Showing posts with label ABC-along. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ABC-along. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Resemblance
The Wrong Socks
I've been wracking my brain for topics to write about for this abc-along post... wrangling with a few ideas and wringing my hands when they had to be written-off, to wretched disillusionment...
Heh!
So, I decided upon 'Resemblance' as I've just finished 2 items of the family knitting, genus sock... subcategory SSS...
Firstly is the finished 'Crooked Cable Sock' by Sockbug. It's very cute in the Phildar 'Phil Luxe' yarn in the Nympheas colourway!
Then we have the first 'Monkey Sock', by Cookie A. Yes, I jumped on the bandwagon - surely hundreds of knitters can't be wrong? And, no, they're not! This is such a fun pattern to knit up... (actually the Crooked Cable pattern is a lovely knit, too...)
Heh!
So, I decided upon 'Resemblance' as I've just finished 2 items of the family knitting, genus sock... subcategory SSS...
Firstly is the finished 'Crooked Cable Sock' by Sockbug. It's very cute in the Phildar 'Phil Luxe' yarn in the Nympheas colourway!
The wool is the hand dyed Shetland sock wool in 'Damson Delight' by my fave 'Angels & Elephants' team in Cornwall! Man, I love their yarn!
Well, I guess I'd better resume work on the replication of this, um... raiment...? Okay, that's stretching things just a wee bit! Heh!
p.s. Thank you for all your lovely comments on the treasure chest! I'm VERY chuffed to tell you that the recipient loved it! Huzzah! I might try and post a pattern for it in the near future...
p.s. Thank you for all your lovely comments on the treasure chest! I'm VERY chuffed to tell you that the recipient loved it! Huzzah! I might try and post a pattern for it in the near future...
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Quixotic
Ravelry icons
Our favourite knitting site is a host for many wondrous things, one of my (many) favourites being the quixotic nature of some words... (I use this in its 'whimsical' and 'fanciful' sense.) If, when conversing on the forums, you type the words 'cup of coffee, cake, killer rabbit (there's a long story there, but not for the telling right here) and ice cream, to name but four, the magic of Ravelry then depicts the words in a delightful little icon which follows your text. It is very amusing, and the 'cake' especially has come to mean a lot to the members of a certain CPaAG...
I decided I liked these little symbols so much that I'd try to turn them into 3D knitted representations... I found patterns that I could adapt for three of them, and so determined was I to make the fourth, I made it up myself!
But I run ahead of myself...
Firstly, may I present unto you the ice cream:
um, ice cream...
Notice the waffle cone and the blueberry and strawberry scoops! Heh! This is from the marvellous pattern by Marcie Nishioka, called 'Scooped' of all things!
Next we have some cake. This is a very important part of the 'Very Longest Thread' in the 'Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group' on Ravelry. Newbies are asked for cake when they post for the first time and it occasionally incurs a bit of confusion along the lines of:
Next we have some cake. This is a very important part of the 'Very Longest Thread' in the 'Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group' on Ravelry. Newbies are asked for cake when they post for the first time and it occasionally incurs a bit of confusion along the lines of:
"Cake?"
"How can I bring you cake?"
"Oh. I see."
"When I type 'cake' the icon turns up and you all get Rav cake..."
"D'oh"
etcetera...
(There's a small possibility that I'm re-living my first postings on the VLT for your delectation right here and now...)
Childish? Well, yes, but good, clean childishnessy-type fun!
And so: cake.
cake (like you'd never guess it by now...)
Now, I don't know exactly what kind of cake the Ravelry cake is supposed to be - it has a cream-coloured sponge, pink icing and filling and some cream on the top edge... For me, I think I shall go with a Victoria sponge with a strawberry filling and fresh double cream piped around the edge of the pink icing on top. And now I'm getting slightly peckish... This cake is only slightly altered from the 'Let them knit cake' pattern by Hannah Kaminsky.
Then we have the killer rabbit. Um. Well. How to explain... It involves cake, or the lack thereof...
Once upon a time in a Ravelry Land not far away, cake stopped being followed by its icon. Gnashings of teeth, howls of frustration and tears of despair ensued (indulge me, people, I'm writing a story!) causing an outpouring of grief on a main board. The multitudes were uneasy, scared and lonely for the lack of the pretty pink frosted cake but were delighted to find out that in fact the cake was being guarded by a killer rabbit. I think Casey, one of the founders of Ravelry and the code monkey, was drinking rather too much coffee that day. But anyhoo, the killer rabbit and its cute little bunny icon made it onto our pages, and therefore onto my knitting needles...
Then we have the killer rabbit. Um. Well. How to explain... It involves cake, or the lack thereof...
Once upon a time in a Ravelry Land not far away, cake stopped being followed by its icon. Gnashings of teeth, howls of frustration and tears of despair ensued (indulge me, people, I'm writing a story!) causing an outpouring of grief on a main board. The multitudes were uneasy, scared and lonely for the lack of the pretty pink frosted cake but were delighted to find out that in fact the cake was being guarded by a killer rabbit. I think Casey, one of the founders of Ravelry and the code monkey, was drinking rather too much coffee that day. But anyhoo, the killer rabbit and its cute little bunny icon made it onto our pages, and therefore onto my knitting needles...
watch out for the fangs...
This little beastie was designed by MeganAnn and called 'rabbit'. (And I shall hug him and squeeze him and call him George...)
Lastly I decided I wanted to make a cup of coffee, as... well, it's as important to me as it is to the list of icons... But could I find a pattern? Um, well, yes actually, I could, but it was a crochet pattern, and I can't crochet my way out of a wet paper bag... So I searched again but to no avail. Well, thunk I, maybe I can just do one myself... It can't be THAT hard, right? RIGHT?
Lastly I decided I wanted to make a cup of coffee, as... well, it's as important to me as it is to the list of icons... But could I find a pattern? Um, well, yes actually, I could, but it was a crochet pattern, and I can't crochet my way out of a wet paper bag... So I searched again but to no avail. Well, thunk I, maybe I can just do one myself... It can't be THAT hard, right? RIGHT?
cup of coffee (oh, for a latte icon!)
Actually, RIGHT! Heh. 3 stitches cast onto 3 dpns, m1 on each stitch for the first round, and k1, m1 for the next few, a couple of purl rows for the base of the cup, then k1 and m1 whenever I thought it needed to curve out a bit more... Then a length of browny i-cord for the coffee part and a small i-cord for the handle and Bob's your Daddy's Bro!
And so you have it. My own quirky versions of some Rav icons...
Actually, RIGHT! Heh. 3 stitches cast onto 3 dpns, m1 on each stitch for the first round, and k1, m1 for the next few, a couple of purl rows for the base of the cup, then k1 and m1 whenever I thought it needed to curve out a bit more... Then a length of browny i-cord for the coffee part and a small i-cord for the handle and Bob's your Daddy's Bro!
And so you have it. My own quirky versions of some Rav icons...
huzzah for arty-farty shots!
(Ah, pants - Q could've been for quirky...)
Monday, 11 August 2008
Pianto di Maria
Tears of Mary
'Il Pianto di Maria' is a marvellous sacred cantata by Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (although the piece itself was attributed to Handel for many years) and is one of my all-time favourite pieces of music, and I've just come back from performing it in Germany. YEEHAH! The concert was 2 years in preparation, but the director of the ensemble and I have been dreaming about doing this for much longer...
The concert and rehearsals were in the catholic cloister church residing in the tiny wee town of Pfaffen-Schwabenheim in Germany. I know. Catholic? Germany? And there goes another of my presumptions... WHEEEEEEEEEE It was a charming church, with a not-too-boomy acoustic which was perfect for this kind of music.
The concert and rehearsals were in the catholic cloister church residing in the tiny wee town of Pfaffen-Schwabenheim in Germany. I know. Catholic? Germany? And there goes another of my presumptions... WHEEEEEEEEEE It was a charming church, with a not-too-boomy acoustic which was perfect for this kind of music.
choir screen of the Cloister-Kirk
I was particularly drawn to one of the statues on the choir screen. We adopted him as our mascot although were never sure if we were making him cry with the beauty of the music, or by my coughing all the way through the rehearsals.
39゜ fever or just some amazing music?
Yes, coughing. I was (still) sick all last week, and only now am I able to pass more than half an hour without the need to go searching for bits of lung. Ick! Such is the lot of a singer - you are your own instrument and if you're ill, then you're... well, you're rather unfortunate, to put things politely. My speaking voice was VERY husky due to all the coughing, and that meant that my lower range was also husky and it really hard to produce the sound. Man, I am oh so glad that my concert as an alto was last week and not this one. Funnily enough though, my high notes were easy and pingy. Cool? Well, sort of, in a Murphy's Law kind of way...
I did manage to soothe my throat a couple of times with the local beer, an arty-farty photo of which I shall now present unto you:
mmm bier
Unfortunately I didn't get much chance to do some major sampling, as most of my free time was taken up by trying to sleep off the lurgy. I think I knitted (hmm, knat? OO! I like the look of that! Heh!) 3 lines of a super secret square project, and that was it. Meh. I have a LOT to catch up on as there are some deadlines looming like thunder clouds on the horizon. Ach well, I work better when there's a to-do-by date close to throttling distance... My next post WILL have some stealth objects revealed. This I promise! And I'm absolutely gagging to show them off!
P is also for 'Patience is a virtue', I guess...
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Obsession
Angels & Elephants hand-dyed sock yarn
I may have waxed a little lyrical on this topic before. And then I only had 2 types of the stuff. Today, to add to my obsession, a package arrived in the mail with my final (for the moment) shipment of yarn from Angels & Elephants, who are based in Cornwall, UK and have their yarn shop on eBay.
I now have the colourways of Tintagel (denim blue and green), Maisie (lavender, blue and turquoise), Polruan (green, blue and yellow), Tamar (light and dark lavender and pale green), Sea Spray (blue, lavender and pale jade) and Damson Delight (damson, purple and pink) I think I may be a tad spoilt for choice. Until I see the next consignment of colours on eBay, bien sûr... And sock yarn doesn't count as stash anyway, does it?
So, after gathering all my wee smooshy, yarny babies into my loving arms and just breathing in the colours, (you can too breathe in colours... pfff) I decided to get my camera and try to take some pretty pictures. I think I may never again have such a beautiful subject... (Um, until I see the next consignment of colours on eBay...)
My camera, on the other hand, was playing hard to get. It is a rather old Olympus C-Zoom and takes about 10 pictures before I am informed by means of a blue screen with a big red cross on it that there ain't no more pictures getting taken. It laughs in the face of zinc carbon batteries (nom), eats rechargeables for breakfast (nom nom), gazes greedily at anything that promises 'long-life' (nom nom nom) and almost salivates (work with me here, people) at the thought of nomming quickly through a couple of lithium cells. And if I even think about using the macro function, then this snacking turns into a full-scale face-in-the-trough nom like-there's-no-tomorrow.
:: sighs ::
So, four batteries later I ended up with some yarn pin-up shots. Or as my DS would say, some obligatory arty-farty shots. Most of them, needless to say, were pretty naff. Darling Olympus, I think you've earned your retirement.
Rolling hills of colour
Oh, how I love these colours. I'm turning into such a hand-dyed junkie. I guess I'll never have enough yarn like this, yet it feels a bit strange to start a project with them, because they're just so damn pretty in the skein. But, biting the bullet, I have started one super secret sock project with one of them. To end this post I'll show you the sole, as it won't give anything away apart from how lovely the yarn looks knitted up a bit...
Super Secret Sock Sole in Sea Spray
(For DS - Sally Snake goes sssssssssss!!!)
(For DS - Sally Snake goes sssssssssss!!!)
You'll notice I've artfully covered the toe... That's 'cos it's an unholy mess. I *may* cough cough have misread the directions...
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Night
lunar echo
I am a night owl. I seem to get most work done in the hours of darkness and feel more at peace then, too. Of course, at this time of year and the heat it brings, I love the cool evenings even better... It has always been thus and I suspect always shall be.
The photo above was an attempt at capturing the face of the Man in the Moon, but all the photos turned out a big blur of light except for this one, which although does have the big blur of light, it also managed to capture some kind of reflection through my window pane. I like it a lot!
Night. Excepting end-of-term hysteria in this student town, the nights are quiet here. 3am is so still. And night-time has so many photographic personalities.
Foggy night in Tours
Colours are exaggerated yet muted around a street lamp on a foggy evening, or sharpened and enhanced with reflections from water...
Amsterdam Gracht
It makes me think of home...
View from my parents house to my grand-parents house
Sunrise
...but then it can also invoke annoyance. See the big, wide-open space between the 2 houses here? It opens up to the field in the heart of the village... See an earlier post entitled 'There Goes My Childhood' for further explanations of my disgust about the future of this view...
But, the night is not always my friend. Insomnia strikes occasionally and then any lure of the dark and love of the night flees from my soul and I pace the apartment muttering not-so-sweet nothings to my over-active brain. I must admit that the first time I ever appreciated French tv was during one of these episodes. Falling asleep to re-runs of the Simpsons in French leads to strange dreams, however.
My last sleepless night was a few days ago... Or a few nights ago, if you prefer. The tv wasn't doing anything for me, camomile tea only made me closer acquaintances with my porcelain necessarium and pacing about hurt my foot too much. My eyes fell on my knitting, but I knew I wasn't in the mood for cables, or indeed anything that entertained a certain brain-using thinky-type element. Some no-counting mindless knitting was called for. I saw the silver wire and a tube of little shiny beads (oo - shiny), sat down and ended up with the beginnings of this.
Pointless and Arbitrary Wind Catcher
I dedicate this wind-chime-catcher to the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group on Ravelry. It seems apt. It will neither catch the wind nor chime, but it looks pretty and shiny and sparkly and, well, does it need any more point than that?
It's made from quite a few metres of 28-gauge silver wire and a multitude of little silver and glass beads.
oo - shiny...
And at that I shall off and switch on every light in my flat. There's a thunderstorm brewing and, ironically, they frighten me when it's dark outside...
Monday, 23 June 2008
MILE OF YARN
(Actually, just under, but that doesn'tmake such a snappy heading...)
I bought some skeins of wool.*
They were pretty. I was in love.
They tangled. I was annoyed
No.1 was to use a lampshade: unscrew the thingy that stops the lampshade from spinning, whang on the skein and Bob's your mother's brother. Sadly I own no large lamp-shaded, um, lamps. (Moral to No.1 - Life is not complete without a lamp-shaded reducer-of-shadows of the large variety.)
No.2 was to use a spinny, spinny chair. I haz a spinny, spinny chair and so rushed off to attempt to gently rest a skein where it would have most spinny, spinny fun and watched, non-plussed, as the skein slipped from its perch and wound itself around the base of the chair. I did, however, manage to ball one skein before the chair decided it didn't want to play anymore... (Moral to No.2 - spinny, spinny chair only good for wheeching** around in a spinny, spinny way while typing at the computer.)
No.3 was to use another pair of hands. Sadly, I am not Lakshmi or Vishnu, nor do I have anyone close at... um, sorry, hand to lend an helping... um, sorry again, hand, so off I trotted once more to find a solution. (Moral to No.3 - Life is not complete without someone else at home. :: sighs :: I bet those Hindu Gods didn't have this problem...)
No.4 was to place the skein around my feet and wind it from there. FEET? That smacks somewhat of excercise :: gasps :: Also, see original problem... (Moral to No.4 - Laziness does not a ball from skein make...)
No.5 was to turn a chair upside-down, wind the skein around the legs and wind in the 'old-fashioned way' and what do you know... a mile of yarn later and I CAN haz ballz of wool!
They were pretty. I was in love.
They were smooshable. I was in heaven.
Then I tried to ball them. I was confused.They tangled. I was annoyed
Yep, the lot of a newbie skein buyer. What do I do? Obviously, trying to ball straight from the skein was a no-no. Actually, not so obvious at first: I believe there is a tangled mess lurking somewhere in a corner of my apartment, hoping never to be noticed again. I tried using my knees for a holder. Well, it worked, but my back refuses to let me try that method again. So I swallowed my pride and asked for help and received lots of ideas and no 'Hah! n00bie-have-you-not-heard-of-swifts'-like taunts! Yay.
No.1 was to use a lampshade: unscrew the thingy that stops the lampshade from spinning, whang on the skein and Bob's your mother's brother. Sadly I own no large lamp-shaded, um, lamps. (Moral to No.1 - Life is not complete without a lamp-shaded reducer-of-shadows of the large variety.)
No.2 was to use a spinny, spinny chair. I haz a spinny, spinny chair and so rushed off to attempt to gently rest a skein where it would have most spinny, spinny fun and watched, non-plussed, as the skein slipped from its perch and wound itself around the base of the chair. I did, however, manage to ball one skein before the chair decided it didn't want to play anymore... (Moral to No.2 - spinny, spinny chair only good for wheeching** around in a spinny, spinny way while typing at the computer.)
No.3 was to use another pair of hands. Sadly, I am not Lakshmi or Vishnu, nor do I have anyone close at... um, sorry, hand to lend an helping... um, sorry again, hand, so off I trotted once more to find a solution. (Moral to No.3 - Life is not complete without someone else at home. :: sighs :: I bet those Hindu Gods didn't have this problem...)
No.4 was to place the skein around my feet and wind it from there. FEET? That smacks somewhat of excercise :: gasps :: Also, see original problem... (Moral to No.4 - Laziness does not a ball from skein make...)
No.5 was to turn a chair upside-down, wind the skein around the legs and wind in the 'old-fashioned way' and what do you know... a mile of yarn later and I CAN haz ballz of wool!
Pretty!Tomorrow I am off to buy a swift. Dammit.
* 2 skeins of Angels & Elephants Hand-Dyed Shetland Sock Wool in Damson Delight.
2 skeins of Angels & Elephants Hand-Dyed Shetland Sock Wool in Sea Spray
1 skein of Jennifer's Flock Sock in Pinot
1 skein of Jennifer's Flock Sock in Gold Olive
1 skein of Jennifer's Flock Sock in Summer Green
1 skein of Jennifer's Flock Sock in Copper Pennies
1 skein of Jennifer's Flock Sock in Tomato Leaf
** Wheech - to move through the air, rush, dash with a whizzing sound.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Lace.
Um... actually, no, not really. It was originally going to be 'lace', I promise you, but after the Lace Fates conspired against me (see an earlier post) I had to give it all up. So instead, here is a picture of a not-quite-so L-is-for project:
L is for Little White Bag?Mina is the daughter of very good friends and neighbours here in Tours. She turned four years-old on the 9th of June and I've known her since she was, um, almost before she was merely a twinkle in her daddy's eye, as it were... Her vocabulary is scarily impeccable and she can already spell my name out on her mini white-board. With a pink pen, of course. She is a precocious wee darling. A but naughty at times (well, she is only 4!) but always says please, thank you and gives you a kiss on each cheek. *sigh* I made her this little bag as she loves the things I knit for her. She wants me to teach her now, which will be interesting. I shall attempt to view it as a French vocabulary exercise as I can only really talk about music, beer and noise with any kind of authority at the moment (the word to be used lightly) and even then...
Fimo-licious buttons
I also gave her a wee necklace made from the extra buttons I made out of FIMO for the bag, and attempted a crochet chain with REAL yarn. It was a lot more scary than doing the same thing with wire, I can tell you. I don't have a photo of the necklace (it was more of a spur-of-the-moment, very-last-minute, OMG-is-a-bag-enough kind of thing...) but I do have one piccie of the buttons, artfully shot by moi. The blurriness was, um, artfully intentional...
Fimo-licious buttonsMina came round to say thank you after she had decided to change into a dress that matched the bag. I wish I'd taken a photo - cuteness in a pink and blue flowery dress, wearing the necklace and holding the bag that was already stuffed with her favourite things of the moment, including a toy mobile phone in the phone pocket. Way, way too sweet! So I am happy that she is happy. Huzzah!
And now it is time to decide what knitting projects to take with me on the next foray away from home... My Tsarina of Tsocks 'Vintage' sock kit arrived today (to much jumping around and squealing 'wheeee') but that is definitely a 'home' project. I may be able to fit in a few balls of the Noro Kureyon into my case to continue the log-cabin squares (oh, I decided to make a bag out of the afore-mentioned log cabin' technique - I don't think I have enough yarn for a full blanket, and I do love me my bags), and the Zombie Sock number 2 is nicely portable and the pattern is already in my head... Nicely written pattern, that one... I don't know how much spare time I'll have, though, as it's only a 4-day project.
I think I'll bring along another sock to start, just in case... Just probably not a lacy one...
And now it is time to decide what knitting projects to take with me on the next foray away from home... My Tsarina of Tsocks 'Vintage' sock kit arrived today (to much jumping around and squealing 'wheeee') but that is definitely a 'home' project. I may be able to fit in a few balls of the Noro Kureyon into my case to continue the log-cabin squares (oh, I decided to make a bag out of the afore-mentioned log cabin' technique - I don't think I have enough yarn for a full blanket, and I do love me my bags), and the Zombie Sock number 2 is nicely portable and the pattern is already in my head... Nicely written pattern, that one... I don't know how much spare time I'll have, though, as it's only a 4-day project.
I think I'll bring along another sock to start, just in case... Just probably not a lacy one...
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
K: Little Sister Extraordinaire
Mum and K (around 8 months old)6 things about K...
1: Sixteen months (and three days!) separate my wee sister and I. Even with such a small age gap, she's always been an independent wee soul. Some of my earliest memories surround shopping trips where I'd wait patiently with the shopping trolley while Mum went on a K-finding mission. Sis did have a propensity, when she was really young, to disappear when you weren't looking and charge off somewhere new and exciting; down the cereal isle or behind the fruit displays! Another memory in the same vein is her first day at our village primary school. I was instructed by Mum to look after her (primaries 1, 2 and 3 were in the same classroom) and I do remember feeling very protective of her. But in she went without any qualms, had no fear of meeting new people and adapted to her new environment with no problems at all. Quite startling for me, I remember, as I was quite the opposite - painfully shy!
Me (5), K (4) and L (11), our big brother
2: She is an amazing organiser and a very hard worker, a loyal friend and a generous soul. The university library, where she is the library secretary and P/A to the Chairman, is run by her (pretty much) and she's VERY good at her job. It helps that she loves it too!
3: She always said she had no artistic talent, and that I received her share, but that it was fairly balanced because she had my share of organisational skills and common sense. (She wanted to be a secretary when she grew up and I wanted to be a silversmith!) She is correct in her last assumption and is certainly right about the common sense, but I think this pendant she made me for my birthday belies the first...
My birthday pendant - 99.8% pure silver
made with PMC (precious metal clay)
K and Mickey
5: K is a sterling wee sis, and I look forward every year to her summer visit and I miss her dreadfully when she leaves... We spend a rather high percentage of the time giggling together. I think the hilarity genes were pretty evenly distributed...
6: She sends me British chocolate care packages, too. What more could a person want in a sister?!
1: Sixteen months (and three days!) separate my wee sister and I. Even with such a small age gap, she's always been an independent wee soul. Some of my earliest memories surround shopping trips where I'd wait patiently with the shopping trolley while Mum went on a K-finding mission. Sis did have a propensity, when she was really young, to disappear when you weren't looking and charge off somewhere new and exciting; down the cereal isle or behind the fruit displays! Another memory in the same vein is her first day at our village primary school. I was instructed by Mum to look after her (primaries 1, 2 and 3 were in the same classroom) and I do remember feeling very protective of her. But in she went without any qualms, had no fear of meeting new people and adapted to her new environment with no problems at all. Quite startling for me, I remember, as I was quite the opposite - painfully shy!
Me (5), K (4) and L (11), our big brother2: She is an amazing organiser and a very hard worker, a loyal friend and a generous soul. The university library, where she is the library secretary and P/A to the Chairman, is run by her (pretty much) and she's VERY good at her job. It helps that she loves it too!
3: She always said she had no artistic talent, and that I received her share, but that it was fairly balanced because she had my share of organisational skills and common sense. (She wanted to be a secretary when she grew up and I wanted to be a silversmith!) She is correct in her last assumption and is certainly right about the common sense, but I think this pendant she made me for my birthday belies the first...
My birthday pendant - 99.8% pure silvermade with PMC (precious metal clay)
4: She is the proud mummy of Mickey, a long-haired tortoiseshell cat. Sis rescued him and his brother, Murphy, when they were 6 weeks old. Sadly, due to the previous owner’s mis-treatment and a dose of cat ‘flu when sis only had them a week (the rescue centre had missed the symptoms) Murphy didn’t make it. Mickey is a little brain-damaged thanks to the cat 'flu etc so has a wobbly walk and isn’t allowed outside, but apart from that he’s full of beans and adores K. And fish. But K a bit more, I think!
K and Mickey5: K is a sterling wee sis, and I look forward every year to her summer visit and I miss her dreadfully when she leaves... We spend a rather high percentage of the time giggling together. I think the hilarity genes were pretty evenly distributed...
6: She sends me British chocolate care packages, too. What more could a person want in a sister?!
Saturday, 17 May 2008
Japan.
Tokyo Radio TowerJust to continue my theme of places for another ABC-along post, I'd like to show some piccies of Japan. I was there in December 2005 for some concerts of Handel and Bach with a couple of orchestras - in Osaka and Tokyo. It could have been totally amazing had I not arrived in Osaka with a nasty case of 'flu, incubated very nicely on the flight over. My neighbour on the flight was VERY generous with his germs... And his chocolate, too, so I couldn't *really* hate him!
I got through the first Bach Christmas Oratorio without dying a spluttery death, but the chorales suffered from coughing fits and I've certainly sung the echo aria better!! Not one my finest moments! I have one photo from Osaka - taken from my hotel room where I was placed in solitary confinement:
Could be anywhere!!
I got through the first Bach Christmas Oratorio without dying a spluttery death, but the chorales suffered from coughing fits and I've certainly sung the echo aria better!! Not one my finest moments! I have one photo from Osaka - taken from my hotel room where I was placed in solitary confinement:
Could be anywhere!! We were whisked from Osaka to Tokyo in a bullet train (how fast?!) and arrived late one afternoon, at which point I was sent to my room again, to care for my germs in peace and feed them finest room-service sushi. I opened the curtains the following morning to be presented with this pleasing aspect:
Mount Fuji
Mount FujiThat was the first real inkling that I wasn't in Kansas anymore, Toto (or should I say Totoro...!) Not a bad view to wake up to! The hotel was in the Shinjuku district, next to the Tokyo Central Park, and very close to the main underground terminal. Now THAT was crazy. The underground system was awesome, in the original sense of the word. It took a lot of effort to keep my jaw from being permanently unhinged. So many people, all purposeful, decorous and mannerly, going from a to b without much ado, noise or contact with each other. Another world!
Statues in Central Park
I saw a lot of the metro system on the journey back from seeing the International doctor. I went by taxi, as it seemed the most considerate thing to do, seeing as my employers thought I had SARS!! Oh yes, that would have been LOTS of fun. But I didn't - I was lacking the high temperature, but had amassed a collection of everything else! I paid an arm and a leg for the consultation and the medicine, but it was so very worth it. If you're going to be really ill, do it in Japan - their drugs are AMAZING!
Drugs, drugs, drugs and more drugs
Statues in Central ParkI saw a lot of the metro system on the journey back from seeing the International doctor. I went by taxi, as it seemed the most considerate thing to do, seeing as my employers thought I had SARS!! Oh yes, that would have been LOTS of fun. But I didn't - I was lacking the high temperature, but had amassed a collection of everything else! I paid an arm and a leg for the consultation and the medicine, but it was so very worth it. If you're going to be really ill, do it in Japan - their drugs are AMAZING!
Drugs, drugs, drugs and more drugsCough medicine, antibiotics, cortisone in pill form (no way was I having an injection), anti-histamine, very strong throat sweets (the Polo lookalikes) and I can't remember what the other two lots were for. But, bygorrah, I was up and at 'em in 2 days of starting that little lot! The Messiah gig passed without any wheezing, coughing or dizziness and, although still working at 300% and taking twice as many breaths as normal, I hope I at least made up for the Bach the week before!
One of the organisers was very kind to me a day before that last concert, and took me on a wee trip around Tokyo to make up for all the missed visits the others had been on. (I missed seeing Kyoto - I was gutted about that!) Had I been a knitter at the time, I would have insisted on finding some Noro (nom nom nom), but I was sadly unaware of the existence of such sublimities, so we sauntered around the Electric City instead and then went up a very, VERY tall building near the harbour district to see some amazing views. The photo of the Radio Tower is one of them, and here's one looking across the Imperial Palace Park to the Shinjuku district:
Tokyo as seen by the birds
One of the organisers was very kind to me a day before that last concert, and took me on a wee trip around Tokyo to make up for all the missed visits the others had been on. (I missed seeing Kyoto - I was gutted about that!) Had I been a knitter at the time, I would have insisted on finding some Noro (nom nom nom), but I was sadly unaware of the existence of such sublimities, so we sauntered around the Electric City instead and then went up a very, VERY tall building near the harbour district to see some amazing views. The photo of the Radio Tower is one of them, and here's one looking across the Imperial Palace Park to the Shinjuku district:
Tokyo as seen by the birdsI arrived back in France, after a delayed flight from Tokyo and a missed flight from Amsterdam, at 2am and had a rehearsal for some Monteverdi at 10am the same morning. I remember nothing about that day whatsoever!
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Italy
Montepulciano VecchioI had the fortunate luck of being able to sing my way through Tuscany and Umbria a few years back and it was the experience of a lifetime. Okay, so I was officially 'working' but was armed with my camera and was ready for any photographic opportunity that fell my way. And there were plenty - I took around 400 photos altogether (thank the stars for digital cards!) and this wee letter for the ABC-Along has been both a pleasure and insanely difficult to choose piccies for! I suspect that this may be a long post! Maybe you should go and grab a coffee... and some cake!
Montepulciano is an ancient hill-top town (one of MANY) famed for, amongst other things, the marvellous Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. You've never tasted anything like it in your LIFE!! I'm not a wine aficionado but this was nectar for Bacchus himself!
Actually, Montepulciano was one place that benefited from me not singing there, as our first concert was in fact in Florence.
Campanile di Giotto in FirenzeWe made it to Florence around 4pm on the day of the concert, but after rehearsals in a wonderful little church in the Via del Corso, I was too late to get inside the Duomo. I did take *several* pictures of the bell tower (above); the cathedral exterior; and the marvellous Baptistry, the bronze-panelled doors of which were supposed to have inspired the young Michaelangelo onto new and dizzying heights of sculpturific grandeur!
Battistero di San Giovanni. Door panels byLorenzo Ghiberti and finished in 1422
The next concert was in the Chiesa di Santa Giuliana in Perugia, which is now a military hospital. I have to admit that our be-uniformed hosts were almost as ravishing to look at as the 13th and 14th century frescoes that adorned the church... But we weren't allowed to take photos of the soldiers, (and boy, was security tight!) so a fresco pic will have to suffice!
Frescoes attributed to, amongst others, Matteo di Giovannello
Frescoes attributed to, amongst others, Matteo di GiovannelloAfter Perugia came Arezzo, famous (for me at least) as being the birthplace of Guido Monaco d'Arezzo, a medieval musical theorist who is believed to have invented modern musical notation (staff notation and solfeggio - the forerunner of the doh-re-mi scale).
(Here was born and lived Guido Monaco)
Our final concert was in Siena. I fell in love with this town - for me it was a place of wonder, beauty and inspiration. I took over 150 photos here alone, so please indulge me if I add more than one here...
Piazza del Campo with the Palazzo Publica and the Torre del Mangia
(Here was born and lived Guido Monaco)Our final concert was in Siena. I fell in love with this town - for me it was a place of wonder, beauty and inspiration. I took over 150 photos here alone, so please indulge me if I add more than one here...
Piazza del Campo with the Palazzo Publica and the Torre del MangiaI loved wandering around the medieval town with its little streets and treasures that lay around every corner. I found this (below) in a tiny courtyard open to the public. I don't know it's name, what street it was in, or who the artist was, but it was quite stunning.
After wandering around I finally came across the famous Siena Duomo, said by some to resemble a black and white liquorice allsort! NO NO NO!
Interior of Siena Duomo
Sadly, you weren't allowed to use flash photography or use tripods here, so the quality isn't 100% but if you do nothing else with this post, you must click on the photo above - there's soooo much to see! So much colour! The Nave at the back; the angels on the arch supports; the busts of the Popes from Saint Peter to Lucius III arranged along the top of the pillars; the ceiling sky of golden stars on a deep blue background... I spent a total of 4 hours in here between rehearsals and the concert. Can you tell I was in love?
Moving down through the cathedral you arrived underneath the dome.
Breathtaking.
After wandering around I finally came across the famous Siena Duomo, said by some to resemble a black and white liquorice allsort! NO NO NO!
Interior of Siena DuomoMoving down through the cathedral you arrived underneath the dome.
Breathtaking.I thought I'd seen pretty much everything when I 'discovered' a doorway that led to what was called the 'Piccolomini Library' and I walked through and promptly halted in my tracks. To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement. I still remember the shock, the surprise and feeling of awe that struck me being presented with such beauty and artistry. Okay, it sounds over-the-top, but I almost cried when I entered the room. The walls were covered in frescoes depicting the life of Silvio Aeneas Piccolomini (who became Pope Pius II); the ceiling was alive with panels of gilt-inlaid mythical subjects by Pinturicchio and in glass cases dotted around the room were some of the finest examples of Psalter illumination that I have ever seen. The lady who was the guide for the library must have heard me gasp or something (I don't think I blasphemed) and gave me an indulgent smile - she was obviously used to the reaction!
I've already posted a photo of the whole ceiling (C is for...!) but here's one in detail:
I was particularly taken with one of the wall panels showing 'Enea Silvio at the Scottish Court'. I knew that there was an important Papal ambassador at the court of James the First in 1435 (my Dad was a history teacher specialising in Scottish history!) but it was lovely to make the connection between that knowledge and this amazing library! I particularly like the non-Scottish scenery and the depiction of James the First as a very old man. (James was 41 in 1435 - not decrepit even in those days!)
Viva Scotia!
Lastly I'll leave you with one of the fine examples of the Psalter illuminations. They were all stunning, needless-to-say!
(musical notation thanks to Guido d'Arezzo!)
I've already posted a photo of the whole ceiling (C is for...!) but here's one in detail:
I was particularly taken with one of the wall panels showing 'Enea Silvio at the Scottish Court'. I knew that there was an important Papal ambassador at the court of James the First in 1435 (my Dad was a history teacher specialising in Scottish history!) but it was lovely to make the connection between that knowledge and this amazing library! I particularly like the non-Scottish scenery and the depiction of James the First as a very old man. (James was 41 in 1435 - not decrepit even in those days!)
Viva Scotia!Lastly I'll leave you with one of the fine examples of the Psalter illuminations. They were all stunning, needless-to-say!
(musical notation thanks to Guido d'Arezzo!)And now I want to go BAAAAACK!!
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