The importance of 'O'

I had to play 4 hymns and one of them was entitled Bread of Heaven - this was a message on facebook. I checked my 6 different hymn books and eventually found it. It had 2 tunes - one by Bach. It was a beautiful 'moody' tune so I learnt it. Having not much time and no-one to ask I decided I had better learn the alternative tune as well. When I arrived at the church there was no-one about - except the coffin - so I knew I was in the right place. Five minutes later the church wardens were puzzled when I asked them which tune was usually sung to Bread of Heaven. Eventually they asked 'you don't mean O Bread of Heaven do you?'. Mystery solved ...! I borrowed the organists's hymn book and sight-read the tune. Today's job was to dust off all the harps. There are a few harps in the barn and they were cleaner than the ones in the house! A few weeks ago the ceiling fell in, then the plasters, then the sanding ... the dust was horrendous. I took off the worst with the vacuum but getting between the strings took time and ... turkey feathers! I have noticed as well that they have good anti-stat properties. The flautists in Ireland used to clean their ebony flutes with feathers as they had natural oils. Well, we are nearly back on track in the house - just a few painting and gluing jobs to do. The ceiling knocked the cornices off a couple of antique cupboards so I boiled up some proper rabbit glue which stank but is apparantly what was used in the old days. We'll see!

Snow stops everything

Well since I last wrote the snow arrived and the Rainhall Concert had to be cancelled. I managed to take Copernicus out to the local pub at the weekend to put it through its paces. Dave woke up at 3 am the other morning so decided to email a few venues - whether they were impressed by the timing or just by Dave's words we don't know but it did the trick and we have a few more venues booked for later in the year. The snow appeared normal at first, we normally get a lot of it and have a car that will convert to 4-wheel drive if we need it, but this time we were caught out. We set off to take Dave's son Jack back to his Mum's house and set off up the drive at twilight. About half way up we noticed this white wall and could just see the top 2' of the streetlight stuck out the top. It never occurred to us until we got close that it was snow - we thought a white wagon had parked across the top of the drive. The drift was the size of a bungalow. We reversed back down the drive, which was already over a foot deep in places and Dave went for the tractor. He tried to smash his way through the side but it stopped the tractor in its tracks. Plan 'B' was to go up through the field and smash through the tiny snowdrift across the gate to the road (only about 4' high and 3' wide). It took two attempts and an hour later we set off up the field. We still had to run at it so I stood in the road incase someone was coming. We still have 2' drifts and the huge drift at the top which had to be dug out with the JCB is now about 3' high. Dave is busy writing his new book - I am very lucky to get fantastic bedtime stories! I cannot wait until it is finished - well actually I just want the story to go on forever but then that would be the next book ... already in the planning ... and just wait until you hear the music from ancient Persia. More soon ...

22nd March 2013 The Rainhall Centre, Barnoldswick

I am sat here surrounded by fumes ... Dave is stripping the doors in the sitting room! I have lit lavender incense sticks and opened every window but to no avail ... and we are cold again!!!!!! It is actually snowing outside but not settling. Since last post I have moved the turkeys to a new pen and played in front of a few hundred more people. The front row were moved to tears when I played the laments for Ruth and Jaques from the The Book of Caris. The night before I played I carried 7 turkeys to their new home - up-side-down by their legs. They are so huge that I had to hold my arm up high to stop them hitting the ground. Later we weighed one and it was 30 kgs! I am still adjusting strings on the new harp, Copernicus, and am waiting for my drill to charge up to drill out a couple of peg holes. Just a couple of millimetres will make all the difference! When you have over 122 strings it gets a bit cramped and accuracy to a split millimetre is very important. The other problem I have which is unavoidable is as you tune it (and take out the 27% stretch in the nylon string) you end up with too much wound on the peg and have to undo it pull the extra through, cut it off, and start again. THE BOOK OF CARIS is at The Rainhall Centre, Barnoldswick on 22nd March 2013. More details soon but a lovely story, fascinating history and beautiful music ...

Copernicus

The new harp, Copernicus, is very nearly ready. I painted the back today with blackboard paint and the metal strips are ready to be fastened on the sides tomorrow. We are a little bit more organised since the last post - we are warm again! The boiler was actually condemned because the original installers had messed up 2 years ago. I am disgusted but there is nothing we can do as they are no longer in trading. Roll on Spring - I saw some crocus's today - we are so high up here the snowdrops are just appearing! I am giving two lectures this week, Ripon on Friday and Harrogate on Monday - both on The Book of Caris. We are giving a full performance on Friday 22nd March at The Rainhall Centre in Barnoldswick. I shall leave you with a quote: "Caris told Jaques many things and told Jaques of the spririt of the wind who played music through the trees and the spririt of the earth and how the earth could feel pain when man cut into it for his greed and how it would shake like a dog shifting to get comfortable again and that mankind would know of this shifting."

Wuthering ...

We have had no heating for a week and it is so cold. To make matters worse we had just decided to strip and renovate the sitting room - where the wood burning stove is! It all started just over 3 weeks ago when I walked through the sitting room and heard a noise. Next second the ceiling came down on top of me. I ran (the wrong way as it happens) and it followed me, knocking the cornice from the top of the old bacon cupboard which also hit me on the head. We had a plasterer do the whole ceiling and we started stripping the old wallpaper off. As we did huge chunks of plaster fell off the chimney breast so Dave had to plasterboard it and re-plaster that! Just as we got back to basics again the boiler broke. We have lit the stove and it has 4 radiators connected to it but it barely makes a difference. It is now snowing outside! The good news is that the engineer has just rung to say we are his next job today. Fingers crossed that it is easy to fix ... I am giving lectures in Harrogate and Ripon this week on my husband's book 'The Book of Caris' and its music. It starts 2,000 years ago in Aethiopia and the story and music travels across to Britannia. The history is fascinating, the story beautiful, the words Eternal and the music (which reflects the differing styles) gorgeous. Now too cold to type!

Of Love and Harp Music

I am playing at a Valentine Dinner at SCARTOP RESTAURANT - starts at 7 for 7.30 I shall be playing background music throughout the 3 course meal and then will give a presentation on 'Love' with music afterwards. Tickets are available from Mark of Maxine on 0744 950 9423

Old Year's Night

I mentioned the title today and the reception was surprising. No-one had heard the expression for years apparantly! The reason for my mention was a sad one. We lost Flossy the donkey. She was only 6 but Dave rescued her and the vets wanted to put her out of her suffering straight away. He had to persuade them to keep her alive. She was expecting and gave birth to a very healthy jet black male donkey who we call Dodge. She fed him and looked after him and did a splendid job. He pined terribly for a while and we looked for another donkey but in the end circumstances put us in touch with a pigmy goat called Dennis. He was visibly terrified at first when we introduced them but Dodge was so gentle with him. Dennis has his own corner to hide away in the stable when they are inside and Dodge looks and steps so carefully so as not to harm him by mistake. They are now inseparable and run around eachother when they are in the field. They even share a bucket of food. It happenned by mistake at first and we worried that Dennis wouldn't get enough food. He is very smart however - Dodge is the perfect gentleman and takes some food and then gives Dennis a chance. Not so Dennis. Once he sticks his head in the bucket his horns reach up the rim and Dodge looks on bemused as he lowers his head and gets his nose pricked!