INDY UPDATE

Indy, our little grandson in Vancouver,  is coming up for 2 years old now.  Born in August 2011 he has been treated for retinoblastoma in his left eye.  After his eye was removed at age 3  months he has been monitored closely by the hospital team in Vancouver.

Today Dawn posted on Facebook (on which I follow all the various activities of the branches of the extended family) that Indy had another examination under anaesthetic.  The medical people are looking for any further evidence of tumors in the other eye.  There was none.

It certainly is a credit to the people involved at Vancouver Women and Children's Hospital and also, of course, to Dawn and Alastair who have all the work and worry looking after this little fella!

These are 2 recent photos taken by Alastair. As Dawn says, as they have got this far, maybe they are through the worst of it?

And while we are on the subject of darling little 2 year olds .... here is a photo taken of Alastair at the same age.  His hair seems to be the same colour and more or less peach fuzz!

CELEBRATING THE BIRTH OF BABY HARRIET

Alastair and Ishie have a new baby sister.  Born June 6, 2013 Harriet Barbara is John and Mairi's new beautiful daughter and our 4th grandchild.

John took this photo of the family when Harriet was one day old. She was born in the Southern General Hospital and this is her little cot at Mairi's bedside.

 

Kate D. knitted this Shetland shawl for Mairi's first-born and so it has been brought out of the cupboard for use again. 

 

Harriet in the doll's bed wrapped in Kate's shawl.  Weighing 8 lb 6 oz at birth she will soon be too big for the little doll's bed (which I got from someone in Maxholme Playgroup 35 years ago!) All the babes have had their photo taken in this little bed; that is for another post.

 

Time for tea and cupcakes.

Auntie Iseabail visiting on Sunday.  Alastair and Ishbel enjoying the gifts and attention.

Ishbel and her new little sister in the back garden on Sunday.

Time to wet the baby's head (at Maggie's in the back garden with friends.)

 

 It's pink for girls: Chapel Down English Sparkling Rosé Brut, Tenterden,
Kent, TN30 7NG, England. Purchased in Marks and Spencer.
Perfect!

INTRODUCING BABY HARRIET

The long wait is over.  Mairi and John have a beautiful baby daughter - Harriet Barbara.  This is a little sister for Ishbel (aged 6 years) and Alastair (aged 5 years).

We are all thrilled with the new addition.  This is makes grandchild no. 4 for us.  (We have Indy in Vancouver who is coming up for 2 years old.)

She came 2 hours before midnight of her due date of June 7th.  Isn't Mother Nature wonderful that after 40 lunar weeks' gestation the baby enters the world right on time!

She is perfect in every way and looks exactly like brother Alastair when he was born.  Also she seems content, as indeed Alastair was. 

She is to be called  Harriet Barbara. Harriet is a family name on John's side and Barbara is my name, her maternal granny.  However it is also the name of my mother-in-law, Barbara MacLeod nee MacKenzie or familiarly known as Barbara Sergeant because everyone in Gairloch were MacKenzies and this was a name that was used because her father was a Sergeant in the Seaforths.  She was born 1900 and married Donald MacLeod, Achilitibuie. (They had 2 children Iseabail and Iain - Harriet's Grandpa.)

RAVEL'S BOLERO FOR PIANO

Thanks to the book blog Cornflower I have discovered a video performance of a piece of music that I am currently learning to play on the piano, the well known Bolero by Ravel.  Better known as an orchestral piece here is my copy (solo piano) below.

 

It is a Spanish publication with Spanish dynamic markings. [1]   The notation is consistent with other pieces by Ravel i.e. placement of notes on the staff is slightly idiosyncratic compared to what I am used to.

This is the video. It features the Labèque sisters, Katya and Mariella, and they are playing Ravel's own arrangement for 4 hands. *

Ravel drew on music of from his Basque background. In the sisters' performance of 4.41 minutes they have added 3 Basque percussionists, the trio Kalakan.  A stunning performance!

I got a real kick out of watching this video because while I have been working on Bolero I have also just been given (well ... loaned) another piece for 4 hands by Ravel called Ma Mère l'Oye or Mother Goose Suite. [2]  I had never heard of this piece and am having fun reading through it. 

But what I really love about it, and what made me laugh when watching this video, is that Ravel does the same trick at the end of the Bolero piece for 2 pianos above as he does in the much shorter and simpler Mother Goose Suite.

What he does is have the Primo player (top line) playing repeated glissandos, i.e. running the back of your fingers up, or down, over the keys in a great flourish and in this case, punctuating each beat with percussive stab.  Wheeee! Great fun!

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[1] Bolero, Union Musical Ediciones S.L., Calle Marques de la Ensenada, 4, 28004, Madrid, 1994. ISBN 1-84449-809-3.

[2] Ma Mère l'Oye, edited by Weekley and Arganbright, Neil A Kjos Music Company, San Diego, California, 1985. ISBN 0-8497-5252-3.

* Details about this performance are on their website here.