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!!

A new kid in town...

JACK.

Hello!  My name is Jack and I'm four months old and I got a new mammy today.  She's very nice. She is only going to be my mammy for a week, because my real mammy had to go away for a few days.  It's OK I don't mind, it's nice here, I got treats when I got here 'cos I was a very good boy in the car and sat still for the very long journey.  There is another boy here for me to play with.  He loves me.  He chased me all around the garden when I got here barking very loudly.  So I barked back and put my paw on his shoulder and he fell over and I jumped on him and everybody laughed, except him, I think he was a bit cross, but it was great fun!  There's loads of toys for me to play with too, I love them, I can throw them up in the air and one of them even has a bell in it.  I liked throwing that one the best.  So I kept throwing it and the bell kept ringing.  The other boy, I think his name is Rusty, he wanted to play with that toy too, but I had it first, my new mammy said that we had to share and she threw it for us and we both ran but I got it first.  Rusty was very cross....  There's lots of lovely things to eat in this garden too.  I was really loving here, until my new mammy put me in jail...

Well I didn't mean to eat the flowers, they just looked so lovely, especially the big yellow ones.  I said I was sorry and she let me out, but I was tired then, so I had a rest in this lovely bed that I found in the kitchen.  Rusty was very cross again, so I had to get out of the lovely bed and let him in.  It's not fair!!  I like the floor in the house, it's very slippy, I can run in from the garden and slide all the way into the kitchen and I only stop when I hit something.  It was great fun, so I did it over and over and over, until my new mammy put me in jail, again....

She let me out after a while, because we were going for a walk.  Woo Hoo!  My favorite game.  And we didn't bring Rusty, it was just my new mammy and me.  He was VERY cross this time....  I was delighted, until she made me wear that stupid jacket.  It's not fair!  It doesn't even suit me and makes me look like such a dork.  Oh well, I suppose if it means I can go out I'll wear it.   My new mammy said that I have to get used to wearing it because when I grow up and go to work I will have to wear one all the time.  But that won't be until I'm one year old, and that's millions of sleeps away yet.  And speaking of sleeps, I'm very tired now after my walk, I think I'll put myself in jail for a while and have a rest....

RUSTY.

It started off like any other day...  I had a walk before breakfast, a snooze under the blond one's desk while she worked, another trot around the block at lunchtime, and back under the desk again for my afternoon nap.  Bliss.  Then, the doorbell rang.

She, the blond one, didn't let me run down the stairs in front of her, me shouting "who's there who's there", like I usually do.  No, she lifted me up and we went down together.  We opened the front door, and it all went horribly wrong...

A young pup, that's the only way I can describe him, bounded across my door and straight into the kitchen.  My kitchen!  The blond one didn't seem in the least bit concerned, she even opened the back door and let him out into the garden.  My garden!  I did my best to scare him away, by running round and shouting "get out get out" at the top of my voice, but he just tripped me up and stood on top of me.  Everyone laughed.  Oh the indignity.

Things got worse, he found my toys.  The blond one is throwing a ball for him.  My ball!  But then things got a bit better, for me anyway.  He ate some of her flowers, the prized yellow one's and she put him behind bars.  At last I have the blond one's attention again, now maybe we can get back to our usual routine.

How wrong could I have been.  The ultimate insult.  She took him out for a walk.  Without me!!  And he has a lovely coat to wear while he goes out.  So unfair, I don't have a coat.   I hope the tall dark one gets home soon, I don't know how much more of this I can take.  At least I know I can depend on him for attention....

ME

I decided a while ago that I would do something with the spare time I seem to have now at the weekends.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I did think that I would volunteer for some worthwhile charity.   Then I saw a tweet from the Irish Guide Dogs Trust, looking for volunteers to be puppy walkers.  Bingo!!  

I downloaded the form, filled it out, gave glowing reports about my very sociable dog, sent it off and waited.

I didn't have to wait long.  Two very nice gentlemen from the Guide Dogs Trust paid myself and Kevin a visit.  They came to check us, Rusty and the house out.  We passed on most of the criteria. Well me and Kevin did anyway.  It was Rusty that failed.  And he failed spectacularly.

Without going into all the details, basically to be a puppy walker, you need to have the right environment for the puppy to learn good behavior.  Do you see where I'm going with this.  Me and Kevin are well behaved.  Unfortunately, Rusty is not so well behaved.  He is, as the two gentlemen remarked, a lovely dog, but very 'vocal'.  He likes to bark!  He also likes to chase birds flies and bees. And he demonstrated this very well while the guys were here.  All that running and barking and crazy behavior would be a very bad influence on a dog that is supposed to learn the sort of behavior that would eventually lead him to be a working dog for a visually impaired person.

So we failed.

But all hope was not lost.  They did say that from time to time they need people to take puppies for a week at a time to give the long term walkers a break, or a holiday, and that we would be eligible for this if we were interested.  So we signed up and waited..

And waited...

And today we got Jack.

Fruits of the forest.

I've been stealing from the park, again!

But his time no wild flowers or tractors were harmed in the process.  The only thing harmed are my fingers and arms, which are now covered in scratches and thorns.

I've been picking blackberries.  Here's my booty:

 

I have been looking at them over the last few weeks, going from flowers to green berries, then bright red, and at last, black.  I was waiting...  And today I couldn't walk by and leave them there, it's such a lovely day and they were begging to be picked.

I know all the rules for picking blackberries, as my Dad used to bring us out on chilly September Sunday afternoons, when we were small, armed with our little plastic bowls, and our wellingtons.   We'd end up in some farmers field and hope we didn't get chased by the cows.

The rules:

1. Don't pick from the bushes near the road.

2. Don't pick from the lower down branches.

3. Don't pick the squishy ones.

4. Don't pick the one's with the spiders on them.  (That's not actually a rule,  I just made it up now, cos I don't like spiders)

You could eat them if you wanted, and we used to, without even washing them first!  Such rebels.

So.

Don't pick from the bushes near the road, well I was in the park, so that's OK.  

Don't pick from the lower down branches?  Well being vertically challenged this rule was hard to stick to.  And all the best one's are up high.  I had to be careful, firstly not to fall into the brambles as I was reaching, and secondly not to fall into the river, as the bushed all hang over it.  Two old men came by and offered to help me with the high up berries, by lifting me up!  I did consider this offer, but then after a further examination of the two gentlemen, I declined.  I though that if I took them up on their offer one of them might have a heart attack from the strain of lifting me and I didn't have my phone with me to call an ambulance.  (And I also thought I might have to share my harvest with them if I let them help).  They also offered to help the pie when I make it.  I also declined that offer informing them that if I did make a pie, there was no way it would make it as far as the park!

Don't pick the squishy ones.  Well sometimes you don't know they are squishy until you pick them.  Hence, I've ended up with purple fingers!

I'm not going to mention the rule about the spiders.

Now, what to do with them is the question.

I thought I could make an apple and blackberry tart, as usually at this time of the year I have a good crop of apples on my tree.  But this year I got these two miserable offerings.  

I'm not having much luck growing things this year.  (I won't mention the Amaryllis, of which mine still doesn't have a flower, or even a bud).

So I think I'll put them in the freezer and keep them until I have a crowd here at Christmas (can't believe I mentioned Christmas in September!!) and then everybody can sample the delights of the Dodder.

Might go back tomorrow and get some more...

Eine kleine nachtmusik

I'm at an ICA meeting.  For those of you who have no idea what ICA means, it stands for the Irish Countrywoman's Association.  It's a meeting, a bit like an AA meeting, with cake!  (And only women).

I'm surrounded by women with permed grey hair wearing pearls, lilac cardigans and sensible shoes.  I forgot mine.  I'm drinking tea out of a cup with pink roses on it.  I never drink tea.  Especially out of cups with roses on them.  I was afraid to say no.  Imagine being in a room with 20 Mrs Doyles?  You trying saying no, these women are formidable!!  One of them was even wearing a chain around her neck akin to one a Mayor would wear.  I think she was in charge.

Also, I was afraid that if I said no to the tea, I wouldn't get any cake. There's a whole table full of cake, homemade cake, like your granny used to make, wrapped in tin foil, on paper plates...

No, this is not my new "Monday night out" for the winter.  Tonight I'm part of a double act.  I'm the silent part.  I'm also the technical expert.  Stop laughing, I'm with my Dad, so that qualifies me as the expert.  Normally this is Kevin's gig, but he had to work, so tonight the understudy (me!) gets to play the part.  I get all the good gigs...

Anyway, what am I doing here, in this classroom, surrounded by chattering old women?  I'm helping my Dad with one of his musical nights.  An Opera musical night. This is the second time I have helped with one of these evenings of music.  I really enjoyed the first time and this is already shaping up to be a better night than the last one.  Because there's cake!  These ICA women really know how to make a great cake.

We set up our equipment and it was on with the show.

Don't you just love the tragedy of Opera!  Dad, while taking command of the room full of chattering women (brave man!), had a great opening line.  It was quote from a film where an old opera singer explains the meaning of Opera to a young rock star:

"Opera is a play where a fella gets stabbed then sings all the way to the floor as he falls to his death."

Very tragic.  But it got them interested and they stopped talking and sat down.

And speaking of tragic, they also cleared the table of cake, before I got a chance to get second helpings.  

I suppose I should really be telling you about the music.  

Well, Dad compiles the tracks from various Operas, makes a playlist, then speaks for a couple of minutes between each track about the singers or the composer.  He does have notes with him, but he doesn't read them, just refers to them occasionally and ad-lib's the rest.  He has some very interesting an amusing quips for each track.  It's very Impressive!  And the ladies laughed in all the appropriate places.  They listened eyes open, while he spoke and then listened eyes closed, while I played the music.  

I do like Opera music, and I have been to a couple of Operas, but I know nothing about it.  I prefer a bit of Coldplay myself.  But I can appreciate the musical talent and vocal prowess of the artists.  For instance, you wouldn't want to leave your best champagne glasses out while Maria Callas was practicing her scales, cos when she hits those high notes it would shatter Waterford crystal and leave dogs running for cover.  I did recognize some of the tracks, but I couldn't name the singers or the Operas that they are from.  But half way down the play list, I did see one that I knew. 

The hour went by very quickly and we even did an encore.  The lady with the chain approached with an official looking envelope and a request for another performance in November.  Jeez...  This could become a habit!  I'll have to invest in the proper uniform of a cardigan and pearls and brush up on my cake eating skills!

The track that I recognized, and my favorite from this evenings performance, is this track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1k14GQmNE

And my favorite cake was the coffee one!