Trinity College Chapel, Cambrige

Last weekend I had the privilege of singing a wonderful concert in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge with the Cambridge Taverner Choir.
We sang mostly unknown Portuguese pieces including a mass which until recently had been not been sung since the sixteenth century.
The acoustic of was absolutely perfect for the singing of this style of music. It was like performing in a bubble filled with sixteenth century air.
With a weekend of whirl wind rehearsing, not much sight seeing could take place. While trying to find the name of this bridge I discovered that the notable bridge is actually the one I was standing on called the Bridge of Sighs... It was a very pretty bridge to stand on, and this is the view to your right if you choose to stand on the same bridge...

Crafty Update

As it seems like forever since I last blogged, it is about time I post a few updates!!

First and foremost on the craft front, I have started putting the dark blue edges around the quilt pieces. There are 60 pieces in total and I have sewn ten with the dark blue so far. I discovered while cutting the dark blue fabric that there will need to be more purchased for the back pieces, as well as the batting. The batting won't be a problem, as I have had my eye on it at Hobbycraft for some time now, but the blue fabric was purchased at Walmart five or six years ago... Hopefully it won't be too difficult!
On the cross stitching front, for those of you who do not already know about this project, I designed a stitched cope shield for my Dad with the four emblems of his Oxford parishes depicted in different quarters of the shield. He and I spent several years creating the design to exactly what he wanted and it was only a matter of time before I stitched it. When he died I was of two minds as to whether I wanted to continue with the project, but with a little encouragement I decided to start stitching. It will take longer than any of my other projects because of its sheer size; it will be about two feet wide and three feet in height.As you can sort of see by the picture, the majority of the project will be in gold and silver kreinik braid and blending filaments. Neither product is easy on the budget, so that will also be a factor in the speed of the project.

Regatta Weekend

This week marks exactly one year since we moved to Henley-on-Thames! How fitting (and yet not at all ironic) that it should be the Henley regatta week and Mark's birthday. Last year having no idea what to expect from the event we then knew nothing about. This year we were fully planned and ready for the cacophony of visitors that would descend upon the normally tranquil town. Last year we made the mistake of trying to have a night out on the Saturday, but decided it would be a wiser idea to entertain at home. Since Sarah and Ed came down to enjoy the hoo-haw we braved the crowds early enough to get a flavour of the chaos, not to want to linger long. After walking along the river we casually made our way home for an evening of make-shift poutine and scrabble. It only took us until 2:00am to realize that we were playing with two sets of letters on one board...

Sarah and I were up early the next morning for the Regatta service were I was able to flash my newly awarded bling! The desired effect was most certainly achieved!! The service was short and sweet, followed by Mark's birthday brunch at the Catherine Wheel. After being sufficiently fed we walked down to the river front again and indulged in a little ice cream while pretending to know when the next race was to take place. Little did we know that it had taken place three hours previously.
We wrapped up the day by sauntering back home, eating black forest cake and varied snacks playing Cranium and Hearts. Unfortunately the usual fireworks had to be cancelled due to an incident in 2008, but Mark was satisfied by the ten fighter jets that suddenly flew past the house dramatically during the afternoon instead!

RSCM Gold Award

Since beginning to sing with the Henley choir I have had a strange fascination with the medal program used by the choir. It is used as an incentive to non-cathedral choirs to develop a better understanding of musical performance within a religious context. As a professional singer I assumed I would not be eligible to take part and chose to admire from afar. As many of you know, that attitude does not last long with my ambitious and competitive nature... I decided it was not enough to stand at the sidelines and began reading about the RSCM medal scheme. After a little research I realized that no one in my choir had yet earned the highest level of the current medal scheme: the Gold Award. With peeked curiosity, I started casually asking why no one had earned it yet, and discovered that it just had not been done, not even by the choir director's wife, a fellow soprano... I was intrigued to say the least. I waited several weeks before deciding it needed to be attempted, and boldly asked the choir director's approval; and so it began!!

I went about gathering references, music and writing the required entries which needed to be submitted with the application. The performance aspect was the least of my worries, but the syllabus required program notes and a service be written which needed to include specific material. It was a bit like writing a collegial placement exam. My other worry was being eligable for the exam at all! I had not attended any other RSCM events or classes, nor had I earned the required Bronze or Silver medals. References were required to prove I was not a choir groupee and that I as capable of delivering the material with ease. I was given an exam date for the end of June in a remote part of Oxford at 9:00am on a Friday morning; I have never had such trouble findng an accomanist!! In the end the network of six degrees of separation won and a scholar from Merton accompanied me.
The day of the exam came and believe it or not I was nervous, I was aiming for 100%!! The exam was delivered with only a few hitches, such as a hymn tune with maybe a few ad lib words... Because the exam was very much arbitrary, my only fear for achieving my goal was, as in an English exam, the adjudicator did not like a certain style or nuance and marks would be deducted. On receiving the results I was surprised at the marks which were deducted, but I have a sneaky suspicion they were removed in sections which could not be debated, so no candidate could earn 100%. In the end I was awarded 95.3% leaving me well over the 90% needed for honours.
I will finally able to sport my gleaming medal for the first time on Sunday, ironically Regatta Sunday. It will formally be presented to me in a couple of weeks.

Silver bells and cockle shells

Well maybe not that dainty, but I am certainly trying to grow a little garden. Since this apartment has a beautiful back garden area with a patio, I decided to try my hand at growing some tomatoes and herbs.The tomatoes were to be acquired first. I had envisioned planting a plant or two in a largish pot and that was it. On entering the garden centre I was literally greeted by a "Grow Bag" which looked ideal for my experiment. It could grow three to four plants, so Mark and I chose three varieties: Micro, Italian Plum and Ferline. Three or four weeks later, the Ferline and Roma evidently needed to be guided, so another trip to the garden centre was in order. We found suitable, purpose built Grow Bag guides which looked rather spiffy in addition to fertilizer spikes, another Grow Bag, four herbs and three strawberry plants.Since planting the Grow Bags I have been a frequent visitor to the BBC Gardener's World website for tips and suggestions about how to get the most of what has been planted. For instance I knew nothing about "pinching" tomato plants, or that by adding vacuum cleaner lint the tomatoes, they would have a richer flavour.From here on in it is just a battle against black and green aphids, slugs and caterpillars in conjunction with watering and feeding. Hopefully we will get to enjoy at least a couple of tomatoes and strawberries out of the crop that seems to be happily growing!