Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Just what the doctor ordered...

Playlist
Alban Berg Quartett - Hommage
Herman Van Veen - Was Ich Dir Singen Wollte
Herman Van Veen - Nu en Dan 30 Jaar

Up at six...



Meg still asleep...



...until I walked past...


The spiders work quickly at Crispycat Towers - the window cleaners were here just a couple of days ago...


Out into the sun very early on a busy day...




The last in July...


...and which included a tasty lunch at The Red Squirrel with chums Margaret, Fiona, Pamela and Lindsay...

A year tomorrow since the release of "Starlightnight"...

"Riverleaves" still postponed although available to stream and download...

In the evening, a visit from nephew Ollie, who we decided we would call Salvo (as in Montalbano)...

We enjoyed the first three of 101 episodes of "Dr Who"...


We are hoping "Dr Who" visits will become a regular occurrence...


Late on some lovely, quiet, songs in Dutch from Herman Van Veen...

Nice...

Meanwhile Anne and Meg finished the day with "Celebrity Masterchef"...


Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Revisiting Dr Who with my nephew....

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Heavenly masses...

Playlist
Huelgas Ensemble - In Musica Vivarte
Copland - Piano Sonata
Corigliano - String Quartet
Brummel - Et Ecce Terrae Motus
Marcello - Oboe Concertos
Various - 2013 Acquisitions
Various - Albums of the Year 1959-2012

Three Huelgas Ensemble discs are on their way - partly funded by two refunds received re (a) an erroneous disc received and returned and (b) a disc which did not appear...

Here is the collection thus far re said band...


This evening, some tasty pasta up to the usual Exec Producer standards, was followed by an old but still entertaining "Big Bang Theory" and the first in the latest series of "New Tricks", enjoyable hokum...

No computing...

Enjoyable relaxation time late on to the sounds of Mr Marcello's oboe works...

Tomorrow evening a nephew visit to start a new project - watching every episode of "Dr Who" since the reboot started in 2005...

That's just over 100 episodes we'll need to watch - you can guess the rest...

Highlight of the Day : Getting home...

Monday, July 29, 2013

Little boots, not little boots...

Playlist
Various - Rock & Pop Albums of the Year 1959-2012
Various - Rock & Pop 2013 Acquisitions
Robert Miller - Sound Forms for Piano
Gubailudina - Piano Works
Various Composers - Italian Piano Music 1935-1990

More thunder and lightning today...



Reduced to taking pictures of my cash...




Later, the sun was out again...



...and, after Anne's return from Zumba and some very tasty salad, we enjoyed a BBC documentary on the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus...


AKA Caligula...

In much the same way as Dr Phillipa Gregory, in her recent documentary and in the current BBC adaptation of her novels, "The White Queen", has sought to right some of the post death propaganda wrongs against Richard III, so Dr Mary Beard, in this programme, attempted to cast Caligula in a slightly better light than that to which we are use to seeing him...

Of course, personally, having watched "I Claudius" at seventeen and having been fed the history of the early Roman emperors by Robert Graves, who channelled Tacitus, Plutarch and Suetonius, I remained kind of sceptical...

Interesting nonetheless...

Late on, Gubaidulina's weird and wonderful piano concerto entertained as I ordered some more (frankly unnecessary) discs by yesterday's faves, the Huelgas Ensemble...

Lights out - with Scelsi on the cans...

Highlight of the Day : Caligula's story, flaws and all...

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Unproblematic assembly...

Playlist
Perusio - Virelais, Ballades, Caccia
Gubaidulina - Piano Works
Robert Wilson Sound forms for Piano

Good to see Meg the Black Cat up on one of her old perches - she's been spending most of her time at ground level lately...


First listen this morning was the oldest single composer music I own (yes I've been updating my CD list)...

Matheus de Perusio was born around 1418...

650-700 year old music graced the back room...


The very good indeed Paul Van Nevel and his Huelgas Ensemble being the artists on my 1998 released disc - I have a goodly number of their CDs in the collection...

Breakfast reasonably early at Patisserie Florentin...


...before a roadworks induced long road for a short cut out to Ikea for a new piece of furniture, followed by a visit to my mum...

Back home and said furniture was assembled unproblematically...


...and was soon in place...


A celebratory slice of last night's giant Lemon Meringue Pie was enjoyed - Penny had put a couple of sparklers in the bag...


Three of my recently ordered CDs arrived yesterday - tonight ripping and listening to two of them...

The Kronos quartet disc is subject to an agreed refund, the wrong disc having been in the case...

Here I am complaining about it...


"The White Queen" continued to entertain and, all too quickly, the weekend was over once again...

Highlight of the Day : Building...

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Leopard ears, animal face...

Playlist
Vivaldi - Bassoon Concertos
Various - Albums of the Year 1959-2012

Breakfast at home...


Meg the Black Cat wanted my egg roll...


She nearly succeeded but was thwarted by some nifty handling on your correspondent's part...


Meanwhile, the moon was out...


...as were the flowers...


Single bee doing its rounds, not pictured despite several attempts...


Later, a walk from Roseburn...


...along the water of Leith...


How did this get in there?




The tennis club at the site of my last gig to date - now six months or so ago - over fifteen since CBQ appeared "onstage"...


Onwards...


A grey (even though it's yellow) wagtail spotted...


Onward...


A new view thanks to a very slight detour...


Down onto the river for the first view of the newly cleaned up St Bernard's Well...






...gifted to the city by Mr William (not Willie) Nelson...


People don't seem to do that much anymore...


A totally un-needed book of writings on Pop music bought at the Age Concern shop for a squid then a much-needed coffee...


A browse around with nothing further bought, before we headed back, spotting the resident Heron fishing in a small waterfall...



Lunch at home...


Mmm, Apple Danish...


...also enjoyed by an ant...


Some considerable time spent actually finishing the "Albums of the Year" project...


Now all on the recently re-found 32GB stick for the car...

Around seven, a lift from Count Brodski to Castle Brodski for an evening of fun with Alan and Penny...


Prosecco on the balcony...


...before a tasty meal...


...the prep for which also included much wafting of towels in the vicinity of an overactive smoke alarm...


Salmon fillets in a Hollandaise sauce with samphire and potatoes...

Very tasty...


As the light faded...


..the much vaunted Love Parade 30 year re-boot was rehearsed for in the newly prepared kitched...


An eleven year ago art festival was commemorated...


...and pudding was awaited...


Ta-dah!  Home made giant Lemon Meringue Pie...

...with sparklers...



And then, to the living room for drinks, chat and music - Alan's choices coming in for a bit of a slagging from the ladies...





I was ok with it...


At 2, things were getting silly...



Back home around 3, ditto...


To bed - good day...

Highlight of the Day : A visit to Castle Brodski...