A Touch of Culture

The concert season has started at Keele University.  Last week we attended the first of seven Autumn Term concerts organised by the Keele Concert Society. The programme was Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibiton followed by Mahler's 4th Symphony.  I knew the first piece, but the Mahler was new to me and not at all what I expected, but much lighter.

The players were an ensemble of players from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and the concert took place in the University Chapel, the shape of building enhancing the sounds. The musicians certainly got the season off to a good start.

The wooden benches in the chapel are hard to sit on for long periods - we've been to concerts at this venue before - but the solution to the problem was simple - I took a cushion.

The following evening friend V and I went to the cinema to see a recording of  Hamlet, which is currently being staged at the Barbican in London.  The leading role is played by Benedict Cumberbatch (he of Sherlock Holmes fame), so not surprisingly, at the Barbican, performances are sold out and only returns are available as they occur.

It is so much easier, and very much cheaper, to see live or recorded performances just a few miles from home, that V and I  are becoming regulars at these performances and before Christmas we have planned to see three more performances - another Shakespeare, a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera and a Ballet.

An Autumn Stroll

The weather has been fine for the last few days and according to the weather forecast is set to stay that way for a couple of weeks yet.
On Sunday afternoon daughter and I went for a stroll in the pleasant autumn sunshine and spent a couple of hours walking the local footpaths.  There were so many signs of autumn that I took photos to share.

At the end of the road, a shrub full of autumn colour.

The trees beginning to change colour

Elderberries - the birds haven't found this tree.

A path through the trees

Fungi

Blackberries still need to ripen

Waiting for dinner

High stripey clouds

Not quite as tall as the sweetcorn in Ohio!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An evening out

On Thursday, friend V and I , went to the pictures to see a broadcast, live from the Vaudeville Theatre, London, of 'The Importance of being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde. 
For the cost of a cinema ticket we had a really good view of the play and enjoyed being able to see close-ups of the actors - we'd have needed theatre glasses to get such close-ups if we had been at the Vaudeville Theatre.  Seeing live broadcasts means we can afford to see many more shows than if we had had to travel, usually to London, where even the cheapest theatre seats are expensive, and then probably needing hotel accommodation.
This particular production was special because the part of Lady Bracknell was played by actor David Suchet, who is very famous as the character Hercule Poirot, taking the lead in each one of Agatha Christie's Poirot stories, filmed for television, over a period of several years.
When it came to the curtain call, he curtseyed so elegantly, he could have been presented to the Queen.

A surprise feast

Yesterday we went to the Building Society in town to deposit some cheques, and yesterday was a UK charity coffee morning for Macmillan cancer research.  It's been an annual fund-raising event for several years now and the staff members of the Building Society had joined in enthusiastically providing a variety of cakes to go with the coffee.  

Chocolate Cake, Carrot Cake, Lemon Drizzle Cake,Banana Loaf, Ginger Cake, assorted cupcakes.... all homemade.

Of course, we joined in and chose the chocolate cake to go with our coffee.  We even took a plate of cakes home to share with the rest of the family. 

Today, we had a visitor

One sunny day earlier this summer I was chatting with a neighbour in her front garden when we were disturbed by the sound of cats getting ready to fight.  I walked along the road till I found the site of the battle. A large black and white cat was facing a small black cat and looked ready to establish that this was her territory.  I have often seen the small black cat, but the larger cat was new to me, and it looked like she would win if she started a fight.  So I intervened from a distance and the black cat was able to run for cover while the larger cat was distracted.
Now, when I see the small cat she stops and miaows and has taken to visiting our back garden.  Today, while I was working in the kitchen I spotted her sitting patiently close to the large bay tree where there is plenty of cover for mice and birds.  I think she was probably hoping to catch a meal, but her owners have placed a bell on her collar so I don't know how successful she is at hunting.  She certainly doesn't look hungry.

She seems to have a few grey hairs

                                                                           

Does she remind you of anyone?  

 

Signs of Autumn

Early on Saturday morning, the air felt very moist, but the sun was shining and there was a clear blue sky. When F went into the garden he found a large cobweb, glinting with moisture and barring the pathway to the garden gate. 

Not wanting to miss a good opportunity for taking a photo, I joined him in the garden and there were dozens of spiders' webs around the garden, all glinting in the early morning sun.

 











                                                                              


By Saturday lunchtime, the webs had dried out and were not as noticeable.  F and I set off for a couple of days in Wales, about a hundred and twenty miles away from home and enjoyed a pleasant journey through mainly rural areas, the trees along the route beginning to show the first signs of autumn.

Travelling back late Sunday evening we arrived at home round about midnight.  The next morning looking through the kitchen window onto the back garden I spotted masses of mushrooms(?) trailing across the grass near the stump of an apple tree. . They definitely were not there when we left home about thirty-six hours earlier and B says they weren't there on Sunday morning.  They certainly appeared as if by magic

F cut down the tree about three years ago.  It was very productive but was too close to the house so it had to go, and the tree was too large to transplant.   In the years since, the remaining stump has produced many shoots which have been removed so I think the tree has finally given up.  The fungi may well be helping to breakdown the woody roots.

I have no idea what sort of mushrooms they are so I have not picked and cooked them.  I am going to post a photo  on iSpot.org and see if any of the members can identify them.

On Monday morning they looked like glossy light brown domes but by Tuesday morning they had flattened and darkened.  Thoses with sharp eyes will note that grass is in short supply on the back 'lawn'.

An unusual sight

At the weekend F and I were in Mid Wales when we spotted this creature.

A very bright caterpillar, the size of my index finger, was crawling around in the grass on the wooded hillside.  I had no idea what sort of caterpillar it was,but I knew I had never seen anything like this before. 
When we got back home I searched on the internet but could not identify it so I tried the ISpot website.  Having put the picture on the site it didn't take long for the creature to be identified. 
It is the caterpillar of the goat moth.  The goat month lays its eggs on tree trunks and the caterpillar lives inside the tree trunk feeding on wood for five years then when it is ready to pupate it leaves the tree trunk and searches on the ground for a place to bury itself while it changes from caterpillar to moth.
The blurb on the website says that this caterpillar is quite rare and not seen very often as they leave their tree trunk nursery and find an underground home within twenty-four hours.  When it emerges next June or July as a moth, it has a very short life, not feeding but finding a mate and laying its eggs on a tree trunk, ready for the next five year cycle to start.