Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy New Year!
2007…wow! The time has passed so quickly in the last nine months, it is hard to believe.
I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the music I have enjoyed lately in the UK. I mentioned the Nutcracker in my last post but failed to mention a couple other music events I have attended recently. BTW, the Nutcracker music was extra enjoyable as the arrangement was different than I have heard before and seemed to have additional parts of music added in that were really lovely.
Towards the end of November I attended the last day of the London Jazz Festival and the Royal Festival Hall overlooking the Thames. This is a huge festival over 9 days at about 10 venues around London. I saw this amazing group called Cascade that included a fiddle, saxophone, concertina, percussion, and sitar. Each member of the group is a highly accomplished musician in their own right. The music was fascinating and the mix of sounds very pleasing.
At the beginning of December I went to Islington Academy to see the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars. They were fantastic! They played a combination of reggae mixed with other world music sounds. They all seemed to be so engrossed in the music, it was a true joy to watch them, particularly knowing their very difficult start. As the name suggests, they are all survivors of the Sierra Leone civil war and were discovered in a refugee camp in the Republic of Guinea.
Last night I went to St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square to hear the Festive Orchestra of London perform JS Bach, Pachelbel, Mozart, and Vivaldi on period instruments. The setting was in the church and was illuminated by candles. There were 7 violins. 2 violas, 2 celli, a bass, and a harpsichord. The music was exceptional and the acoustics in the church seemed to improve the sound if that was possible. It was really inspiring and great way to start 2007.
My holiday season included some much needed time off for rest and relaxation. I didn’t realise how much I needed a little time off without running around the city, country or continent. I went to the famous Borough market on Dec. 23 and picked up all kinds of yummy things to enjoy during my days at home over the holidays. I had some fabulous sea scallops and prawns from Scotland. I also bought some of the famous Aunt Alice’s Christmas pudding with brandy cream. It was very rich and delicious. Contrary to what some people think, Christmas pudding is not anything like fruit cake, in my opinion. It is mostly raisins, sultanas, nuts, and LOTS of brandy with a little flour to hold it all together. YUM!
On Wednesday 27DEC I took the train to Weymouth in County Dorset on the south coast of the UK. As I was born in So Weymouth, Mass I have been curious about Weymouth, UK. It is a much bigger town than I expected and probably as big as Brighton. I hiked the Coast Path for 10 miles on Thursday overlooking the Channel and rolling hills of the south coast. It was a beautiful day and I saw quite a few other hikers with their dogs and families. At the half way point I came upon a lovely little pub and stopped for a drink…in this case a diet Coke. Knowing I had five miles to return to my B&B made me positive I did not want a beer. My B&B was very nice and I had a huge room with a four poster bed and a fireplace. The fireplace had been sealed off but was still lovely with what I imagine to be the original tile work around the edges as well as the cast iron stove portion. On Friday an amazing gale storm moved in and the wind was gusting to 70 miles per hour. I went to the museum and learned about the early days of the town when King George III decided to take a holiday there. Weymouth is also quite famous for being the entry point of the Black Death (plague) in 1348 which wiped out half of the population of the UK over the following two years. I walked all around the old town and the harbour and over the three days had some delicious fish and chips, Italian food, cask ales, and 3 outstanding full English breakfasts. Needless to say I did not go hungry.
My picture posting is a bit behind as I evaluate other options for my pictures. I will have an update soon with a new link to my pictures.
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2007!
Namaste.
I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the music I have enjoyed lately in the UK. I mentioned the Nutcracker in my last post but failed to mention a couple other music events I have attended recently. BTW, the Nutcracker music was extra enjoyable as the arrangement was different than I have heard before and seemed to have additional parts of music added in that were really lovely.
Towards the end of November I attended the last day of the London Jazz Festival and the Royal Festival Hall overlooking the Thames. This is a huge festival over 9 days at about 10 venues around London. I saw this amazing group called Cascade that included a fiddle, saxophone, concertina, percussion, and sitar. Each member of the group is a highly accomplished musician in their own right. The music was fascinating and the mix of sounds very pleasing.
At the beginning of December I went to Islington Academy to see the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars. They were fantastic! They played a combination of reggae mixed with other world music sounds. They all seemed to be so engrossed in the music, it was a true joy to watch them, particularly knowing their very difficult start. As the name suggests, they are all survivors of the Sierra Leone civil war and were discovered in a refugee camp in the Republic of Guinea.
Last night I went to St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square to hear the Festive Orchestra of London perform JS Bach, Pachelbel, Mozart, and Vivaldi on period instruments. The setting was in the church and was illuminated by candles. There were 7 violins. 2 violas, 2 celli, a bass, and a harpsichord. The music was exceptional and the acoustics in the church seemed to improve the sound if that was possible. It was really inspiring and great way to start 2007.
My holiday season included some much needed time off for rest and relaxation. I didn’t realise how much I needed a little time off without running around the city, country or continent. I went to the famous Borough market on Dec. 23 and picked up all kinds of yummy things to enjoy during my days at home over the holidays. I had some fabulous sea scallops and prawns from Scotland. I also bought some of the famous Aunt Alice’s Christmas pudding with brandy cream. It was very rich and delicious. Contrary to what some people think, Christmas pudding is not anything like fruit cake, in my opinion. It is mostly raisins, sultanas, nuts, and LOTS of brandy with a little flour to hold it all together. YUM!
On Wednesday 27DEC I took the train to Weymouth in County Dorset on the south coast of the UK. As I was born in So Weymouth, Mass I have been curious about Weymouth, UK. It is a much bigger town than I expected and probably as big as Brighton. I hiked the Coast Path for 10 miles on Thursday overlooking the Channel and rolling hills of the south coast. It was a beautiful day and I saw quite a few other hikers with their dogs and families. At the half way point I came upon a lovely little pub and stopped for a drink…in this case a diet Coke. Knowing I had five miles to return to my B&B made me positive I did not want a beer. My B&B was very nice and I had a huge room with a four poster bed and a fireplace. The fireplace had been sealed off but was still lovely with what I imagine to be the original tile work around the edges as well as the cast iron stove portion. On Friday an amazing gale storm moved in and the wind was gusting to 70 miles per hour. I went to the museum and learned about the early days of the town when King George III decided to take a holiday there. Weymouth is also quite famous for being the entry point of the Black Death (plague) in 1348 which wiped out half of the population of the UK over the following two years. I walked all around the old town and the harbour and over the three days had some delicious fish and chips, Italian food, cask ales, and 3 outstanding full English breakfasts. Needless to say I did not go hungry.
My picture posting is a bit behind as I evaluate other options for my pictures. I will have an update soon with a new link to my pictures.
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2007!
Namaste.
# posted by Joy and Blues @ 12:00 pm 
