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An exciting time of year for me as I scour the skies and listen out for the scream of the swifts as they return to London. They stay until the end of August. If you click  the RSPB Swift page on their website you can hear the sound they make, as well as all about where they come from to get here. You know the summer is really here, when they arrive!  They have a strange habit of arriving  in the day of the F.A. football cup final which is usually the second weekend in May, but a couple of times I have seen them during the last week of April. It is a magical moment when you hear the first scream in the sky and see one skimming past you. For the first few weeks they are here, the noise is amazing! Then you get used to them being around and then one day in late August you suddenly notice you cannot hear them anymore and they left without saying goodbye, and the summer is officially on its way into Autumn.

So if you are in the UK, particularly in London, keep you ears and eyes peeled. I always spot one first as I have ears like a hawk, and Mr P. is annoyed as he works outside all day. But hey ho!

So one day soon, I shall be jumping up and down! Yey the swifts have arrived!

SONG OF THE DAY  Clair de Lune -Debussy

This is what the weather is saying to me today, even though the piece means moonlight, the day seems very still. David Oistrakh  considered the premiere violinist of the mid-twentieth century Soviet Union
-violin. Frida Bauer – piano.
Recorded in Paris, 1962, 


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Boys and Bonfires

Now don’t get me wrong, I am very partial to a quick ‘Gingang Goolie Goolie Goolie Watcha’ round the camp fire, as the best of us. But I am not “like totally” into bonfires. Mr P on the other hand just loves his bonfires, and any excuse to set fire to a bunch of old wood, and he is ‘heaven sent’. I was thinking about bonfires just the other day as an old friend sent me some pictures of someone we used to know, who had been, at their ending, burned  on a pyre in India. Loved ones  attended the ritual and danced around the pyre (there is a very strong smell for a bit). At the end of the process, all that was left was tinder and bones, and a clear picture of the person’s skull. I thought this was magnificent and think it would be much nicer to have someone’s skull when they were gone than a carton of ash that could be any old ash. Worth reading the hindu man in newcastle, BBC article that forbids him from having his body burned in a funeral pyre with all his family watching in the UK.  I can really see the wonderment of being burned on a big bonfire and your soul flying off in the flames…sounds rather good to me. And then my skull could be put on the mantle piece with a flower in it!  I found a cool site called the Good Funeral Guide that has a great little blog about funerals around the worlds and different traditions.Bonfire Heaven

Goodness, not really being gloomy here. All happened because the old man had a bonfire in the garden, and wondered why men often seem to really love bonfires. Also thinking about all the significances of fires, beacons, light, heat.

SONG OF THE DAY

The Poozies -We Build Fires.

The Poozies began their career in 1990 after Patsy Seddon and Mary Macmaster, aka the Scottish harp duo, Sileas, had been working with singer Sally Barker on a solo album. They all agreed that a new women’s group was a good idea and when Sally met the all-Ireland accordion champion, Karen Tweed, at the Hong Kong Folk Festival, the band was born. This is a lovely track and the words are tops. It is also a lovely song to sing as a big choral piece, though the ‘bingo style’ tinsel fringey stuff in the back of the stage sort of add a strange incongruousness to the poignancy of the lyrics and performance.

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It is hard to believe that a third of the year has gone, and that every day I have managed to write a post. Actually I have a gnawing guilt which I must confess, as I missed a day very early in January, due to misunderstanding the magnificence of the task, and the amount of planning involved in not missing a day. I am still not quite letting myself get away with that. I need to lighten up a bit and know how well I am doing and not just dwell on the bad bit…a habit of mine. I did two posts on a couple of days, but still feel that I have not made up for my missing day.

Ok the confession is over and I am sharing a link with you of 3 of my favourite posts.

Drum roll please…….

CBNC

In 3rd place was 13th April, part of a week’s saga involving a chocolate bunny and its demise.

In 2nd place was 20th March, a story I wrote when Mr P. went to the shops for a bottle of stout, possibly never to return.

And in first place was 24th February a post about having a cup of tea and a bacon butty with my late Grandad.

One of the other things I have really enjoyed about posting is being able to mix images music, video and words together….just perfect for me. So I also have a list of all the SONG OF THE DAY tracks included in my posts so far, but that is for another day.

SONG OF THE DAY  -FUNKY MOUSE -Gitika

It is MAY DAY and that can one mean one thing…….MORRIS DANCERS!!!!

 I am going to repeat a song of the day  as it is the only song I know that has morris dancers in it and it is my self penned ‘funky mouse’ starring family members and friends, a couple of years ago in May. It is a joyous and kids love it! thing