Encore!

I'm on duty again!

Always the understudy.  I've done this enough times now to be given 'main player' status, but alas, that title still eludes me.

And, this time, much to my disappointment, there's no cake!  I can only hope that that will be substituted by great music?

I'm at another of my Dad's musical evenings.  A very different settings to the last time.  No twinset clad permed haired ladies tonight.  We are in a local community center with a mixed audience.

And we are off to a good start with the opening joke and a lovely gentle waltz.  I've had a look down the playlist and my favourite Humming Chorus track is there. Looking forward to that.  I also see quite a few numbers (can you call them numbers?) by the great Bellini.  Apparently he died very young, 34 years old I think, I should have paid more attention when Dad was talking about him.  But before he died he managed to write 30 Operas.  Imagine!  He also had a drink named after him.  A Bellini.  I don't know much about his music, but I am very well acquainted with his drink. In case you don't know it's made with Prosecco and peach snaps!  I didn't know that the drink was named after a composer.  (Maybe he didn't either!) You learn something new every day...

He, Bellini, is appearing six times tonight on the playlist.  Imagine if one of his drinks appeared for every one of his tracks that was played? Jeez... I might miss my cues and then I'd loose my very prestigious job as assistant to the Maestro.  Can't have that.Most of the composers on the list tonight are, if their surnames are anything to go by, Italian.  And so are most of the artists too.  So the Italians don't just make great ice cream. Or great sparkling wine.

I really should take up Italian, Dad is struggling with the translations of the titles of the tunes!  He normally has a friend who attends these evenings and translates the song titles for him.  But if I did it, the translation that is, then I'd be double jobbing.  Can't have that either.  I'll have to introduce him to Google Translate.  There's a few French names on the list also, this could get confusing.  Probably best that there's no Bellini's on the menu after all.

There is a good turnout this evening.  We have an Opera boffin here, another one besides my Dad, who has very kindly explained where the Humming Chorus fits into the story of Madam Butterfly.  I'm no going to tell you where it fits in or why 'cos then I'd have to put a spoiler alert on this blog on the off chance that you might go and see the Opera.  But I will say that it's tragic!!  There's a track here also from an Opera about Ann Boleyn, sung by Maria Callas.  Two tragic women in the one track.  They could have done with being introduced to Bellini...

And in the middle of my favourite track, the translator turned up.  Hurrah.  Or should that be 'Evviva'!!  (I used Google translator for that).

Sure what else would you be doing on a wet and windy Tuesday evening?  Let me think?

Prosecco anyone?

Yum!

I've been to Marks & Spencer.  The food hall.  I don't normally go there, it's a bit out of the way and also, it's far too tempting.  I don't know how they do it but make a bag of plain old tomatoes look like a delicious bag of treats that beg to be eaten straight out of the bag.  But I don't fall for it.

Anyway, I avoided all the temptations, got what I went in for, and made my way to the check out.  The very helpful sales assistant checked all my purchases through the till.  Then I packed my bag, and was just about to pay for my goods and make my getaway smugly because I didn't fall for the temptations, when I spotted something I haven't seen for yeas.

These:

Yum!  Walnut Whips!  And three of them in the one packet.  Triple yum!!

OK, I admit it, I'm weak, I fell for it.  I just couldn't resist.  I bought them.  Now I'm going to have to eat them.  Not all three of them together, obviously (but it will be hard not to).  Right I'm off to put the kettle on...

Dog gone...

JACK

I'm a bit sad.  I had a lovely time here, but I have to go back to my real mammy today.  I'll be glad to see her but it was great here.  Every day I got up early, had some breakfast, then went for a long walk in the park.  Everybody we met said hello to me, some of them rubbed my head and one even gave me treats.  And when we came back from the park I went to work with the small blond one and Rusty.  Although it didn't seem very much like work.  I didn't have to wear my jacket and I had lots of toys to play with, and I also got to snooze in a nice warm bed.  I did want to sleep under the desk like Rusty does,

but the blond one said that there wasn't enough room for me, Rusty and her legs, so I had to sleep beside the filing cabinet.

I tried to eat it but it didn't taste very nice.  I did find some very nice apples in the garden to eat, but there wasn't very many of them.  We also had loads of visitors who brought things for me to play with.  One of them brought a toy that was only for Rusty, but I took it when he wasn't looking.  Then I ate it.  Another small visitor brought some balls, she threw them for me and I chased them, it was great fun for a while, then I ate them too...

I'll miss the blond one, the tall dark one and my best pal, Rusty.  I think he'll be lonely when I'm gone.  I hope I can come back here again for another holiday soon.

RUSTY

At last, I'll get some peace.  The young pup will be gone tomorrow and I will once again reign supreme!  There will be no more fighting for my place under the desk!  And I won't have to listen to all that 'ooh-ing and ah-ing' that goes on in the park every morning while I'm trying to get on with my walk.  Some good did come out of this episode tho', I finally got the recognition I deserve for my years of good service and was rewarded with a lovely toy by one of the visitors.  But, I can't seem to find it now...

ME

It was a very quick week!  Jack's gone back to his full time walker.  The house is very quiet now.  We had a storm here on Sunday night and it did some damage to my garden.  But it was nothing like the damage that hurricane Jack did.  He ate the apples off the tree (lucky there were only two) and when he was finished them, he ate the tree!  He also ate a rose bush, thorns and all.  And whatever he didn't eat in the garden he brought into the kitchen.  The floor in the kitchen is covered in chewed up bits of plants.  The floor in my office is covered in chewed up tennis balls and string from a rope that somebody brought for him.  It will take me a week to clean up, if I can ever find the energy.  I'm exhausted from the 6.30am wake up calls!

But I don't care.  We had great fun with him.  His crazy antics kept us laughing,  And much to Rusty's annoyance he followed him everywhere.  And if Rusty paid him no attention, he would nip one of his back legs, and then all hell would break loose!  Jack was the toast of the park, where everybody had time for him and wanted to know how he was getting on.  But we had to follow all the rules and keep him 'working' so I couldn't really let him play too much while he was on the lead and 'training'.  It seems a shame that he can just be a pup all the time.  But as my Dad said he (Jack) is going to go out into this world to do great work.  We are all wondering who will get him when he is fully trained, or what his duties will be.  It's hard to imagine this mad puppy being somebody's eyes or ears.

Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat but  I have some cleaning up to do, although you'll have to excuse me for a minute, 'cos I think I have a little tear to shed first....

Jacks journal.

JACK

Hello.  I am loving it here at my holiday house.  I wake up when the birds are singing every morning so that I can spend all day with the blond one.  She brings me for three walks and the tall dark one plays with me.  Today we had loads of visitors.  And one of them brought a toy for me to play with. Me and Rusty had great fun with it.

RUSTY

How come I've been here for seven year and nobody every brought me a toy!?

ME

Up at 6.30 every morning...  Jeez I'm exhausted!!