A Beautiful and Productive Day by Becky
what a good day!
I always try to begin my day practicing the beautiful meditation of Falun Dafa, and then I have set myself up for the day…. it is lovely to do either sat on my bed, or when it’s warmer, in the garden with the birds merrily singing in the background.
It’s been a very wonderful day today. One of those days where nothing was planned, with a few jobs that needed doing lined up for when the moment took me, and the usual everyday life things that needed to be done were done as the day presented itself to me.
These are quite often the best days. The simple days. Simple times. Quite often when I have surrendered to such times, they unfold in the most beautiful and unexpected ways, unimaginable to me, a mere mortal. This reminds me of the wonderful ways of nature. It links to trust and faith and the ability to just let it all be.
In my contentment, I did a little work in the garden, I tended to the tomatoes I’d planted in dad’s greenhouse in his honour, and had a few moments of contemplation whist enjoying the incredibly beautiful old rose scent from the standard rose we’d planted in remembrance. Oh how we have coped and how we have grown and how we have bonded together in his absence. Life is moving along really happily.
The garden is thriving! Butterflies flitting from begonias to buddleia to lavender and beyond. The families of sparrows and blackbirds and wood pigeons carrying on with their daily habits, the odd little squabble and the light fluttering of wings. They move so fast! Darting in and out of the garden over the fence to their bushes, and as I watch them I notice that the blackberries creeping over from the other side of the fence will be really abundant this year too!
Me and my lovely mum.
a life changing moment
Later, a little trip to the post box with my faithful dog Connie, to post one of my ‘Jamaican Woodpecker’ prints to my friend Kate, followed an amazing conversation we’d just had. It was one of those unexpected moments that leaves a lasting impression on you and changes your life -
It came out of the blue, I had messaged Kate to see how she was and we chatted and caught up, then she told me her partner Pete, has just finished and would be premiering his latest opera ‘Spring Street’. She shared a link to some of his work from past years, and when I listened to ‘The Sky Beneath our Feet’ I was blown away. The hairs on the back of neck stood up and I wanted to fly and to sing! I want to share his music with you, thanks to Kate, so it is below. It is truly beautiful. I sent it to some friends earlier and also to Paula. She said ‘I felt I was being soothed and swayed and rocked gently’.
Pete is the creator the Immersive Forest (iForest) which is ‘a creative infrastructure developed by composer, Pete M. Wyer. The iForest presents sound works distributed across a chosen area via independent speakers which may be inside or outside. Sounds and music in the iForest can be changed in the same way that a theatre changes productions.’
Since I was little, I have loved bird song, especially the morning and evening chorus where, if you are fortunate enough to be completely immersed in it, I find deeply spiritual. Growing up I would sit in the garden quite often until dusk, listening to the birds and in particular to the lonesome song of our resident male blackbird. It was blissful. We had a huge garden and lots of trees around us, so it was wonderful and I’m fortunate now to live next to the River Avon with a magical woodland on our doorstep where I have spent a lot of time over the years, sitting in the woods, taking my work and my dog, a blanket to sit on and something to drink or eat, and am there all day. I love the peaceful solitude. The work I have been involved with is of a quite traumatic and disturbing nature so the woods offer me solace as I work.
With all this in mind, my love of birdsong, the woods, the deep connection I have to nature and my love of choral singing, classical music, beauty and tranquillity, you can imagine how thrilled I was to be introduced to Pete’s beautiful immersive music (Apologies Kate that I hadn’t paid enough attention before - we have both been so involved with quite serious issues and have been ploughing on heads down and sometimes I forget to look up - which is another reason for this website!) And it was also wonderful to discover, whilst chatting to Kate that our friend Benedict Rogers’s sister, renowned violinist Ruth Rogers plays in some of Pete’s music.
Please leave a comment at the end of this blog post, if you are also moved, and I will let him know - it is good to have feedback if you have created something.
“In creating The Sky Beneath our Feet, I was especially interested in how the trees were experiencing the world, and the idea that trees communicate with each other and support each other. I knew I wanted to primarily use a 72-voice choir (or nine choirs of eight voices each) each with a separate speaker, spread over the wide area where there are live oaks. I also knew that I wanted these voices to evoke something of the world of those trees. This led me to the question: ‘what do these voices actually sing?’ I didn’t want to simply give them nonsense sounds but it felt forced to use language in the way humans commonly do. But when I started looking back at very early languages I found what I was hoping for: ancient runic languages such as Elder Futhark and Ogham have a limited number of symbols with multiple possible meanings, these seemed to come from cultures that revered nature and lived with a much closer relationship to it. Not only that but I liked the fact of communicating not in complex sentences but more in shared and exchanged understandings. Similarly with Aquitanian, the ancient and unique forerunner of today’s Basque language, I liked the fact that these people built altars to evergreen oaks (giving the first movement its title ‘Artahe’). I used other languages too, especially from cultures where I felt there was a tradition of reverence of nature.”
To listen click the white arrow in the centre of the photo above - it will take you to a video. To find out more - this is a link to Pete’s website - The Sky Beneath Our Feet – PMW Music. And also I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Pete and all the best with his premiere tonight for his new opera - ‘Spring Street’. And thank you for bringing your music to the rest of us!
PETE M. WYER is a composer and musician from England whose works often involve storytelling and innovation, especially in the area of immersive sound. He has created scores for the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Juilliard, the orchestra of Welsh National Opera, The Crossing, BBC Television and the Royal Opera House as well as creating seven operas and music theatre works. - from his website - Biography – PMW Music
a little repair job
Next, after I’d managed to infuse myself with so much of this beautiful music my heart felt light, on to a little repair job in the conservatory.
My parents ‘inherited’ my dad’s parent’s very cute little sofa from the 1930’s. It has been built to last, is filled with horse hair and with a very sturdy wooden frame and beautiful feet. There were two armchairs, but one had to go as there was no room, but we are lucky to have these two beautiful pieces of timeless furniture.
The conservatory has to cope with harsh extremes, at the moment it is like an oven, enabling me to dry lots of things in there from dog beds to rose petals (you can see in my blog Rosa Rugosa potpourri — Carry Forth Tradition), and seeds… and in the winter it can get damp and very, very cold. So over time, the beautiful white linen mum had it covered in a few years ago has become very discoloured and has developed weak points. When I removed the cover last week - to wash - we discovered the fabric had perished and torn quite badly. So today I repaired it. It’s not anything I have done before, so I just used my initiative. I cut up an old cotton pillow case and fixed it over the tears with some of that stuff you can use to hem trousers or skirts - which you iron over and it basically melts into the fabric. You add it in like a sandwich filling, between the fabric you are working on and the fabric you are patching the tear with. As you can see, in the process, even with the patches covered with an extra layer of cloth, I managed to scorch the already damaged lined upholstery! You need a very HOT iron, and thankfully it was just discoloured and not damaged.(This is why I am not a fan of ironing!). It took me quite some time, sitting in Connie’s bed on the floor, carefully cutting small pieces of cloth to size and making sure the edges are sealed. The result was good. Connie was glad to get her bed back and mum was really pleased.
And to end the day, lucky me! - Mum had made a chicken curry from scratch - delicious, followed by strawberries and ice cream. And cream. Yummy! Here are photos of our strawberry plants, and because we have been keeping up eating them, the ones we had for dinner were from the Green Grocers, but they were a little sour, enough to make you squeeze your eyes shut.
My Auntie brought these beautiful sweet peas, which she grew, round for mum yesterday - I wish you could smell them. As I was taking a photo mum produced two bowls of strawberries and ice-cream - as if by magic - so I left them in the picture where she just plonked them. The pot of cream has just emerged too.....
And while I am writing, I may as well be brave, I made these bottles with my artwork on, they’re quite expensive to make, and people like them, so if I find a cheaper way to do it, I will add them to my Little Shop, but for now - they are presents for my family. The are gorgeous!
howard
I’ve never seen Howard looking miserable. In fact, he is lovely to have around. Quite often I hear him singing as he works, through the fence or over the wall, and he has such a great voice. You can hear him singing for us here -
Howard is quite charming! He was born in 1942 and grew up in Hunmanby, on what was Pinfold Lodge, and old Farm, and later was a singer at Butlins down the road with the likes of Des O’Conner. Later he got married and moved to Filey. Everyone knows him! We’ve known him forever, but more so for the last, nearly 20 years, my parents have lived here. We’ve always supplied him with drinks, tea, coffee the odd biscuit and a friendly chat over the fences, leaning on our stable door. He keeps people’s garden’s looking very immaculate., With stripes on next doors’ grass, laces training branches in the right direction, gently and swiftly working his way along the borders and on the verges along the street where he cuts the grass, just because it makes the place look well loved. Since dad died, he has been in and out of our garden many times to cut the grass and we have to ‘trick’ him into accepting any money for his help because he is so kind! It is a battle otherwise hee hee.
I asked him to sing a song for me to record, and this was last week he was especially pleased this time as he had a small audience in number and stature, as it was me, mum and mum’s sister Auntie Joan. We are all short and sweet! (Dad always said ‘They don’t make diamonds as big as bricks’ I can hear him in my ear now!)
To end the day, here are some photos from the garden. I hope you enjoy these phots and especially treat yourself to listen to the beautiful music I passed on to you!
