chicken rescue at midnight

In the corner of our field by the wood all overgrown with nettles is an old caravan. It has been taken over by chickens and last night Dave was locking them in when he heard a sound. Sadly, a dying hen - maybe a fox attack or mink. He was about to come back in when he heard a tiny squeak and out from under the caravan rolled a chick.

It took 2 car jacks, an awful lot of nettle stings and a neighbour's help but eventually he passed out the chicks and then the eggs and I rushed back to the house. The eggs were cold and one of the chicks had 'done the splits' and wasn't moving much.

I stuck the box into the oven of the Rayburn - (and left the door open!) Found the incubator and turned it on in the living room. It took about an hour to heat up and all the time I had to monitor the oven temperature by leaving the door wide open or closing it slightly again ... but ... amazingly all the chicks were soon jumping around and cheeping loudly and the eggs were 'chipping'. This morning we have 9 beautiful bouncing fluffy chicks and one egg still to hatch - a 'blooming miracle'!!!

Thank you so much for the 'comment' - so funny and thanks to Circus Envy for the mention on yr blog - all the best to you all

Yorkshire Symphony

My harp room is a bit like the set from Goldilocks. There are so many variations of harps and people that over the years I have collected loads of different stools to sit on. I am forever lugging harps and chairs around and usually I find myself with nothing to sit on... Last night I 'stole' the posh laminated sign from my seat at the Preview and it says 'Reserved for Fiona-Katie Roberts - BBC' - oh yes - serious respect now please!!!!

Seriously though - the film is fantastic - the BBC kept asking whether I had reached for my hankie - perhaps I am just too practical but I didn't! I found it very uplifting and a joy to watch and listen to - you never knew what was going to happen next! Apparantly the 'train shot' was taken in one go - the steam train was in time with the music! Harry Gration called me the Exotic Harpist and I got to talk to the Carillonneur from York Minster .... oh yes .... serious respect, again.

radio leeds

Update - on Radio Leeds tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 9.40 am!

building harps

Well the race building harps continues. Thought I had got nothing done yesterday as it took so long to saw the top of the soundbox into exactly the right shape and get some massive bolts in to hold it to the head. My arm was aching badly by the end of it all! This is why I don't want to make any more harps after the next 3 (all re-builds so not as bad). None of my friends believe me but honestly it is hard work. I will still have to repair harps, string them and would love to decorate them still but no more jigsaws and clamps!

I am googling away trying to find an image of an owl to use on Mystic-Al. My last harp (Celesti-Al) I found a poem on a 15th lute. It reads 'I was silent in the woods, cut down by the cruel axe but in death I sweetly sing'. I copied the poem in latin on one side and english on the other and painted 2 trees at the bottom. Mystic-Al has a reinforced forepillar, made out of an old bed frame, and I came across an oak leaf carving in the wood pile which I think had come off an old piano I was stripping. The oak leaf just covers the join perfectly and above it will be the owl.

The Yorkshire Symphony preview is on Wednesday this week and I am trying to find a time for another interview on Radio Leeds.

Hilditz

The nuns at my old school are in trouble again. They want to sell land to build a Tescos. The townsfolk (according to national news) want a Sainsburys built on industrial land. The last time I recollect the nuns being in trouble was when the school shut. The Mother Superior made a statement to the press that in hindsight the school had been far too repressive and she regretted this. We were not allowed access to TV, radio or allowed to play music - we were allowed one phone call home on our mother's birthday although if you were lucky you could blag one a term. We were allowed to receive and send one letter a week and they read through our letters and if one didn't suit them they read it out to class to humiliate us.

From starting the school the nuns had me playing the piano in chapel and soon I was having to get up earlier than everyone else to play for mass at 7 and evensong later on. I was also the musical entertainment - any pop songs were sung to me and I could easily come up with an arrangment on one of the many old pianos scattered around the old school. I cannot remember why but for some reason as a punishment the nuns locked all the pianos and to retaliate I unpicked the locks with a hairgrip and played them a death march at midnight. The funny thing was they were not allowed to speak after 9 pm so they would signal their displeasure and I was locked in the laundry cupboard for the rest of the night!

you can't rush a good wine - er I mean - harp

Yes - lots of time waiting for paint to dry. I am enjoying this part of making Mystic-Al. Loads of intricate patterns with gold and black paint. I have studied the decoration on antique harps - postcards, graves, church windows, Christmas cards, museums of course and once got to see the most amazing original 15th Century book on instruments. I was asked if I wanted to look at it - in a private collection at Micklethwaite. The most amazingly wierd collection of instruments ever - they literally tried everything! Most of my willow experiment died in the drought earlier this year but I shall just plant some more next year - this is to try and grow it into the right shape before it is cut...a long term project to make some wierd and wacky instruments especially for people like me.

Anyway back to the point... the decoration is looking fabulous and then comes the difficult part of staining the wood and polishing over without losing the decoration. I have just finished one side and am waiting for it to dry. It is laid out on top of the dining table as I type. This decoration was inspired by the walls of Mitton Hall. The oldest Great Hall in England I think - a huge dragon stretching half way across the main beam high up overlooking the minstral's gallery. Not very easy to see nowadays as the new owners have hung a huge modern chandeliar and you cannot see past the glare. No comment.

Mystic-Al and Dav-Al

Me and my son took a friend of mine out - in a car that turned out to be the same age as he was! Originally belonging to the Maharaja of India the Delage it was built in the 20s and painted Bugatti blue - not the blue I know about but a very light colour that looked white in the twilight. My son was taking it through its paces after an engine rebuild before it sets off next month for the Peking to Paris rally. It had a rather large dent in the fender - turned out it hit a rock in a river in Kazakhstan on a previous rally.

Not my favourite car though! I was asked to be the judge (which meant I had to wave the chequered flag) at Cadwell Park when I was 13 and I was always so thrilled when the Fraser Nashs (chain gang) won.

On harp matters - Dav-Al is coming along - the soundbox is finished (not painted) and is like glass to touch it is so smooth. I never got the holes drilled in Mystic-Al - will try again tomorrow!

Aoelus

Well that's the last time I mention God's of Wind in my lessons! (Attempts at glissando) Non-stop, it has been. Blown all the gorgeous scented rose petals off the bushes in the yard that usually last the month.

We officially live in a hamlet - originally there were 12 families living here. We are still assigned one yellow street light. It has a nice community feel about it at the moment. Always someone around to chat to! Builders are doing up the cottages next door. It cost us a bottle of wine because they left the gate open and our trainee sheepdog took advantage and chased all the sheep into the next door farm's garden .... whoops. She then got them cornered by the patio window and sat by them till we found her and gave her new instructions. A few chairs knocked over and the gravel churned up but no lasting damage, thankfully!

barbed wire harps

Well I'm back at Wycoller - wonder if 'Squire Cunliffe' will be there? I chatted to him a couple of years ago and he told me his Grandma had taught Harpo Marx to play the harp. He told me a wonderful story about Harpo (but you have to come to my concerts to hear it) but he seemed more at home in his long curly grey whig, tights and high-heeled black shiney shoes with huge silver buckles showing everyone around his old Hall ...

Thank you to the person who gave me a picture of the harp Salvador Dali made for Harpo - with barbed wire - fantastic. I try and think of a suitable name and all I can come up with at present - with apologies - is Painf-Al.

Thank you also for the comment on the last blog.

See you at Wycoller for a pure Celtic, historical harp indulgence - Sunday 2-4 pm (yes the times have changed - we're very laid back there)

Bells in A

Bob Hoskins smiled at me! A long, slow smile across a crowded room, just a couple of seconds. I was playing the harp at a wedding and he was apparantly related somehow to one of the couple. The hotel is a favourite of mine, no flashiness to impress, very classy and I often chat to people and come away and think - was that ...?

Last summer I was sat at the bottom of the 'back stairs' playing at a wedding when I noticed a girl sat half way up, almost hidden, in a white track suit. We shared a couple of laughs at the goings on of the guests and young bridesmaids. It was only afterwards that the staff told me it was Kiera Knightly.

I am playing at Wycoller Park next Sunday afternoon - we thought this had gone with the cuts but I am valued apparantly. I will be playing my version of Owen O'Rourke with the big bell in A.

daisy chains and recording

Well, we didn't want to waste the Yorkshire Symphony dress so decided to do a video today. Alas the vicious wind is still blowing whipping dress and hair around and blowing the harp over. No good for Aeolian harp either alas. When filming we found a few spots on the moor where the harp hummed by itself but we didn't get the wild screaming that sends shivers down your spine. I remember going up to the moor top with the kids when Haley's Comet was passing overhead. We had a superb vantage point and the kids took rain sticks, small harps and percussion to play their own Symphony to the sky.

I have kept the sprig of heather that Benjamin Till put into my hair whilst filming! He made himself a chain of Colt'sfoot flowers, apololgising to each flower for picking it first - of course! I loved the bits of music I heard on the 'ghetto-blaster' (held out of camera shot behind the rock I was stood on). Hearing is, as ever, such a problem for me and playing against the wind in time was a challenge! My finger ends became too cold to play by the end but at least the rain held off!

buzzing

I am taking a break from sewing flowers in organza for the Yorkshire Symphony dress and sorting out a 'buzzing' sound on Recyc-Al. The Yorkshire Symphony are filming me on Tuesday on the moors above our farm. I still haven't heard the tune - just snatches here and there very briefly.

This afternoon I met my daughter Philippa in Warrington to hand back her harp, now mended with few new strings and a bit of polish. Didn't have time to clean it - the best way to get between the strings/pegs is to use bird feathers. I now have an excuse to carry on that childhood habit of picking up feathers. They also have oil on them which polishes the wood a bit. A Flautist told me - its an ancient trick to clean Ebony flutes.

The buzzing appeared after the harp was stuck in the car for 2 hours the other afternoon in scorching sunshine. Normally if I have a gig/wedding I set off very early and find somewhere to park under a tree and take a picnic and a good book until its time for the wedding. I don't have a very modern car so no air-con. This time however we were summoned to a recording studio in the centre of Leeds - slow traffic and definitely no trees. I covered the harps up with old sleeping bags but it still got too hot for them. I took a 'back-up' harp and the damage was 2 broken strings and the 'buzzing'...

Well, must get drilling and see if I can fix it... (now you know why harps were predominantly played in the cooler parts of the world).