A Blue Peter

After a long period of dry weather the rain has come back in force this week, yesterday and today I have basically only been able to do some admin, and get some letters written that are long overdue.   Although it is frustrating to not be outside getting the gardens done, it is also quite nice to have an enforced break, even though I'm not sitting around unoccupied, it is different.

It looks as though the rain will only be around for a couple of days, then I will be back at it, nose to the grindstone, in the mean time here's one I prepared earlier.....

Taken in our garden in July

A thing of beauty

I may have mentioned that this is a busy period for me, so time for both blogging and Playing are rather limited. I do hope to find a little time next week, but at the moment I am so busy and have so much admin to catch up on I don't know how or when.   I did manage my second outing on Bass Guitar this weekend, I shall try to post about that later, today I want to show you some f the work I have been doing.

As well as all my regular maintenance work I do other extras, I have recently started working on a project that all in all will probably take me till the end of the year to complete. Stage one was to demolish and remove a concrete shed, I sub'ed this out, and am very glad I did as it actually turned out to be a bomb proof workshop left over from the last war. The house is very near what was a major airport at the time and the owner was engaged in important technical war work so he had a very large solid work shop. Once this was demolished and the ground cleared it was my turn, I put in a wooden base for a new wooden shed, and have just built a compost system. Now I know not every one will agree with me but I think this is not only practical gardening, and good ecological practise, but is also a thing of beauty.

I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I find beauty in this, so maybe there is a chance for all of us and that in someone's eyes we are all beautiful

Just like buses

Yes post on this blog are just like buses, they are not big and red, neither do they have two decks, however you can wait ages then two come along together.

I have just been sent some photos from the concert I played a couple of weeks ago and I thought it would be good to share,

And not a fishing rod in sight

A friend of mine is a great fan of Get Fuzzy. Much of the humour results from the cat (just plain mean ~ I would've dropped him in the lake long ago) and the dog (not very smart) not having a complete grasp of the English language.

She sent me last week's sequence, and I enjoyed it so much I fet I just had to share it here.
 

 

 

It is Big and it is Clever

Last night I was playing in a very unusual concert, it was a memorial concert for a friend who died earlier this year, many of his friends were there and quite a lot were playing in the band. This meant that the band was very large, including a bass section of four. Only one of us is a regular member of the band and we had not all managed to make a rehearsal, so the final run through was vital. The one member of the section who is a regular member had all the music, when he found that he had to work on Saturday and would be late he dropped the music around to me to take.


Because of uncertainty about who would be there with what instruments I ended up taking two tubas and a trombone, and stands. As I too had been working it was all a bit of rush to get showered changed and on my way, it was only when I had turned up at the hall (a little late) brought all the instruments in and stared to set up that I realised I had left all the music for the section at home! This is just about the ultimate sin for a musician. Fortunately I live close to the hall and could get home pick up the pads and get back before the run through had finished.

As a section we ended up with an interesting selection of instruments, Dave (the BFG) was playing his compact Cervany four rotor BBb, this is a very small tightly wound instrument, and as Dave is so large it looks more like a tenor horn when he is playing it.   Garth borrowed my old Besson EEb, this is a Sharp pitch conversion, four piston fully compensating New Standard, with a few bits robbed off a Besson Westminster BBb, I have removed the arching lugs and the ball off the bottom, but in Sovereign soft stops and pads neoprene water key pads, and most important of all a sovereign mouthpiece receiver ~ you won't see another like it!   Alec used his monster BBb this is an old American Conn with a recording (forward facing) bell.   Although this only has three valves it is so big that it is relatively easy to get "false" notes to fill in the gap between the true notes and the pedals, he can also get some outrageous pedals, this Conn really is a big beast.   I had planned to use the Besson if Garth hadn't had to borrow it, but instead opted for the New Toy the Conn International four rotor CC.

As Garth is out of practise I ended up playing the top line a lot of the time, on the instrument I bought specially for the low notes, however on occasion it must have sounded as though Alec and I were having a farting contest at the back as we "rifted" down an octave or two as the mood took us!   I now regret not getting a photo of the four instruments as I doubt if there will often be a section with four such unusual instruments.