In the audience

Isn’t it strange how, after many months of having no reason to visit Birmingham at all, we find ourselves there again, just over a week since our last visit?  Though we used to be here frequently to enjoy symphony concerts with the CBSO, we found the programmes were getting samey and no longer offered the same thrill as we’d come to enjoy.  We decided to give it a rest for a while but when a flyer arrived advertising tonight’s programme, my hero couldn’t resist and snagged two of the few remaining tickets for Friday night.

We love the Silent Heroes series, accompanied by live orchestra playing Carl Davis’ score and conducted by the man himself.  Tonight, it was the turn of Buster Keaton with The Playhouse on first, followed by The General.

The General

Though the Playhouse was undoubtedly clever with Buster Keaton playing all eight roles at once, it was The General which really made our evening.  The stunts were amazing, the plot was so clever and this particular film deserves its reputation as an all time classic, not only keeping us on the edge of our seats throughout but inducing gasps from the audience at frequent intervals!

Clearly, we’re not alone in enjoying these performances, for the body of Symphony Hall was full by the time the programme began, with only the balcony seats with restricted view empty.  We’ll look forward to the next one – another Charlie Chaplin classic next year.

We joined a different audience last night.  Well, in fact, we joined several audiences around the world including the folks in the picture above, who were at the Met in New York to see Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Florez sing La Cerenentola.

We were in Cheltenham and once again, the “live from the Met” performance was a stunner.  Though we knew bits of the opera, we’d never seen it live before and to watch Angelina (Joyce DiDonato) sing her final aria with as much energy as she sang her first was truly remarkable.

One of the aspects of these performances we particularly enjoy is the sneaky peeks behind the scenes.  We didn’t see anything from this angle though, and although I’d noticed the black box in the centre front of stage, I didn’t give it a great deal of thought.   But today, whilst looking for a link to the production, I came across this interesting article which sheds new light on that box.

After two late nights in a row, we’re at home today, resolving a few technical challenges.  More about that to come

The knitting mojo

During a conversation with our friends last week, one of whom is an expert knitter, I heard my hero wax lyrical about his hand knitted socks.  I knew that a couple of pairs had gone to the great sock graveyard in the sky recently and thought to myself that it is time that I replaced them.  So, yesterday, on a quiet afternoon here, I got out the knitting bag to gather the ingredients.

The knitting bag is an altogether different thing from the crochet bag, though I could see a sneaky knitting needle had found its way into the wrong place and retrieved it whilst I was on the case.

Oh my goodness.  Jordi, I might need your knowledge here, since these two scraps of weird knitting were amongst the first bits to be pulled from the knitting bag.  I have no idea…

Next came the “so far” of a long cowl in an interesting stitch, together with another eight balls of the same lovely yarn.  I really must have wanted to knit this if I bought so many balls of what must have been quite pricy Debbie Bliss yarn but you know, I can’t remember what it is or where it came from and unusually for me, there’s no pattern in the bag. 

I put it into the bag and decided to leave it for another day.  Yes, in a few years time it could feature in an exhibition like the one I visited in Cirencester recently!

Oooh, look, another of those funny shapes!  (I think they were knitted roses which were supposed to be stitched onto a scarf I knitted years ago, but I thought better of it and took them off)

I found three crochet motifs in the wrong bag. Clearly, my filing system isn’t what it used to be.

There was a part finished mini sock.  why?

Another part finished mini sock – but I know why this one was done, because it’s one of the weirdly shaped designs by Cat Bordhi and I needed to work it out before knitting the full sized version.

Getting nearer to the bottom, I found a part finished piece of lace knitting in a magenta linen yarn which I recognised to be Swedish because it’s on the needles I bought in Umea.

It’s not lace any more.

All that remained at the bottom of the bag were a few odds and ends of yarn, a pot of beads and a few stitch markers which had escaped their box.

One extremely large button, and…

what I’d been looking for all along!  Though I work from a basic sock pattern I have made some changes to perfect the fit for my hero’s foot and I knew these notes had to be somewhere.

Phew.

The knitting mojo is back in the building.

Checking the details

We hadn’t a clue what to look for when picking a possible winner.  All of those beautiful horses were groomed and in tip top shape so perusing the race card statistics was our only way to evaluate the runners and riders at the Cheltenham Hunter Chase meeting the other evening.

Thankfully, we had a great view of the whole course and the large screens, because way out there in the distance, our chosen ones were doing their best over three or four miles.

Though sometimes, it all ended in a sulky walk back, long before the race ended.

Perhaps the best part was the people watching.  Not really our tribe, we decided, but it was fun to be part of it all for a few hours, that’s for sure.

Our friends had never seen so much tweed!

It was a lovely evening and thankfully, the rain held off, so our Barbours (and umbrellas) weren’t needed!

Sadly, the fine weather didn’t last but happy days don’t depend on sunshine and Blenheim was dry and warm inside!

A little inspiration for new interiors, perhaps?

 

Not to mention a few hedge clipping ideas.

We couldn’t drive straight past Bicester Village without a quick run around, though the idea of sitting on a wet cushion wasn’t exactly appealing.

So we took refuge in the best possible place in the circumstances!

April Showers

Our Californian friends, here for a few days, enjoyed the weather forecast yesterday, which predicted “sunny spells with intermittent showers”.  Well, we are in England, and watching and commentating on the weather is our national sport, isn’t it?  We’ve watched the storm rumble in over the valley but thankfully, it passed over without trouble and our days have been happy and full of joy.  Just how we like them.

There have been a few surprises, starting with a day in Birmingham where the new library was a great place to begin our walk around the city.

The bright, modern structure offered a few surprises of its own, including the Shakespeare room

 

and the Secret Garden, from where there are magnificent views of what we’ve always regarded as Britain’s second city.

Next time we visit, we’ll give one of the Dozens and Trails a try.  Sounds like fun.  However, we already had a plan for our day and the next stop was the Grayson Perry exhibit at the Museum and Art Gallery.

As an introduction to British class and culture, it was hard to imagine anything better and the conversation which followed proved to be a theme for the week.  Such clever observation, so well depicted, we were glad to watch a little of the TV programme where the artist gathered information for the tapestries as well.

Of course, we had to sneak a quick look in Selfridges on our way to visit the Back to Backs, where a one hour tour turned into a rather longer guided survey, as such and the afternoon was whizzing by.

Interesting as it all was, we were keen to move on, because we had plans. 

An early supper by the canal and then…

Another blast from the past, almost as nostalgic as the Back to Back houses: a performance of Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Rick Wakeman! 

We drove home humming that tune, hoping the late night would kick the jet lag into touch

Another night out

Barbara rang to ask if I’d like to go with her to a new WI which has just been formed in Horsley the other night.  Never one to refuse a fun night out, of course I jumped at the chance, particularly when I heard they were going to have a model for a life drawing session.

I knew they were an arty-crafty bunch so took my chicken along, too, in case they were looking for an idea for a future meeting. 

They meet in Horsley church, which has a large, open space and proved to be a really comfortable setting.  After a glass of wine, we added a few more chairs to the circle already there and gathered our concentration, our pencils and our drawing pads. Andy, the model offered a little drawing advice as he posed, setting several challenges of short, 2 minute sketches and longer, ten minute drawings.  I couldn’t help but wonder what inspires a chap to potter about naked amongst a bunch of women all evening, but potter comfortably about he did, with only an occasional use of his sarong to preserve what little modesty remained.  I had to admire his ability to maintain that one-legged pose, holding his left foot in his hand, whilst feeling thankful that we had the side view to draw because two minutes isn’t really long enough to go into too much detail, is it?

We had such a fun evening with this lively bunch of young women and enjoyed the chance to do a bit of drawing too.  All or Muffin WI has a Facebook page with more photographs and information about their meetings, if you are inspired to go along and join in the fun!