Lockdown day 33 - Trivial pursuits

Have you noticed how the lock-down has made us more interested in the minutiae of life? It's certainly true of me, but then I think it may be a bit of a tendency with me anyway. So it's good to notice the rapid growth of these nasturtiums. What we don't see are the numerous seeds that haven't even started to sprout yet!

The rest of these photos sum up a large chunk of my day as I take my daily walk around the marina or sit at the end of the pontoon and read or listen to music. It's a happy day, but all that I do is relatively trivial; the several jobs we could be doing on the boat simply aren't attractive. Fortunately, they're not urgent either!

Thursday was not just St George's Day, Shakespeare's birthday and the date of his demise, but it was  also Dandelion Day. Only those of you who have ever had the pleasure to make their own country wines will know that this day is the day to pick the flowers with which to make dandelion wine. For those who didn't know, dandelion wine is superb.

(fivegallonideas.com)

I witnessed no ducky violence today. It was all very lucky-ducky, lovey-dovey. Now we wait for the ducklings.

I've mentioned music a lot over the past weeks, and I've been asked what music it is that I listen to so often and enjoy so much, so I've shared some of it HERE for the enjoyment (hopefully) of readers. Maybe you might make polite comments in the comments box at the bottom of the page!

To end the day, Grace's photo captures one of the most dramatic sunsets we've seen.

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Magic! Pure magic!

This has absolutely nothing to do with Kantara, nor any other boat, nor canal, river or other wet thing. This post is written to record the making of a piece of musical theatre history that will be remembered by hundreds of people for the rest of their lives.

On Friday and Saturday evenings of last week, St Albans' Maltings Arts Theatre hosted the official launch of The Company of Players' debut album, "Shakespeare Songs". The band playing and singing the songs would have been excellent entertainment alone, but on these two nights they shared the stage with three members of the Maltings' resident theatre group, Ovo, who interspersed the songs with brilliant performances of excerpts from Shakespeare's plays, each chosen to complement the song that followed.

The result was unforgettable. There was laughter, there were tears, there was huge excitement. Magic! Pure magic!

All photos are by the amazing Keith Bache, who must be the UK's foremost supporter of folk and acoustic groups and soloists, and a very big fan of The Company of Players and Said the Maiden.

 

Yes, my appreciation of the show is very prejudiced. Our youngest daughter Jess is the founder of The Company of Players, and the one who had the vision for the album launch - that's her in the middle of the last photo - but two full houses with standing ovations endorsed my fulsome homage of the twelve very gifted, talented people who made those evenings so special. Social media comments have been rapturous, and rightly so.

Those of you who are persuaded by my almost-hyperbolically glowing account are advised to keep your eyes open for my announcements, some time in the not-too-distant future, of this show coming to a theatre near you. It's already under discussion, and it shouldn't be missed!

Find out more on their website.

And buy the album here!

Musical update!

How I could forget to mention this in my last post I'll attribute to my flaky memory! Obviously. But I know that a number of you have been waiting for the Company of Players' CD to be released, and it has. It can be found at companyofplayers.bandcamp.com/releases  and is already selling very well. The official launch of the album will be at the end of March, and is going to be a very special couple of evenings, shared with theatre group OVO who will bring additional drama to the Players' fabulous music. Tickets are available from TicketSource now.

We're so looking forward to it!