Wednesday 10th December - head in sand mode

Tra-la-la - I've got my fingers in my ears and I'm not listening - what's that? Only two weeks until Christmas? Why that's a WHOLE FORTNIGHT - plenty of time....

We were out and about this morning; off to my father's flat to meet someone who was coming to to the energy survey thingy certificate we need as part of the wadge of paperwork for selling  property. As I was about to get into the car I stopped to take a photograph of this moth;

 

The markings are so intricate and pretty. Although not much use as camouflage against the window!  I hoped it would fly away as we moved off.

The survey didn't take long, it was a lovely morning and so we went off for a little drive to charge up the car battery and visited a Country Store - oh joy! It was the sort of shop where you could by pet food, horse food, chicken food, hunting shooting fishing farming clothes, and all sorts of strange things to do with small farming machinery and bits of hardware. 

Near the front were several aisles full of farm foods, and several aisles full of Christmas jams, biscuits, chutneys, sweets - my eyes were on stalks!

We came away with biscuits, eggs, chocolates, and what I really wanted to buy; a beanie hat with a torch.

It's for a Christmas present for Vicky, my gardener (she doesn't read this blog). An elderly friend put me on to them; she said her son and grandsons had them for working with the sheep, and she bought one for herself for when she goes out at night. The number of times I've watched Vicky carry on digging and delving long past dusk...

RandonThoughts commented about the Maddy Prior recording of 'the Angel Gabriel' carol; as a contrast to Voces8, here it is.

I used to have a lot of fun with the infant classes with this CD; we used to make up circle dances and the like in the last few weeks of the Autumn Term. 

I played their Gaudate to one very difficult class. Well, it was an easy class really, except for one 6-going-on-16 boy, let's call him Chas. He was the youngest of five boys but several years. The teachers had endured the previous four and their verdict was none of the men in that family had any respect for women!

We listened to the music, and I asked for their impressions and comments. To add some movement, I suggested the children choose whether to stand still when the men sang and stand still when Maddy sang, or vice versa.

We did that once, and then Chas took charge. He had organised all the boys 'you're the army', lining them up in pairs and instructing them to march round the room when the men sang, and then told the girls to dance when the woman sings. 'Right, let's be having the music, Miss'. 

And that as one happy class, content to be slotted into their stereotypes, which I watched fascinated. And relieved; call me a chicken if you like, but one had to be feeling strong to deal with Chas at the end of the school day, if Chas wasn't in the mood. Strength is something most teachers are fast running out of at the end of December!

Hard to think this track was released 50 years ago....

   

Tuesday 9th December - a flashmob carol

 Scanning through my blog feeds this morning I came across this fabulous flashmob Christmas carol, thanks to ThatBritishWoman

Be ready for an overdose of cute, and maybe have a tissue ready? There's something about a flashmob that always makes me cry...

What a lovely way to start the day.

In the afternoon we met an agent for a local auction house at my father’s house. I had really contacted them for advice on a painting of my mother, which is ENORMOUS. I really don't wantvto part with it, but we can't fit it into our house, it's over 1.5m long and tall! 

I didn't expect them to send someone round, because I didn't think there was anything valuable or worth his attention. (And I was right!). He didn't seem to mind coming out, had a quick look round, and made some helpful suggestions regarding trimming the portrait. I think we might be able to find somewhere in our house for the reduced portrait. It's sad to chop it about but we live in a small semi. To borrow a phrase, we need to cut our pictures to fit our walls!

As I was getting out of the car, I noticed a tangle of old man's beard, leaves and berries against the wall nearby. It seemed to glow through the dullness of the afternoon light.

Monday 8th December - Speculaas again

 

One of my birthday presents this year was a little biscuit stamp from the Søstrene Grene shop that opened in our town earlier this year. 

They come in different patterns, mine is the middle one. I made the Nigella Speculaas recipe, which involves naking up your own spice mix first... I need to buy ground cardamom and allspice to make it properly, but I substituted mixed spice which included both of them.

I was pleasantly surprised that the stamp worked so well. The white dust on the biscuits is excess flour, I used less in later batches. The biscuits came out well too. 

Speculaas (the Dutch version, Speculoos is a little different and comes from Belgium) is one of the flavours that means 'Christmas' to me.

I know what's going to happen; I shall carry on moseying along thinking 'Christmas is ages away, plenty of time yet' and then all of a sudden it will be upon us and I will be posting my Christmas cards on Boxing Day... it has been known. For several years I used to alternate between starting at the back and the front of the address book so at least people received cards every other year.

Voces8 again; 'the Angel Gabriel to Mary Came'

I'd never heard this carol until I was about sixteen and went to a boarding school. I l9ved it at once.

Sunday 7th December - 2nd Sunday of Advent; Peace

The second candle on my Advent wreath;

And voces8 singing these verses to the tune Finlandia;

 TEXT

Vv1&2 by Lloyd Stone, v.3 Blake Morgan

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is,

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating,

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

*This is my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

So let us raise this melody together,

Beneath the stars that guide us through the night;

If we choose love, each storm we’ll learn to weather,

Until true peace and harmony we find,

This is our song, a hymn we raise together;

A dream of peace, uniting humankind.

*modified from Stone’s original poetry

Back in the days when I used to lead the 5-8 year olds in Junior Church, the activities I embarked upon occasionally (often) had unforseen (completely foreseeable) consequences. 

I think one of my most conspicuous one was based on the words of the book of Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4;

He will judge between the nations
    and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war any more.

I had the bright (stupid) idea that we would all make swords from rolled up newspapers and then turn them into spades to illustrate the verse. Most of the children (boys) never got beyond the sword construction phase and then set about challenging each other to sword fights, which continued, at an admittedly reduced volume, as we went back into the church...

John 14;27 would have been a safer verse to teach them;

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Saturday 6th December - New day! New me!

 I don't know whether it was the camomile and lavender tea or the relief at having resolved a difficult problem, but I slept in for two hours this morning and woke full of vim and vigour. A new and strange sensation...

I think I'm in agreement with Peter Rabbit about camomile tea, but if it helps me get a good night's sleep I'll give a go.

I came across an advertisement for books by the foot, and books by the metre today;

I was amused you could choose by colour, binding (leather, vintage, orange spined penguins) etc. Not cheap! I wondered what the house clearance people were going to do with all the old books and paperbacks in my father's flat. 

We've been through them several times and taken out the ones we want to keep so letting them won't cause any twinges of regret. They say that they everything the least bit saleable goes to the giant boot fair at the Brighton Racecourse. Or to charity. They try to avoid landfill except as a last resort. There are a couple in this area which set out to be low-waste clearance companies. 

Anyway, seeing that books-by-the-metre advertisement sent me down a rabbit-hole tracking down the phrase 'books do furnish a room'.

It's very true. I loved seeing books in pubs, and was forever browsing them like a library when we there for a meal or a coffee. I have been know to ask if I could take one away to finish reading it.

This book is about the tenth in the series 'Dance to the Music of Time' by Anthony Powell. I haven't read this series, maybe I should have a look. They have such beautiful titles.

I was been listening to Handel's Messiah; the opening song, 'Comfort ye' is just perfect. This is the same recording as the one I've got.

Philip Langridge is the tenor with Sir Nevill Marriner and St Martins in the Fields choir and orchestra.

Friday 5th December - 2By2 Stripy stitching

 Here's Ang's November 2By2 stitching; I've taken a photo of what she sent with the patch;

It is lovely, and I think the morse code, which is commemorating her mother's wartime work at Bletchley Park, is a very clever and effective touch. 

This is a short post. I'm feeling all in. For various reasons I've had a tiring Autumn, and for once I'm really looking forward to Winter now that the worst of various major (for me!) undertakings have been undertook, if you get my meaning.

Early night beckons... I'm off to make a cup of the 'night-time' blend herbal tea.

Cantabile sings Hushabye Mountain from 'Chitty chitty bang bang'