Wednesday 30 May 2018

GRANDCHILDREN IN THE WOODS UPDATE

This is a recent photos of John and Mairi's gang.  Locatioin is Benmore Gardens in Dunoon.
Ellie is 3 years old, Ishie is 11 years old, Mairi and John, then Harriet in front who will be 5 years old next week and lastly Alastair who is 10 years old.


Monday 14 May 2018

FAMILY PHOTOS SPRING 2018



Dawn and Indy (6)


Harriet and Ellie 'Gnomes'


 The Popsicle Gang

Me (experimenting with Photoshop frames!)


Saturday 12 May 2018

SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA END OF SEASON CONCERT 2018

It was a great night Friday at the SCO concert in the City Halls, Glasgow. There were 3 pieces with the highlight being the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto played by this visiting artiste:

Renaud Capuçon*
He is French and is definitely crème de la crème!  It was the last concert of the season and, as usual, Glasgow audiences were 'up for it'. 

He absolutely raced through the piece. I think that created a problem: the orchestra wasn't 'together' part of the time.  To me it sounded a bit ragged. Maybe under-rehearsed?  However, the applause at the end of thunderous so his talent was certainly appreciated.

So was the problem the conductor?  This is a seriously good orchestra so I am at a bit of a loss here.  There are no reviews (so far) that I can find.
That's the bad news; the good news is... it was one of the best concerts I have ever attended; I greatly enjoyed the whole evening! But as usual I have got things back to front, i.e. I produce a good account but for all the wrong reasons!

 The conductor Gustavo Gimeno**

I simply could not take my eyes off the conductor! His name is Gustavo Gimeno. He is Spanish. Sitting in the centre Stalls 6 rows back from the front of the stagel I faced directly on to the conductor's podium.


This photo above, taken from a video clip on YouTube, illustrates what I was looking at ... which was, of course, his back. But why was I so captivated throughout the entire concert? Was it the music?  Was it being so close to the whole orchestra who were playing their socks off, so to speak?

No... the reason is sartorial! The conductor was wearing the most beautiful garment I have ever seen!

I don't know who his tailor is but he is very well served! The cloth was fine and draped well; the fit was perfect. It was cut as above and never looked scrunched or disheveled despite 2 hours of continuous movement. It was such a joy to see such beautiful craftsmanship!

So it was a memorable evening to close the season. As always it is enjoyable to be part of a Glasgow audience (where I always meet and greet folk I know) but  I do have to confess that I was quite blown away by the young conductor in his cutaway coat!

__________________________________________________________
* Photo of Renaud Capuçon by Simon Fowler; tree photo by J Albiston
** Photo by Marco Borggreve

Thursday 10 May 2018

IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME AGAIN

Another day ... and another birthday.  74 years!  


Pick some flowers: peacock narcissus. I started this blog May 10,2007... on this particular day. The link to it is here: [http://off-at-a-tangent.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/launch-day.html]  I had trouble finding it so I add this as a double reference for the future!.

Later:  I found this from my 65th birthday! 



Friends are coming for dinner (Ottilia and Roger, Dick P) and Iain is making the meal.

I am still buying wine for the label.  Here is a funky one I picked up recently at Majestic Wines.  Big, colourful and jammy... just like the label.


I am still baking bread, as seen here above.  This is my lunch today: bread made 2 days ago for folk coming for an evening meal; crowdie (low fat Scottish chesse  ... a bit like cottage cheese put through a sieve).  

After 50 years of marriage the cutlery still does not match (it's a long story).  That yellow dish is my mother's.  It is awaiting a bunch of olives going into it for tonight's meal.  And the candlesticks came from Iseabail's flat.  They are silver and should polish up nicely.


The garden is doing well.  I spend a lot of time in it and it gives me enormous pleasure (plus exercise). Do I get help?  Uh-h-h no.  Iain sails and climb mountains.  I have learned to cut my cloth accordingly e.g. no heavy pots to lug around.


I keep busy with musical things. I still take piano lessons which fuction as a battery-charger or jump-leads.  I am involved with this organisation and produce their publicity material (voluntarily) using desktop publishing software.  This is next year's brochure which is just about ready for the printer.
The sailing desktop publishing work (voluntary) dried up as everything now goes directly on the their internet site ... which is fine.  (I don't do web sites etc.) The other thing is that my eyes get tired especially as I tend to spend too long sitting looking at the screen!