In No Particular Order, For No Particular Reason

  Some photos that have never before seen the light of day,

in no particular order.

Queen Anne's Lace

(Daucus carota)

a favourite wild plant of mine

but here pushed into a new form.

Queen Anne's Brocade perhaps?

If you wait on as many railway stations as I do

then it won't be long before you try a shot like this.

One of Mr Branson's express trains hurtles through.

Bikes and railings hung with posters;

it's got to be Cambridge.

Mr Heron patiently awaits dinner

at Fowlmere RSPB

A modern shopping arcade

in Cambridge.

Angles, shadows, lights, reflections;

the whole works.

Something fishy stirred up the mud in the shallows

leaving these little scraps of vegetation 
floating like ornate hieroglyphics,
whose meaning is yet to be deciphered.

Torn poster.

For no particular reason.

Take care.

Shadow Play

Nothing's perfect in this world, least of all the light when you're taking photographs. Either it's dull and dreary or else the light is smashing fiercely down giving burnt out highlights and inky-black shadows. Black shadows? Well, why not?

And a self-portrait to finish off....
















Take care.

A Rattling Good Time

We've seen a lot of Morris Dancing and Molly Dancing on "By Stargoose And Hanglands" over the past couple of years, but there is another tradition which often slips under the radar of the casual visitor and even many folk enthusiasts. Step dancing didn't require the formality of organised sides or dressing up in funny costumes; all that was needed was a pair of workboots, a stone floor and someone who could knock out a rhythmic tune (or indeed sing one). 

All three could be found in most country pubs at one time. In these days when carpets, light shoes and piped music are more common there still remain odd enclaves where stepping survives and thrives. Some pubs in rural Suffolk such as The Swan at Worlingworth, among the Romany and Travelling community and the lifeboat crew from Cromer in Norfolk are three such. Down on Dartmoor there's a similar, even more common, tradition.

The step-dancing at the Traditional Music Day was an occasion for happiness and sadness. It was great to see so many young dancers but there was also a notable absence. Percy West, a great dancer who inspired and encouraged so many others sadly passed away earlier in the year.Leo Temple said a few heartfelt words before treating us to an all-too-brief display of brilliant stepping....

Simon Ritchie demonstrated the incredibly difficult feat (feet?) of step-dancing and playing the melodeon both together and simultaneously at the same time......

                                             

In the old pubs a musician would start up a tune and dancers would each dance, one after the other, till no one could dance any more. At the end of the afternoon many of the dancers recreated this spectacle as a grand finale....

You'll notice the wonderful age-range of the dancers and also how different styles creep in. Long may they continue to have a rattling good time!

Take care.

Musicians

A few portraits of the musicians who joined in the big session in the barn at the Traditional Music Day at Stowmarket. Anyone can bring an instrument and join in with the straightforward, mostly English, tunes. When they all get going on a familiar melody it's a fine sound indeed. 

Take care.

A Touch Of The Irish

There's not only East Anglian music at the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust's Traditional Music Day at the Museum Of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket. This year we were also treated to some tunes of the Irish sort from three extremely talented young musicians.

Sisters Orlaith and Brogan McAuliffe's family are from Killarney but were brought up in London where there is a flourishing Irish music scene. Darren Breslin is originally from Co Fermanagh but now also resides in London.

Orlaith played a stunning solo piece during the set but I was stupid enough not to record it. Actually I'm much happier to tap my feet and sway about in time to the tunes rather than sit still and hold a camera steady; my feet were certainly stomping around during their set. 

Darren Breslin also played solo on one number, a Finbarr Dwyer tune. As a rather plodding squeezeboxer myself I could only sit open-mouthed at the acrobatic fingering which seemed so effortless - though he'd certainly worked up a good sweat by the end of the afternoon!

Last but by no means least we have Brogan McAuliffe on that wonderful instrument, the concertina. Like the others in the trio she plays in other musical line-ups including The London Lasses, described by Irish Music Magazine as "one of the best bands on the scene today". 

I suppose you'd like to hear them then.....

Hear are some links to other You Tube videos of members of the trio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBRlx9-WFF8 - Orlaith, solo flute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8_gRxfcwbk - Orlaith, whistle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFXKjBjTjsw - Orlaith and Brogan, flute and concertina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtmkFv-gsuU - Darren Breslin and friends.

Keep tappin' those feet and...

take care!

The East Anglian Traditional Music Day

Most people have a musical accompaniment to their lives that rarely deviates from the busy and increasingly frantic motorways of popular taste. Some of us turn off onto less travelled, but still well-worn, roads of classical, jazz or other styles. But tucked away in hidden corners, where few visit and even fewer linger, are old and largely forgotten traditions. It's through these meandering verses and along some bumpy and lop-sided old tunes that I ventured on Saturday.

There are folk festivals and there are folk festivals - but then there's The East Anglian Traditional Music Day at Stowmarket in Suffolk....

Most summer music events are held in parks or fields: the EATMD is held in a museum, the Museum of East Anglian Life, a large site where old buildings from various villages have been saved and reconstructed.

So the music takes place in a medieval farmhouse, an old hall and an ancient barn, as well as in marquees and outside on the grass. And though there's plenty of local traditional music on offer, there are also other rural areas of England and Ireland represented.

Matt Quinn

Edgar's Farmhouse, so old that it's got an earth floor and no windows, sounds an unlikely venue for concert spots but it works perfectly well. I heard the traditional songs and tunes of Matt Quinn there in the morning and went back in the afternoon for the gentle anarchic poetry of Les Barker.

The big barn has a music session that runs all day, with musicians dropping in and out. There are a lot of squeezeboxers, plenty of fiddlers and whistles, concertinas, banjos, a hammer dulcimer.....

Outside there is informal step-dancing going on with a lot of youngsters showing that, with a bit of luck, this often overlooked East Anglian tradition should be safe for a few more years.

Later in the afternoon there's (slightly) more formal step-dancing in the barn....

For those who like their music Irish - and who doesn't - there were sessions from these three excellent musicians....

Orlaith McAuliffe, Brogan McAuliffe and Darren Breslin on flute, concertina and button accordion respectively.

Of course there was a great deal that I missed - story-telling with John Row (above) and others, music from Kevin and Ellen Mitchell and Peter and Barbara Snape, an exhibition of photographs by John Halliday, talks on various topics, a ceilidh with music from the trio Proper English, chances for beginners to have a go on various instruments, a bar selling some great local beers........and probably some other things too!

I'll be back later in the week with some videos and some more photos. Until then....

Take care.






  

When I'm Dreaming Windows....

Time for an update on my constantly growing collection of windows. 

The smallest room?

Fancy designs

How much is that Teddy in the window?

The old mill

University outfitters and robe makers

College outlook

Modest decoration

Pink cottage

A little pruning required

If you want to see more then just click on the "Windows" label on the sidebar ►►►►▼ 


Take care.