keep April away from their skin and out of their bones."

Which I read while sheltering indoors from the midday sun...

So it's not really surprising that my choice of music is another piece from Debussy's ' Children's Corner', called 'The Snow is Dancing'.

Tuesday 17th June - things change, things stay the same

A mammoth update hit my Samsung phone the other day and I'm still tripping over the changes.

 Gemini, the AI thingy, installed itself. No-one asked me if I wanted it! I've discovered how to deactivate it so it didn't constantly keep offering helpful suggestions. Although I did wonder if, like HAL, the computer in the film '2001, a space odyssey' it was object and refuse to allow me to do that...

Various icons and widgets are different too. It took me a few moments to find the calculator thingy; why is changing it to displaying

 + - and = 

an improvement on the previous display of

 + - × ÷ 

Huh sez I. Harrumph. I liked it the way it was. I'll stop now before I start on about the change to my diary display...

.....

This morning we drove along a small road through an idyllic traditional English country scene that, apart from the cars, could have been any time in the last couple of hundred years.

To one side was an old country house backing onto mature trees. In front there was a swathe of lawn bordered by a ha-ha, or sunken fence, so that the occupants could gaze upon an unbroken view of the parkland spreading up the surrounding slopes in every direction. Small groups of cattle, some with calves, and sheep with lambs moved slowly around this large area as they pleased, sheltering from the sun in the shade of the magnificent trees.

We rattled over a cattle grid as we entered, and over another as we left the beautiful grounds.

Just wonderful. 

To celebrate this gentle pastoral scene, here's 'Le Pastor' by Gabriel Grovelez. 

Monday 16th June - slippery days

 Another day slid past without a post... it happens, it keeps happening at the moment...

We were out and about again today, driving along the lanes. In years gone by I've counted the number of Giant Hogweed plants growing along the the verges. I've usually seen at least a dozen locally. It's quite a spectacular plant, but unfortunately the sap is poisonous causing blisters and scarring. So it has gone from being an ornamental plant to bec9ming a noxious weed. If you follow the link to Wikipedia you will find it is quite an interesting plant.

From wikipedia

This year I've only spotted one. I know that strenuous efforts have been made to try an deal with the growing numbers of Giant Hogweed plants, and also the Japanese Knotweed that's using our roads for travelling from one location to another. It looks as though this year they may be winning the battle. 

Music

The Girl from Ipamena.

I heard Suzanne Vega on BBCsounds the other day, and this was one of her choices. I'd forgotten how much I like this song. 

I never listen to the words, it's always the tune, always the melody that matters for me.

Saturday 14th June - the Cotswold Way

 As part of my drive to stay active, I'm walking along the Cotswold Way, a trail that starts in Chipping Campden and finishes in Bath.

I'm doing ok - meeting my target of having at least 2000 steps on my wrist band step counter every day. The garmin app (I keep calling it a fit bit, in the same way we refer to  hoover instead of a vacuum cleaner) translates 2000 steps as a mile. That is, of course, nonsense.

 For a start I have short legs so it would take me many more than 2000 steps to travel that distance. And furthermore the technology cannot tell the difference between playing Scott Joplin or other energetic piano pieces; just watch that Left Hand go!

I also 'get steps' for chopping vegetables (I'm left-handed) and winding wool. 

I used to worry that this was cheating, but, hang on, who makes the rules round here? Me, that's who! So I decided to just go with the total on my wrist thingy and call it an 'activity measuring device'.

So how does 'walking the Cotswold Way' come into things? 

I am motivated to ratchett up to 2000 and more a day - here's a chart of the last week's efforts;

by doing a virtual walk;

I enter my daily distance travelled activity count to the app, and then use the 'yellow man' on the map to see what the scenery looks like. It's a bit boring where I am now, but here's the top of Cleeve Hill from a few days ago. I could never manage to slog up to see this glorious view nowadays, but thanks to doing the virtual trail I can enjoy it all the same.

The pictures are all courtesy of someone  - maybe from Google? - who must have walked the whole trail wearing a camera on his back, a bit like the ones on the google map bars. He's caught his shadow in the picture;

Music

I started learning this once; it was too big and too fast for me. It's a wise man or woman who knows their limitations. 

You can buy pianos with 3/4 size keyboards. I've never tried one, but would love to if I ever got the chance. Most of the technical issues I had were caused my having small hands that just reach an octave - 8 notes. Most men can stretch across 10 notes, and women concert pianists manage 9 if not 10.

(The other technical issues I had were probably due to commitment and practise!)

Piano playalong - Beethoven Moonlight 2

 14th June 2025

Ideas for getting to grips with RH;

Play each group of right hand notes as a chord, to get the feel of the shape. 

Everyone (including me!) grinds to a halt at the beginning of the 4th bar! 

'Urk!', says my brain. Too hard!'. 

I talk to my fingers as though they are scared little kittens or puppies. (Sad, but true). 

Rest your hand on the last chord of bar 3; A, D natural, F sharp. Nothing scary there.

Now talk to your thumb gently, and explain carefully about just shifting up and back to G#. There, that's easy, isn't it. Clever thumb.

Have a little chat with your fingers, and show how 3rd finger in D becomes second finger on C. Yes, yes, I know Beethoven wrote B#, but just 'point and shoot' at the C. You did it!

As for you, 5th finger, you needn't do anything at all.

Practice that move from the old chord to the new chord a few times until you can feel your fingers are comfortable with the idea. Repeat the instructions to the fingers each time until you can 'hear' them saying 'yeah, yeah, we know all that'.

Great! Now approach the next chord in the same careful, gentle, kind, relaxed way. Finger by finger. Working out the individual moves.

 Can you remember the moves without looking at the music? I bet you can! Could you do several triplets one after another without 'falling over'? Without looking at the music? 

Now STOP before your brain overflows! It is vital to STOP adding more stuff into your brain before it gets too full and gets mental indigestion. Come back to it later, an maybe hour, or several hours, later. Don't leave it too long or your learning will seem to have evaporated!

If you can't remember it straight away, well, no problem. Just gently repeat the process and it will come back. Each time you return to a section it will become easier to remember. 

I firmly believe that it is important to avoid introducing aggravation, irritation, and any  tension or fear. Avoid telling yourself off! Don't call yourself an idiot! 

Set the bar low and celebrate every little success, so the learning is deeply infused with happiness 😊 

Left hand;

I find it interesting to notice how satisfying the sequence of notes in the Lh is. 

C#.... B.... A.. F#.. G#.. G#.. C#....

The final note is completely inevitable... if you are interested in such details, the last three notes form a  completely standard IV V I perfect cadence... in time you will probably be able to play that sequence without looking at the music, even without looking at your hands, even while thinking of something completely different like a shopping list or listening out for the kettle to boil...

Have fun!

Piano Playalong

 How long since I did a Piano Playalong post?

There comes a point in a student's progress when it's time for them to leap into the unknown. 

Too many adults had a stultifying piano experience when they never learned to fly free of the lesson material. 

Their teachers would get the next book, and then the pupil would work through every piece in that book, whether they liked them or not, alongside studies and scales, until it was finished. My friends had teachers like that too.

I was lucky; my teacher would teach two or three pieces from a book, and then get me another one. At the time, as an opinionated 12-year-old, I considered this very wasteful,  and promptly taught myself the rest of the pieces. Now, of course, I recognise her cunning plan... I spent a lot of time (when I should have geen learning scales or doing homework) exploring my discarded books. I also loved going through a great stack of music which had belonged to my mother, my aunt, and both my grandmothers. 

Parents, hang on to your child's old piano books! They can be a source of pleasure for years to come!

Anyway, to encourage this student to explore outside the lesson, I sent her this;

from a copy of Beethoven sonatas belonging to my mother, or maybe one of the grandmothers... I said I'd send some more soon.

She worked out that it's the beginning of the Moonlight Sonata.

'So now you could get your own copy', I suggested, 'and not be limited to the extracts I send.'

I could see that this seemed like breaking a rule, stepping outside a boundary... but I think she might order one!

Here's the next installment anyway

Thursday 12th / Friday 13th June - sometimes

 there just aren't enough hours in the day... which is why this post never got any further than the date and the music;

I thought I'd give Stravinsky a go; an extract from Petrushka. Watching the orchestra is hugely enjoyable, but I'm undecided about the music. It's certainly colourful, bright and energetic. Perhaps if I watched the ballet...

The poinsettia that wouldn't die is definitely determined to live;

I have a feeling that I need to do something technical with keeping it in the dark or the light or in the cold or the warm to persuade the leaves - bracts? - to go red at Christmas. Maybe I'll look it up.

We've discovered baked potatoes as an alternative to sandwiches for our evening meal. It makes a change and doesn't take long.

 (We've been having our main meal at lunchtime, and a lighter snack meal at about 6pm for many years now. If, like me, you are prone to reflux overnight, this can make quite a difference)

At suppertime I use small to medium potatoes; I scrub and pierce the skins in the usual way, microwave on high for 6 minutes turning half way through,  and then airfry on 190°C for 20 minutes, turning half way. I follow the same process for large lunchtime potatoes, but microwaving for a total of 8-10 minutes and airfrying for a total of 30 minutes. 

Tonight we had small baked potatoes with a little butter, cold meat and 'picky bits' - tomatoes, cucumber, strawberries, all arranged on a plate.

We ate watching the end of the Raducanu/Zheng tennis match. Zheng won, but she is the Olympic champion, so not a great surprise. 

More music - something entirely different to the Stravinsky; 

Yuja Wang playing the Scarlatti sonata K455 with such amazing delicacy.

Wednesday 11th June - finished another book

 What's to say about today? 

I finished reading 'Lev's Violin by Helena Attlee. I'm not sure how to describe the book. If you are interested in the history of Italian violin making and particularly in the 17th century, how they were made, where the wood comes from, how it was transported down from the alps to Venice and thence to Cremona, how the violins and the music became the fashion all over Europe...

And the consequences of war and looting right up to World War 2 and in Communist Russia...

And all beautifully written and described as a kind of quest by Helena Attlee

Then you would be as fascinated as I was. If not, you will be bored to tears.

If anyone would like to have this copy, let me know in the comments with your address and I'll post it to you. (Obviously I won't publish he comment with your address!). It was a second hand copy, so what they call 'well-read'. It was a Radio 4 book of the week some time ago.

Music

Well, it will have to be something with violins!

Henry Purcell, Rondo from Abdelazar, on original baroque instruments

Tuesday 10th June - home again home again joggerty jog

 Up at six, that's normal for us. (I slept very well in my altered pyjamas; that extra length in the front and back makes Such a difference).

Out of the house at 7.15, that's early for us. J had a routine chest clinic appointment in London for just before 11. Three and a half hours to travel along mere 31 miles? I made it with a scant 5 minutes to spare; BB pulled up outside the hospital door 'quick, quick,' said a porter as he was guiding an ambulance into that space. I leapt out, dragging my oxygen cylinder with me while BB sped off to the preboooked parking space nearby.

They were running an hour late.

Height ho - but you can never tell.

The problem is Putney Hill. It's only about five miles from the top of the hill to the hospital but at that hour of the morning it can take nearly two hours...

Halfway down the hill is an office block with a golden sundial on the wall. The words underneath read

 Time like an ever-Rolling stream

All too true when you are stuck in the traffic  watching the minutes tick away...

There is a church at each end of Putney Bridge. The one on the south bank has a clock and a sundial on the tower with the words

Time and tide wait for no man

Not very comforting in the circumstances!

Once I saw the consultant we had a very useful and encouraging time. I'm doing ok, and it's good to know that the way I manage my pulmonary fibrosis symptoms is on the right lines.

As usual it took over three hours to drive there, and less than an hour and a half to drive home! But it's worth the hassle and expense to have a face to face appointment from time to time  rather than zoom.

Music

More Schuman, more sleepy music; 'Kind in Einschlummern' from Kinderszenen. 

I reckon to sleep well tonight. 

Monday 9th June - Sewing against the clock

 

"                                        ......  I have no spur

 To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps   "

 (Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 7)

Macbeth is plotting to murder Duncan... I have merely maimed a pair of pyjama trousers. If I had just stuck to Ang's instructions on how to add length to the body I'm sure things would have gone reasonably well. Apart from having to mend a couple of places where I was forced to cut into the fabric to separate the elastic from the waistband. The original machinists were obviously determined to make the seams very secure.

No, where my vaulting ambition overleapt itself was in deciding to add pockets at the same time. If I'd stuck to patch pockets it still might have been OK.

If I wasn't wanting to wear them tonight...

If I hadn't needed to reuse the elastic because I cannot find the new packet of elastic anywhere...

If I hadn't put off beginning the alteration until yesterday morning...

I spent the whole of yesterday snipping and snipping and snipping, and managed to open out the waistband and pin on a strip to extend the body. Also in searching for the new elastic. 

I've spent the whole of today in pinning ang pressing and sewing and bodging 'making it work'. 

I'm two days older and two days wiser and tonight I'll be wearing clean pyjamas. With pockets.

If you are of a nervous disposition look away now;

The waistband showing the new facing  

One pocket with a mended 

The other pocket; I cut away too much so had to patch it back on again. 

I don't really care about all the botches and repairs; I've learned a lot and they are only pyjamas!

Music 

now that I've finished and the pyjamas are ready for bedtime, I'm ready to relax...

Schuman,  'des Abends' played by Daniel Baramboim.

Ahhhhhh...

I 

Sunday 8th June - Pentecost

 Pentecost, 50 days after Easter ('49, actually' she said in the reflection, but I have resisted the urge to count for myself), us when we celebrate the day the Holy Spirit came like tongues of fire resting on the disciples's head, and they all flooded into the streets speaking in different languages. 

That must have been an extraordinary sight and sound. 

The Holy Spirit is sometimes described as the Breath of Life.

The Collect for Purity is said at the beginning of the Communion Service;

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name: through Christ our Lord. Amen

I've always loved the phrase 'by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit', with both meanings of the word inspiration; of creating new ideas and also breathing in.

(I was secretly amused when a doctor listening to my chest when I was unwell noted that I had an 'inspirational wheeze')

And here's a favourite, and very ancient hymn 

Saturday 7th June - this and that

Decluttering - there are some truly weird 'methods' put there;

I culled this little list from a magazine article a week or so ago;

People in glass houses (me) shouldn't throw stones, and to be fair I've tried x number of things a day for a week/month, and x number of books from every bookshelf - or nearly every bookshelf  - or created a kind of scavenger hunt.

In the end it boils down to just getting on with it. We are doing a huge exercise in 'letting go of  things' as we clear my parent's flat. I began to learn this lesson when clearing my godmother's house at the very beginning of 2020; just because something was precious and meaningful for her, in her 94 years of life, didn't automatically mean it had to be precious and meaningful for me. 

I'm hanging on to things which I treasure for my childhood memories, but I'm not sure that the mug from my grandmother's cupboard has any relevance for my own children, who never met her anyway. 

.....

Oddly enough it's programmes like 'Flog-it' that have been helpful. 

'Why are you selling your grandmother's bracelet, given to her by her husband on their wedding day?' he asks.

'I never wear it, and someone else might like it instead of just leaving it in a box in a drawer' she says.

That sounds like good sense.

.....

It must be some kind of cosmic universal rule, that although you have almost every size of drill bit, the one you need is missing. I expect it is in the same place as the blue food storage box which matches the stray lid in the 'tupperware' bag.

......

Music; 

I mainly listened to classical music all through my youth and later; I must have been the only girl at my school who didn't watch Yop of the Pops every week. 

I'm aware of the songs of the 70s, 80s, 90s in a vague, foggy way. My little radio was permanently tuned to Radio 3. 

But there were a few exceptions when I got to university; Simon and Garfunkel, Carol King, Leonard Cohen and Ralph McTell. I loved RMcT's story telling, and his gentle voice, and lovely guitar playing. Here's one of my favourites, called Barges.

When the children were young, about 7 and 8, I used to gather up a flask of coffee, rug and book for me, snacks, drinks and an empty margarine tub each for the children and set up camp by the stream that goes through the little woodland behind the houses. We'd find a bit where it was fairly broad and shallow - there well some dangerously deep pools further along, and spend a couple of peaceful hours in the Summer holiday afternoons. 

Friday 6th June - delivering destruction...

I googled 'how to get rid of blackfly'; we had everything needed and so BB set to work. Time will tell.

The recipe; I decided that a dollop of sunflower of oil (around a tablespoon) and a squeeze of washing up liquid (about a teaspoon) in an empty 750ml spray bottle was a reasonably close approximation, as I had no wish to make up a little of the washing up liquid/sunflower oil combination and then take 10ml and dilute it...

As I said, time will tell. (I'm wondering if I washed out the spray cleaner from the bottle first)

My last two bread machine loaves looked tired and wrinkly. On looking at the yeast and flour I realised that they were all pretty past it to a greater or lesser degree. So I added yeast and bread flour to my grocery order.

What a difference! I'm looking forward to cutting into today's loaf.

'May' tree pictures, okay, a week late. The last week of May was busy.

The great oak, and little apple tree, at the bottom of the garden. The apple boughs are so weighed down by apples they touch the ground. 

This is how my portion control works; snippets snip!

BB remains skinny whatever he eats, whereas I  - well, I clearly have a very efficient metabolism which extracts every calorie from everything I eat.

So I divide everything unequally... especially cake, snacks, biscuits and croissants!

Music

The Raindrop Prelude by Chopin seems another weather appropriate choice...

Thursday 5th June - the ponisettia that

that wants to live;

I've killed many a poinsettia in my time. Sometimes I've had what looks like a whole battalion of them lined up on parade at the end of the autumn term; poinsettias, biscuits and chocolates were favourite 'teacher presents' (and I much preferred them to bath bombs, soaps and scented candles).

One by one the red leaves (bracts?) drop off...

This was one of the tiny weeny ones in a tiny weeny pot, and it stood no chance. 

All that was left was a stick. The pot got left on a windsill pending clearing up. Last week I was about to throw it out, when I noticed the merest possibility of growth on it. Someone, maybe me, must have absent-mindedly watered it from time to time.

Now it has tiny leaves! Who knows, this might be 'the one that survived'.

Knitting has happened. I'm going to name the cowl 'taking the rough with the smooth'. Or 'as you like it'.

It's a sort of mindless knitting - for zoning out - for calm, as an alternative to free cell. As opposed to a more complex pattern requiring concentration and accuracy,  where mistakes will spoil the final effect.

Music

Jardins sous la pluie, by Debussy. An obvious choice, considering the weather today.

I listened to maybe 10 versions before choosing this one. Some were too loud, some too spiky. Older recordings tended to be awash with too much pedal...

 I spent a great half term teaching impression in music to a year 5/6 class. We'd done a lot on using instruments expressively, and creating geaphic scores, so they were ready for the challenge. First we listened to extracts of this piece, noticing where fragments of melody emerge from the overall texture, like half-seen summerhouses or statues, and looked at pictures which were impressionist rather than exact drawings. 

The next week, they came in to find the classroom set up for watercolour painting! The task was to create an impression of the music using watercolours - for example creating a pale wet background wash, and then adding stronger colours to suggest trees, flowers, buildings seen through the rain.

Once the pictures were dry, they used them as graphic scores to compose their own 'jardins sous la pluie', working in small groups and combining their ideas. It was such  fun, and the children really enjoyed the whole process and treated the whole topic with great imagination and thoughtfulness.