Saturday 30 October 2010

schools

I love taking the harps into schools. Every now and then a child is scared of the harps and starts to cry but usually they love it too. I was in a school yesterday and I had played them Tchaikovsky, now known as Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty music (... groan), they had danced to Irish Jigs and pretended the music was waves, wind or fairys dancing. It was time for them to have a go and a teacher started at one end of the line and I started at the other. I held the harp for a very small child and he was brilliant. Ignoring all his class mates he tried each string and immediately put both hands to work accompanying himself. Wonderful delicate music. I asked how old he was. No reply. His classmates chipped in: 'he's seven' - 'no he's not, he's only five' - 'I thought he was still four' . No reply from the tiny musical child totally absorbed.

I tried again. 'So what do we call you then'. Again no reply but his classmates were in one voice 'Titus' - they shouted. Fantastic name! :)

Tuesday 26 October 2010

The Spa Theatre

Gosh! - I thought when I saw the size of the theatre at Bridlington. I needn't have worried as there were very few seats left. It was far too hot but the harps coped. First we pulled up at the back of the Theatre and the sea was crashing up against the wall sending spray over onto the cars. I used to have covers for every harp but gave up a few years ago as it is a lot easier to carry them and also when they are stuck up inside the car its a lot easier to see through them and drive safer!! The point of saying that is ... I can get the harps out of a hot car, get them sprayed with freezing cold surf, put them backstage - and they don't break a string (that's good maths/design for you). Thanks to everyone who came ... and clapped and cheered ... I had a fantastic time too!

I have kept Mystic-Al and Hand-Al in tune and they are doing fine. I have not, however, attempted to finish all the decoration. Too much plaster dust around! We are getting there slowly but there is still one room left to plaster and until that is done I'm not risking any painting!

I made a load of Crabapple jelly. Our resident poltergeist has been throwing apples around all week so that's put a stop to his games! I was teaching on Thursday and we kept hearing bangs against the door. When we came out the floor was absolutely covered with apples!

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Musicport this Saturday 23rd October

I seem to remember promising Dave that my culinery skills might improve if I had a proper pantry ... So far it's not evident alas! Perusing recipes is not my thing but I generally make good 'fodder'. Today I remembered to take out the blackberry and apple crumble I put in the Rayburn two days ago. It was so solid that I think it will take another two days of soaking before I can scrape it out of my favourite baking dish. Cooking coelliac pasta was my next disaster. I thought I had it all worked out but today it turned into corn soup mush in less than 5 minutes flat. Oh dear ...

Today's job was to pick the last of the apples but something happenned last night to put me off. I was actually teaching in the music room when I heard footsteps walking diagonally above us. I didn't say anything but it is actually impossible to walk in that direction. Nearing the end of the lesson we suddenly heard lots of banging and clattering above. We both looked at eachother and got up to investigate. Dave came running in to say he had just been pelted with apples coming from the attic! Sure enough when we went up there were loads of apples along the corridor. Later we set off to the garage to buy some anti-freeze and when he put on his coat guess what was in the pocket ...?

Sunday 17 October 2010

Appearing at Musicport this Saturday 23rd

I am amazed. The 'ghost child' is drawing away in the pantry and we now have 6 stick figures drawn. Some of them have skirts on. The plaster has been finished today so I can move in tomorrow and clean up the mess!

I have been busy outside wearing my 'Australian' leather hat to stop me burning in the sun! I have been searching for any stones useful for dry-stone walling and have dug them out of hedgerows and nettle patches. My back is about to break! I had to seal all the gaps underneath the shed and clean it out as the sheepdog is about to have pups.

My next job is 'progging' and I started building the bonfire today with all the prickly prunings.
My hands survived the ordeal in their old gardening gloves - good job I'm not like the harp player I was told about at a wedding the other day from Romania. She won't even wash up to 'save her hands' - ha ha!!!

Friday 15 October 2010

shelves in a pantry

Musicport - Saturday 23rd October - 10 pm

Last year I played at Musicport. It had taken Dave a lot of persuasion to convince the organisers that I could do it but they finally gave in and let me have a small room (capacity 80) people in the afternoon. Imagine my amazement when I arrived to try and carry the harp up the corridor and there were literally hundreds of people queuing to get in! Thought I must have the wrong room at first but no, they really were there to hear harp! This year I am on the main stage ... Brilliant! This is what the last 7 years of hard work were for - more please!!!

I have a brand new set of pick-ups. The trouble with inventing your own instrument is that you have no standards to rely on - just advice - loads of it from well-meaning folk. We have discovered that the pick-ups work the opposite way to what you think, eg stick one in the base of the harp and it becomes treble-high ...?! The biggest problem I have is that I cannot hear properly anymore so cannot do a soundcheck myself. As a child I used to hold a sea-shell up to my ear and listen to the 'waves' - now it sounds like that all the time!!!

Oh well, my little 'ghost' in the pantry has now drawn me 4 little stick figures - one of them whilst we had guests. Dave was interrupted cutting a sheet of plasterboard and left his pencil on top of it. One of the guests was the last to leave the room and the first to go back into it and there it was, clear as anything, about 6'' big, drawn on the plasterboard! Beautiful!

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Missing Post

Hi it is Dave here I received a letter this morning which I think was something probably intended for Fiona Katie.
Unfortunately the envelope was damaged and there was nothing in it
Royal Mail had put the empty envelope into a little neat polythene bag but since the envelope was empty I do not know who it was from!!!!!

If you send me a letter then please get in touch I cannot how frustrating this is ha ha!!!

Thursday 7 October 2010

a car named 'spider'

My son tells me he is only the 5th person in history to drive 'Spider', a 1930's racing car. He was racing his Frazer Nash at the weekend and the Chairman of the Club was invited to try Spider out but couldn't get it to start so asked my son to try. In a 'glossy' car magazine last month it said he drives as if 'his pants are on fire'. Must have done the trick as he had it to 120 mph on the straight. It doesn't actually have any brakes, just a hand brake outside the body. He is also over 6' tall and Spider is very thin, so much so that the body flexed as he squashed into it!

On the harp front - very exciting news today. A Luthier has started work on the stables so that harp production can move into there. The first job was the roof and to keep any rain out overnight we covered it with an old 'bill board' canvas advertising some Merlin/Wizard film with a 10' wide owl looking up at the sky.

To write this I had to clamber over a 4' pile of washing and boxes and boxes of very important bits and pieces from, what used to be my pantry, until the ceiling fell in! Plastering is under way and today the washing machine was fixed. A manufacturer's fault apparantly. They don't fix the electronic panel behind the buttons so every time you press a button it pushes the panel further away. Eventually nothing registers.

Tomorrow night at East Morton Institute - 7 pm - with Eddie Lawler, the Bard of Saltaire
tel 01274 564653 or email rhtassell08@live.co.uk or just turn up! (opposite the Busfield Arms)

Sunday 3 October 2010

A trip down memory lane

I have been asked to play at the East Morton Village Institute this Friday (8th October - 7.30-11 pm) alongside the Bard of Saltaire, Eddie Lawler. On the poster (if you believe such things) it will tell you I am a singer ... hmmmmm???!!!! 'Fraid not folks!!! Eddie wrote a song about me - rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, or is it strings on her fingers? It's beautiful.

By strange coincidence East Morton has connections to both Dave's and my family. My Dad was brought up there and Dave's ancestors were the Busfields - as in the Busfield Arms!

On the present-home front my pantry/utility room is nearly finished. A few weeks ago disaster struck as the roof acquired a major leak and everything looked as if it was going to fall down. We nearly got all the 'clobber' out before the ceiling caved in... Everything is covered with a layer of plaster dust but I shall be able to get on with the painting stage after tomorrow.

Cleaning the multi-strung harps between the strings is tricky so I use feathers. They are coated with natural oil and do the job well. I daren't actually count up the number of strings-on-harps in this house! Tripleharps have around 93 and the quads have about 122+ . I do also have a few single-strung harps for teaching.

See you this Friday? It should be an entertaining evening as they have real ale and wine and candles! Phone 01274 564653 for tickets in advance £5 or on the door £6 - all in aid of the Village Institute.