Saturday 4th April - an in-between day

The day between Good Friday (sad, solemn, subdued) and Easter Sunday (joyful, laughing, exuberant) seems neither one thing nor another.

So I've been doing a bit of this (sewing)  and that (reading) and the other (making a crockpot of soup, and a loaf of bread). In-between activities. 

And all the time eyeing up the one Lindt mini egg left from last weekend, which I decided to keep until Easter. It's 8pm, I only have to hold out for 4 more hours.

Yesterday I caught the last bit of The Sound of Music, from when the family sings 'Goodbye, Farewell' at the competition and then escape. I don't think I've watched it for at least 10 years. I remember we were taken to see it in London on a school trip when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I was at a convent prep school, and I think I realised even then that the nuns who lead the trip were buzzing with excitement. We had to wear our summer dresses, white ankle socks, blazers, straw hats and white gloves.

Today this little clip caught my eye;

They dance so beautifully.

Our family used to occasionally holiday in Austria with an Austrian family, friends of my parents. Their children were the same age as us and they all spoke very good English. The children, teenagers by now, all learned the traditional dances (waltz, landler, etc) at school, as they were expected to dance them at the school end of year prom, clearly a much more formal occasion than ours.

Friday 3rd April - Good Friday

 It's raining, somehow appropriate for the mood of today. 

Bernard Daddi (14th Century). Mary sits to one side, exhausted, John on the other, watching her. Jesus is no longer here; his body is just a grey husk. 

Thank heavens, thank God, for 'spoilers' as they are called; we know, as they do not, that this is not the end, but the gateway to the beginning. 

This is one of the pictures the Patrick Bringley discusses in 'All the Beauty in the World'.

Tenebrae singing 'Crucifixus' by Antonio Lotti (1687 - 1740) conducted by Nigel Short, in the Sainte-Chapelle, Paris.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis;

sub Pontio Pilato passus,

et sepultus est. 

He was also crucified for us;

under Pontius Pilate, he suffered

and was buried. 

From the Nicene Creed

Thursday 2nd April - Maundy Thursday

 It's been a long day today; a whole series of quite tiring (for me) activities.

Nothing major - going out for coffee, browsing for kitchens...

but I'm off for an early night.

Here are Yo-Yo Ma and Kathleen Stott. I love the way he makes his cello sing so gently, as though the notes are just floating like bubbles.

Sleep well!

Wednesday 1st April - Properly Spring

Still too cold to sit out today, unless you are swathed in hat, coat and scarf. Which I wasn't,  so I didn't.  But I  did stick my nose out of doors for a few minutes to see what I could see. 

Lilac in leaf, wallflowers almost about to flower, and my peony is already flowering, rather recklessly. I thought they didn't come out until later. I can't see the flower though, because it is completely hidden by a clump of tall vigorous daffodils.

I've been reading 'The Violin Maker's Secret' by Evie Woods.

 How would I catergorize it? There's the backstory revealed as the book progresses, tragic romance, passion for music, and the present day romance/thriller, and the whole thing shot through with a kind of magic.

It was one of the options suggested (not by me) for the Book Club. I'm not sure if all the group would gave liked it; it's what I think of as an easy, light-weight book. Fine by me - I enjoy this kind of easy reading as a contrast to weightier tomes. I do like a happy ending. 

....

Here's some 'light-weight' music; Anitra's Tanz from Grieg's 'Peer Gynt' Suite. This has always seemed to me to be as light as air...

Tuesday 31st March - More Donkey Poems

 The Priere du Petit Ane (in English!) was where I began when I was looking for for yesterday's poem. I've got an old copy of Runer Godden's English transactions, but here's the original French as well. My French is nowhere near good enough to read it without the help of the English version. 

Priere du Petit Ane / The Prayer of the Donkey by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold

Mon Dieu, qui m’avez cree

pour que je marche sur la route

toujours,

et que je porte de lourds fardeaux

toujours,

et que je sois battu,

toujours!

Donnez-moi beaucoup de courage et de douceur.

Faites qu’un jour on me comprenne

et que je n’aie plus envie de pleurer,

parce que je m’exprime mal

et qu’on se moque de moi.

Faites que je trouve un beau chardon

et qu’on me laisse le temps de le cueillir.

Faites que je rejoigne un jour

mon petit frere de la Creche.

O God, who made me

to trudge along the road

always,

to carry heavy loads

always,

and to be beaten

always!

Give me great courage and gentleness.

One day let somebody understand me –

that I may no longer want to weep

because I can never say what I mean

and they make fun of me.

Let me find a juicy thistle –

and make them give me time to pick it.

And, Lord, one day, let me find again

my little brother of the Christmas crib.

Amen.

From Prayers from the Ark by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, translated by Rumer Godden.

I downloaded a cheap kindle book of the King James Bible which is in French/English, the verses repeated in both languages, in the hope that it might inspire me to improve my French. I do sometimes go back to it.

Beth, in the comments yesterday introduced me to this poem;

THE POET THINKS ABOUT THE DONKEY -Mary Oliver

On the outskirts of Jerusalem

the donkey waited.

Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,

he stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,

leap with delight!

How doves, released from their cages,

clatter away, splashed with sunlight.

But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited.

Then he let himself be led away.

Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!

And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.

Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.

I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him,

as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.

There is plenty to think about in both poems.

Meanwhile,  I have dared to reach for 

I think, with the garden full of daffodils and tulips, and the forget-me-nots about to flower, we can say Spring is here!

Monday 30th March - what has happened to Hot Cross Buns?

 I was looking to add hot cross buns to my ocado order; these are the varieties that came up;

Red Velvet, Luxury Fruited, Tiramisu, Extremely Lemony Curd Filled, Granny Smith Apple, Extremely Cheesy, Extremely Chocolatey,

I'm pretty sure BB came home with a Millionaire caramel chocolate and fudge version a week or so ago. I tried one, against my better judgement, and left the rest for him! I bought some Luxury Fruited hot cross buns last week, toooooo sweet for my taste.

So I was amused to hear this raised as a topic in the latest episode of the radio programme 'The Kitchen Cabinet' (available on BBCsounds). The panel were unanimous in their outrage at all these flavoured breads masquerading as hot cross buns s. I'm with them every step of the way.

I've ordered ocado hot cross buns with no fancy description on the packet, and as a backup some Fruited tea cakes. The latter are excellent toasted and turned into cheese sandwiches cheddar for BB, brie for me.

And please, please save me from salted caramel in my chocolate Easter Egg!

Time for some calm...

Ascanoi Trombetti (1544 - 1590) Diliguam te Domine, performed by the Royal Wind Music