Die Frauenkirche, Dresden.

I found this videoclip on Youtube,  I don't know who wrote the music but it is wonderful, sounds to me like my friend JS Bach.

Ashes and Diamonds, Dresden and Coventry.

Die Frauenkirche, Dresden



Coventry Cathderal

 This morning I finished my story about the bus journey from Devizes to Avebury and will post it off to the the competition organisers for approval.  I hope to receive my  prize money soon, a useful addition to the cash I need for my visit to Timmerlah this year.  I will also received a copy of the book when it is published.

A new project begins today, my Power Point Presentation for the U3A about Coventry and Dresden, twinned cities with a tragic history.  Both Cathedrals were completely destroyed during the last war, both are now rebuilt and from the ashes have arisen two diamonds.  I shall visit Dresden for a few days this June and hopefully attend some concerts in the beautifully restored Baroque Church.  The mighty Cross that adorns the dome was made by craftsmen in Britain and was given as a gift to Dresden, an offering of goodwill and reconciliation.  I will not be able to stop crying when I visit this church.

Spring Flowers.

A selection here of spring's  wonderment, tulips, here growing in Berlin last year, snowdrops from Quaker's Walk and Crocuses from Calne.  Today I visit beautiful Bath, there the daffodils will be blooming and the parks and open spaces will look wonderful, even though the weather is dull and the sun shows not her face.

"This Soiled World" words from "Dona Nobis Pacem" by Ralf Vaughan Williams.

Now I must respect Ralf Vaughan Williams.   Last night "Marlborough College Choral Society" gave its annual spring concert and words fail me!!  It was wonderful!  The singing, the soloists, the timpani, the full orchestra, in fact everything was wonderful, I did not want the last bar of music to finish.   

The "Dona Nobis Pacem" is not an easy to sing.  It is written to the words of Walt Whitman's poems, et al and is about the sadness of war, death, destruction and every mother's son.  It has three words that leave themselves indelibally marked upon your mind,  "This Soiled World."  Singing this work was an emotional experience, not my usual love affair.   It was a journey through sadness, loss and man's inhumanity to man.   My mind is broadened.

The videoclip shows the orchestra tuning up and the choir settling into place.

A Bus Journey on the 49 from Devizes to Avebury



Me and Avebury Monolith.

 I recently won a writing competition, a competition to describe a favourite bus journey and, much to my surprise, my piece of writing won an entry into a travel guide to be published later this year.  I chose to write about the journey from Devizes to Avebury Stone Circle on the Trans Wilts Express, TWE 49 bus, a shiny doubledecker with much prized upperdeck front seats, that afford magnificent views of the rolling chalk downland of Pewsey Vale and the Marlborough Downs.

There is so much of historical interest to see on this journey, the Roundway Down English Civil War battle site, the Millenium White Horse, facing uncharacteristically right for a change, (most chalk horses face left,) Bell Barrows, the Lansdowne Monument, Silbury Hill and prized above all, the Avebury Stone Circle and Stone Avenue.  What a journey, can any other bus ride in the UK take you through so much prehistory and a World Heritage Site?  Let me know if you know of one.

Tiger and Tugger, The Calne Cats.



Tugger hiding under the table.



Tiger and his rat.


I have just spent the weekend cat sitting in Calne with affectionate Tiger and his brother, superior Tugger.  They are both very gentle cats and love me dearly, mainly because I feed them and in the evening play the, "Let's toss the dead rat into the air and chase it around the room" game.  Tiger is by far the best player, he seems to have more energy and Tugger prefers to sit under the table and watch the game from his superior standpoint. 
Mummy Mary and Daddy David return home today from a weekend away in Norfolk.

A Very Silly Squirrel Videoclip.

This videoclip started as a sensible idea and ended as a very silly piece of work!  I wanted to show everyone the wonderful network of cycleways that I intend using when living in Timmerlah.  I can cycle into Braunschweig, a distance of about four miles,  cycling will save me money and help keep my body in trim.  I used a squirrel ended pen as a pointer and the clip became so funny, that I couldn't stop laughing.

Hillworth Park and Bird Song.

This short videoclip shows Hillworth Park in Devizes, a park that is, at the moment,  undergoing extensive improvements.  The spring flowers are just coming into bloom and the birds are singing away in the background.   

Snapshot Stories. my attempts at Creative Writing.

This month's theme at our Creative Writing group is to write a short story woven around a photograph that each of us selected at ramdom.  I chose the attached photo, a quintessentially English scene of a stone cottage, complete with a wonderful garden of delias, roses and of plants climbing over the walls.  An upstairs window is open.........  I have an idea for the story, something romantic about a chance meeting between two people, one inside the house looking out of the open window to see, for the first time, the man of her dreams, ahhhhhhh!

My story must be finished by Monday afternoon, it is now the Sunday morning before, so I feel that today will be a "Nose to the Grindstone, Creative Writing Allday Sort of Day."

I Was Glad - Sir Hubert Parry

This is one of three pieces I am singing with Marlborough College Choral Society in our concert on Sunday, March 27th.  It is as English as English can be, the music, the occasion, Westminster Abbey, everything is quintessentially English.

Spring is Coming at Long Last.

Celia and Pippin in Quaker's Walk

I spent Tuesday afternoon in Quaker's Walk with assorted dog walkers, Celia and "Pippin" the poodle.  What a warm hearted, joyous little soul is Pippen, overflowing with his eight months of doggy life.   Celia gave me a brief introduction to the vagaries of dog walking, the fear of confrontation, the not knowing that the huge Alsatian bounding towards us only wants to lick us to death and that the tiny furball on the end of a long, pink bejewelled lead is, in fact a dog and not a hamster.

A chilly breeze was always present around our ears, but the snowdrops and daffodils are making an appearance in spite of the coldness.  What bold little flowers are snowdrops (die Schneeglöckchen,) the word sounds better in German.   I arrived home at 4pm for a cuppa, feeling slightly wind burnt on the cheeks and with cold feet.

In Heaven with Wolfi (my man of the moment) and his Great Mass in C Minor.

My Man Wolfi

Now it's "Come back down to Earth time."  Our performance was wonderful, we sang as angels in the Choir of the magnificent 13th century Church of St Mary, against a backdrop of illuminated Norman arches and decorated Early English capitals. Our accompanists were a string quartet, the church organ and the soloists, a sparkling soprano, an alto, a tenor and a resonant bass who all sang with energy.  This was a "Scratch" performance and with only four rehearsals, we were able to perform the Mass with great attack, the only way this work can be sung.  Thank you my Austrian friend for writing such a dramatic masterpiece.

Today will be quiet, I must do some shopping and live life on planet Earth again instead of in Heaven.  Right I need 6 eggs, milk, bread, cheese (Mondseer, made in Saltzburg) and ahhh what shall I have for supper tonight Wolfi?

Mozart: Qui tollis (Mass in C minor, K427)

Just have a listen to this wonderful music, I love the contrast in the sound, the texture of the music, well I just love it.  The singers have no scores, singing out into the audience instead of from a score always improves a performance.  Wolfi Amadeus Mozart I love you to bits.

Two Choirs/Music/Singing/My Man Wolfi Mozart.

Hiding behind my score.

I have to sing (shame about my voice) but without singing and music I am a lost soul, (well not quite)  This year at Marlborough College Choral Society we are singing Ralf Vaughan Williams, "Dona Nobis Pacem" a dramatic work describing the threatening mood of war in Europe in 1936.  I do like a melody in my music and this piece, by its very nature, has no melody.  With an orchestra and soloists we will be "alright on the night" and will sing well, (thank goodness) I must persevere with the music, it is good for my soul, (so I am led to believe)

This Sunday I have another two practices with the "White Horse Opera" singing Mozart's "Great Mass in C Minor," with our concert in the evening.   Now this work has  a melody, so Wolfi and I are getting on very well at the moment,  (really very well indeed)  My favourite excerpt is the "Qui tollis."  Mozart's life was fragmenting when he wrote this Mass, and this excerpt particulary reflects his tragic mood, (never mind Wolfi, I will always love you)

Devizes Stone and "Pavementite"

The picture to the left shows Oolithic Limestone, you are not watching paint dry, but viewing, if you look very carefully, little pieces of shell, sand and shingle laid down millions of years ago on some prehistoric beach.  Over the millennia and with compression, this sea bed has formed itself into a usable building material, here used to construct a 16th century house in St John's Churchyard.



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These photos come from our Tuesday Geology walk around Devizes and oh how interesting it was.  My walks around town will never be the same.  What I thought was just another bit of old pavement (Pavementite) turns out to be Sarsen Stone and many of the shopfronts are faced with polished Granite, not an imitation fascia mass produced in China!   "Burton the Tailors" used polished Granite as a shopfront fascia on all their shops and it became known in geological circles as "Burtonite."  I learnt something new on Tuesday!