October will see the centenary of Conservatorio Nacional de Música, one of the most venerable musical institutions of Bolivia. For this great occasion a small team of visionaries has put together an Encounter of Bolivian Musicians, bringing together an array of musical personalities connected with the Conservatorio, which means, give […]
Life on Tynedale and the endless works needed on the house have brought a procession of interesting characters I never tire of observing. There is the Chimney Sweeper, with a colourful, resonant voice and a use of the dialect that epitomises the vocal music of this region. There is the […]
Geordie’s demise has transformed the dynamic between the surviving hens. Bob Johnson is now in a minority of one, so she can ill afford to peck at her younger and increasingly stronger colleagues. There is no vindictive bullying from the black majority either, so the three go about their business […]
The two new Black Rocks are feisty characters, especially the younger one, Rocky. Her friend Delilah is more corpulent and has more of a comb and her behaviour, although quite bubbly too, is less exuberant. Rocky spots you from a distance and follows you around running at high speed, and […]
Bellingham Show day. The road workmen have had the good grace to remove their barriers, cones and ‘no access’ signs for the occasion. I had to miss the show because of family business in Edinburgh. K went with her cousin J taking the Bouvier with her, but there was no […]
Roadworks have been on for a few weeks on the road that connects us to the A68. In order to go to Newcastle we have had to take a detour through Bellingham and West Woodburn. This week we found that the road to Bellingham was closed too. W was the […]
Saturday 18 August 2007 Falstone Show day. K decided we should enter Fluffy in the dog class, Any Other Dog category. Following the discontinuance of the Terrier Race on grounds of Health and Safety, it seemed that the dog presence in the show was set to have a lower profile […]
After the best part of another day toiling fruitlessly, finally towards the evening I found a way out of the deadlock in ‘Music and Land’. It doesn’t yet feel like a breakthrough, but the relief to see the music flowing again is no bad feeling. Fluffy the Bouvier showed a […]
I’ve hit a dead end at bar 135 of ‘Music and Land’, the second movement of the string quartet. I’ve been trying one solution after another since K went on tour three days ago, but nothing I come up with seems to provide a suitable continuation from this point, which […]
In the morning the Bouvier had dried up a bit, but an unholy whiff still wafted up whenever he got near. His self-esteem seemed still shaken. He would approach me with awkard movements and a needy expression in his face. And every now and then he would still bend to […]
