..and my second home.
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Things I love about this place - It is less than an hour from home. The way the lodges sit in the landscape (the fact that there are only a few). They are furnished with beautiful hand woven and printed textiles and pottery made by the artist owners.   The owls, bats, buzzards, oyster catchers, curlews, wrens, seals, and the otter and the friendly robin. The hens, the hebridean sheep and the donkeys. The little coves of crushed shells perfect for a wee picnic.  There is an integrity about this place that I find very attractive. Nothing is overdone or over commercialised. Things are done simply and done well.
Love it! Listening to an interview with author Joanne Harris on Sunday we were wondering if the marquee would withstand the wind! A little distracting. My favurite talk was with Denise Mina, author of Three Fires and many crme fiction titles. She is a good speaker, confident and funny and I may read this recent book about Savonarola. I liked the links she made with present day politics. We sang with Julia Hollander who talked about her book Why We Sing. The fireworks and drinks party were fun and very well attended. It is the 25th festival and has a very full 10 day programme. See here. I can recommend the cakes in ReadingLasses a bookshop cum cafe with a cosy atmosphere.   I would have liked to photograph some of the charming buildings, but there were so many cars it was impossible to do them justice...  ..to the Book Festivval, I had to run for the bus.  I was so breathless when I got on it I could barely ask for my destination. Telling my friend of my dismay that I was not as fit as I thought I was, she pointed out that - 1 I had a pack on my back
2 I was pulling a suitcase 3 it was uphill 4 I had been sitting on the ferry for half an hour (no warm-up) and 5 I did actually catch the bus! I didn't feel so bad after that :-) Trad Jazz as we sailed aroud the port area. Lots of people live on the water in Copenhagen - houseboats, converted warehouses and modern developments both sophisticated and simple, many with a boat tied up at the end of the garden. Thunder and lightning was forecast but the sun shone all evening. It was good fun.   More Trad Jazz in the city with a good humoured crowd in the rain. They sang Give Me Sunshine, then Singing In The Rain then there was one great loud clap of thunder. If you know Copenhagen you will probably agree with me that it is superefficient and orgainised (everything seems to work!) but tempered with charm and humour. A really friendly place. My imagination was gripped by the dramatic display in The National Museum of Denmark of the longeest longship of the Viking era yet found. There were links with hme - the Vikings are known to have sailed up Loch Long - and a beautiful little casket found in this one is thought to have been made in Scotland.   How exciting to have been the archaeologist who found it and the silver ingots, jewellery and coins! There were lots of flowers to come home to.   Our Saviour's Church in Christianshavn must surely have inspired Hans Christian Andersen to write fairy tales.  My own photograph is not as dramatic as the postcard anove, which I couldn't resist. I absolutely adore this spire. ..in Copenhagen is so varied. Ultramodernn and dramatic developments on the water, hidden old courtyards off the main streets, old streets covered over become art galleries, the elegant restraint of Neo Classicism and buildings which look as though they have been embroidered! I could have spent a week just looking at the buildings and at how the Danes live..      and very intense. Our first concert was in Brorsons Kirke. Tord Gustavsen played solo, without pause, for one hour and twenty minutes. The man is a genius but we were seated on beautiful-to-look-at very hard chairs!    A review said This is the chill-out as a state of grace and it can go as deep as you like. Sublime. To me it felt like living inside an abstract painting. and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival.  Rainbow over Copenhagen.  4th of July fireworks at Tivoli.  Glad we booked before we went. There is a simplicity about the place that charms me every time. There is a touch of sophistication about it's honeliness. A small nimber of caravans and lodges, hens clucking around, very good coffee, sailing school, studio with smallish selection of high quality crafts and the scent of herbs from Argyll Botany drew me into the tiny beautiful shop before I could look at anything else. SeeEverything low key and well cared for. here.    If you can't make it to Carry Farm you can find Argyll Botany onlime They have a lovely website. I liked the About section. My photographs don't do justice to the chare racter of the shoop which is quite dark and smells .divine. I bought several delectable things which are making my bathroom smell wonderful.
Well that's the plan for May. I thought I should stop gadding about (temporarily) and get some things done which I have been ignoring for too long. They do stack up don't they. Last of my Paris photos....  A quick look into the Alladin's cave of art supplies Senneliers on the banks of the Seine.   So many pretty flower shops. (Thank you for this shot Mary)  A beautiful yarn shop somewhere near the Roman amphitheatre I think!  Looking at the modern day scaffolding and craness and technology around Notre Dame, it's astonsihing to remember that none of this existed when the cathedral was built between the 12th and 14th centuries...
A huge thank you again to Grace for showing us her Paris. ..part of my head is still full of Paris! Blogging I find, is a wonderful way to provess events. I hope you will indulge me as I record a few more memories of my trip. The stylish store Merci was great fun, as was the decor in some of the cafés. I loved the exquisite Place Des Vosges with its pleached trees so integrated visually with the architecture.The small park in the Marais district was a gem. It's so stimulating to look at different sights, to hear different sounds. It's what travel is about for me. Do you find that too? Enjoy the music (not very French..)      Didn't go into this shop but the name made me laugh, and once I had played the tune it stayed with me for days! ..and more interesting shoes! People watching in Paris..    I plan to copy this simple and lovely frame..
A candlelit concert at Sainte Ephrem church was a marvellous end to our first full day...The sound in this recording is not very good but the accoustics in the church were lovely and the playing by Adrian Polycarpe virtuosic. Chopin, Schubert, Satie and Beethoven.   Do those of you who know Paris have any favourite less-well known places you could share here? Photoelectric cells and mobile apertures on this whole facade are intended to control light levels inside the building, changing as weather conditions change..I don't believe it is working at the moment and the building, now about 30 yearrs old is undergoing a renovation. There is a great bookshop on the ground floor.    The view from the top is wonderful. They are about to position the new spire after the fire of 2019 (which happened the day I came home from my last trip there). From here we walked along the Seine.. On our firsr evening , after finding and marvelling at the beautiful modernist apartment Grace had found for us, we dined out. It had been a year since we four friends had been together (in Edinburgh) and we had a leisurely catch up over dinner. On our first full day we visited - Couleé Verte Rue Creémieux Jardin des Plantes Arene de Lutece Rue Moufettard Institut du Monde Arabe Sennelier and Saint Ephrem le Syriaque (a candlelit concert) FABULOUS.     To be taken around Paris by Grace who knows it so well was very special. This linear park above the city streets was remarkably tranquil. with coffee, cakes, wine, bubbly and excitement after a wonderful trip with friends, one of whom lives in Paris. We don't do things by halves when we get together! I love the way they package purchases from the cake shops..  More when I have calmed down! A short trip to see the wild daffodils in beautiful Farndale in North Yorkshire.      Narcissus pseudonarcissus is the dainty native daffodil. I plan to plant some in the autumn. While I was away my dear laptop seems to have fixed itself!! (So far so good...) ..at it's most beautiful.  And we got that afternoon tea which was a gift from last Christmas! A lovely treat. My little 'rough crossing' on the Clyde yesterday pales completely into insignificance beside this!      Inside thie replica of a hut in the Antarctic, we sat on a bunk wearing headphones listening to the wind howl and watching archival film of the whalers and exploresrs in Antarctica. Story Machine who have produced this nnovative experience tour the country, and have done different books, are worth looking out for. It was very good! on the ferry both there and back, but fine weather while in Wigotwn for the Book Festival. More soon...    ..I was in York was to look after Phoebe.  If you have listened to La Leendertz this month (you can hear her podcast here) She says of August- If you are able to take time off, the days spill into each other in a haze of nothing much  There is a suspension of expectation and activity in August  and it is good to see  how little you can get way with! I do hope you get some time off. Don't forget tonight you may see shooting stars..  |
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