They get too much for Christmas, said Gran. It's really shocking. In my young day you got a few nuts in your stocking, an orange and an apple and a hanky from your aunt and you were grateful for it unlike modern kids who aren't. So we put apples in her stocking as many as we could fit and was she grateful for it? No she wasn't, not a bit. From a little book which makes us chuckle each Christmas - Funny Poems For Christmas compiled by Paul Cookson
..coming along? My little sustainable save-the -planet growing Christmas tree is rather bald on top and a bit sad looking! So I cut some pine branches and wired them on. I will give the tree some extra TLC during the year and see if it will grow more needles on top for next Christmas. Meanwhile it looks quite pretty. When it is dark. Have you got your decorations up? Your cards posted? Your presents wrapped? The menu planned? Mid-winter would be so dull without Christmas! ..and on with more down to earth matters.
Do you have a place you feel to be your second home? Not in the literal sense of owning property there, but in the sense of feeling at home, feeling you belong. York was my home for many happy years and revisiting it can be rather bittersweet, but the beauty of it and the layers of history so visible on it's every surface always enchant me.. I am not naive about it's problems. Like most cities it has homelessness and pollution, over commercilisation, rowdy hen nights and stag parties and crowds, but as in many English cathedral cities there is a sense of continuity and tradition that appeals to me on a deep level. Centuries of it, and York Minster has seen it all. Gullygate, Petergate, Goodramgate, Fossgate, Walngate, Micklegate and Whip Ma Whop Ma Gate - all these smaller streets have wonderful independent shops run by knowledgeable and enthusiastic creative people. Children's bokshops, delis like The Hairy Fig , Greek cafes, bakers, clothes shops, card shops - if I didn't have to carry things home on public transport I would probably have spent a lot more money!
..looked magnificent under the stars. I could imagine that this is how every emperor would like to look. For me the start of the real Christmas.. When the main lights go out (about 14minutes in) and the procession starts, the magic begins. I do like what Lia Leendertz has to say in her December podcast As The Season Turns about our desire to hibernate in winter, and I also plan to take up her suggestion of preparing a nature table for the solstice on the 21st. We have had little snow as yet and some brave sunny days. I love the way the villas and large houses on the shores of Holy Loch give scale to the hills. Large areas of the forest have been felled recently.
A winter blog break coming up - hope you will stay safe and cosy! ..I just get a bit fed up with eating sensibly. So I had a mince pie for breakfast. Now to get down to the lovely task of sending greetings and messages of love...Its a happy thing to do on a wintry day. Donald MadLeod on his brilliant programme Composer of the Week (Radio 3 mid day) points out that in Medieval times the festive season lasted from now until Candlemas on the 2nd of February. Maybe they had the right idea. Would it not be a wonderful thing to celebrate every day of winter until them? In some quiet simple way? Any ideas on how you would do that? Mince pies for breakfast might be one.. well, occasionally. ..that I once said I would put a link to the beautiful holiday apartment in York which my kind friend let me say in during the pandemic on my way back from Venice. What a strange time that was. Here is the link. The house is lovely, the location perfect and York is gorgeous at Christmas! Getting in the mood to add a little decoration with the first Christmas card.
I noticed the building featured in this post only because my bus stop had been moved. I looked it up on the way home and thought I would like to see inside and took the opportunity on that day out in the time between the two concerts. As we walked in - it is the headquarters of the Bank of Scotland - a man stepped out from behind a very inposing desk and asked if he could help. When he realised we were not there on business he began discreetly walking us back towards the door, but when I said I was interested in the architecture it quicky became clear that her knew a lot about the building and its history, and we had a lovely conversation. (He called the building 'she') Sadly, the feature I especially wanted to see - the atrium - has been floored over. It no londer exists I have found a book called Fragments of Glasgow with photographs of many old Glasgow buildings, which I think I may have to have for Christmas! I am aware that it sounds a bit mad, but I absolutely LOVE ny barefoot walks on the sparkly frost. It's a woderful way to start the day. I got the fire going nicely, set the table for breakfast and put the kettle on before I went out into the magic of the morning. As some of you know something very odd is happening to this blog! The wrong photos are appearing, the font is changing and the layout is different. I have to report that I have not changed anything... I am investigating. My sister sent me this haiku -
Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that. (Substitute Weebly for Windows!) What is you ideal day out? Mine was on Thursday. Perfect. The concert at the University of Glasgow (icy cold draughty mock Gothic building) was called How To Raise The Wind with a fiddle, a guitar, two violins, a viola, a cellot and a double bass, a cintemporary take oon traditional Scottish with more than a hint of jazz - a short programme and I felt they were just really warming up when it ended. They were very good, especially the Finnish double bass player Rickard Toften Holst. Lunch at Kember and Jones in nearby Byers Road. Kale soup with meatballs. A quick bus ride into the city centre and we popped into a Cocktail Bar because I wanted to see the interior (the one with all the candles). We rather boringly had coffee which wasn't on the menu but they kindly made us one anyway! More wandering round gazing at elegant buildings - the floodlighting shows up the details beautifully. This one is in Renfiled St and I can honestly say I have never noticed it beofre. Then on to the City Halls and Mozart and Elgar. Stunningly good, and you can hear the concert on BBC Sounds. We also got to see inside the Bank of Scotland building I photographed recently...more tomorrow.. Have you got your great day out planned yet? Music, food and conversation, architecture and friendly Glaswegians! A few photgraphs while I sort out my thoughts.. My head is still so full of Egar's Symphony no 1 in A flat - a great surging, meandering abstract thing, I can hardly think.
Two concerts in one day. So excited. Plan to see the inside of this magnificent building too..Back soon!
I hesitated to publish yesterday's photo as it is so out of focus, but I realised it captured what I felt as I looked out of the window at the ferry so brightly lit, the lights of the houses on the far shore like a little row of hieroglyphs, the clouds lit by the light of the moon and the sweep of the grass verge as I sped by. It was just an ordinary journey home but it looked and felt dramatic and exciting. I may have to paint this, and perhaps it doesn't matter that my eyesight is out of focus if my mind and thoughts and feelings are still sharp! Thank you Karen for prompting these thoughts. and hopeful. Every little gesture of love and hope counts I believe. I picked these iris sibirica seedheads to put in a jar on the table, and in the warmth of the room they opened up and began scattering their seeds. I wasn't planning to grow more but since I had this recently emptied little seed tin.... I thought whyever not? Future beauty.
There is something celebratory about it. I just love it. It's not expensive, it lasts for ages (though it has an unpleasant smell, which fortunately fades). It makes me feel happy. Here is last year's.. I couldn't bring myself to simply throw it away. Is there any thing makes you feel happy just by looking at it? Your comments on yesterday's post made me very happy. Thank you so much! ..a new day. A misty start. Got a little gentle gardening done. The twenty buddleia plants for the butterfly walk have come.
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April 2024
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