From the Far Side

So that was Christmas survived once more. I have to say I think I prefer it to fall at the end of a week or at a weekend: having Christmas Day on a Tuesday has thrown us all out of kilter. And it will all be to do again next week for New Year.

I stopped putting up daily  pictures of my advent calendar, because all of a sudden it seemed like jumping up and down shouting Look what I've got. However I did take a picture of the whole lot once they were all open

and there they are. I shall start using them come 1st January. It was lovely of the OH to buy me this and I really enjoyed opening it up every day to find the little surprise. Still not sure what I will do with four small bottles of body lotion, but I daresay I will think of something and everything else is extremely welcome. 

I was a bit poorly on Christmas Day in the afternoon and very poorly on Boxing Day, but luckily the Christmas TV schedules have been so rubbish I didn't miss anything I was desperate to see. Or even vaguely interested in, come to that. 

Yesterday I was mostly recovered which was a good thing as it was the OH's birthday. For Christmas son no 2 had bought me a cinnamon bun kit from the people who bring me my baking subscription and I made them yesterday, as a sort of slightly out there alternative to birthday cake. (We do have a Christmas cake but thus far it has been marzipanned but not yet iced. I excuse this on the grounds that no-one actually does/should cut into their Christmas cake before New Year.) Anyway people rave about these cinnamon buns and having made and tasted them I can quite see why. Picture? 

 There you go. That's about the best shaped one. They were all a bit pale ,so  maybe more glaze or an extra five minutes in the oven next time. And yes, there will be definitely be a next time.

Tomorrow is son no 1's birthday but as that is taking place in Toronto we bear no responsibility for anything to do with it other than sending a present which I did ages ago. If it wasn't for the pesky presence of New Year next week (when it should be celebrated at the Solstice)  we could all be returning to normal.

That said I have today resumed the Great Work, so normality is almost restored here anyway. Greatly assisted by a trip to the dump yesterday with an unfeasibly large number of empty cardboard boxes! 

So here's the plan ...

.... no computer time on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I was going to add Boxing Day as well, but I don't reckon I can stay away from my e-mails for three whole days, even though most of them are from companies I should really unsubscribe from. Because there is always the hope, sometimes even fulfilled, of a 'real' mail. 

Yesterday I watched my favourite Christmas film. It doesn't have much competition because I find I can rarely thole schmaltzy Christmas movies, but While You Were Sleeping I just love. Could be Sandra Bullock acting up a storm, could be Bill Pullman just, you know, being in it, could be the funny script. Whatever - I enjoyed it, watching on my laptop, while Son No 2 put himself through watching Watership Down Part 1 on the big TV. 

Today I marzipanned the cake ( I know, too late) bought some last minute presents, despite saying several days ago that we had bought enough, but what can I tell you, I got sucked into an offer at Tescos, and phoned relatives to wish them a Happy Christmas.

Tomorrow we clean the house. Or those bits of it we can still get to under the Christmas decorations. I make a trifle for Christmas Day. And then we relax. If I can remember how. 

So a day earlier than in previous years  - Happy Christmas to You All from Orkney. 

Baking Subscritpion December

Gingerbread Latte Cake. My decorating skills do not improve, or if they do it is in only tiny steps, invisible to the naked eye of the observer. This was an easy bake but the decorating was exceedingly faffy. However I can now say that I can make swiss meringue buttercream. Whether I would ever want to make it again, given that under the colour provided by my hairdresser, doing it once  probably sent large swaths of my hair white with stress, is a moot point. 

I was not convinced I would like this at all, but in the event it was luverlee, and I would make the cake again, albeit  with a simpler decoration. 

For those wondering where I've been, I've been here, but just after the last post I reached Maximum Pre-Christmas Stress Point and have taken a while to recover. Getting most of the cards into the post box helped, as did, a few days later, seeing off the last cards and parcels. So 'm back on a moe or less even keel. 

I also decided, although this is not Christmas stress related, to apply for an extension to my Ph D period. I was all set to knock myself out and get it done by the end of January; not totally impossible if I didn't mind the thought of spending most of February flat on my back with exhaustion and unable to string together a coherent sentence. But that thought didn't really appeal and the last straw was being threatened with a full supervisory meeting in January. Which would all be fine if all they were going to do was pat me on the  head and tell me how well  was doing but I suspect that it may be more of a critical review than that. At which pint I will need to start making changes and what with that and the thought of  the bibliography and the acknowledgements and all the twiddly bits .... I applied for an extra three months which will take me to the end of April. I don't anticipate needing the full three months which is as well as we have booked a holiday for the end of April ... but that's a story for another day. 

Day 10

05 Seaweed and Sage Shower Gel

I do rather wonder if this is a small sop to the 'man in your life' since I don't know any women who particularly want to smell of seaweed, or indeed sage. There again, is there a man who does? That said, I was unable to detect any whiff of seaweed, although there was a faint hint of sage. Sage is supposed to clear the brain I think, and given the time of year, that has to be a good thing. Or would be if I had any intention of using any of this stuff before the 1st January 2019. 

In other news,  yesterday evening we went to a concert in the Cathedral. I had seen it advertised and suggested we go; Corelli, Rutter, MacMillan and more. I was pleasantly surprised at how warm the Cathedral was when we arrived; much warmer somehow than they manage for Sunday service ....

I enjoyed it all very much. Even the rather dreary Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen was enlivened for me by being sung a Capella by a group of five men, three of whom shared a surname (and are presumably related) and one of whom was the man we buy our carpets from. Sadly for the OH it all went downhill in the second half, which was totally given over to Rutter's Magnificat. He disliked it immensely. Not for the reason that many people dislike Rutter which so far as I can see is that  they're musical snobs who hate a man who turns a tune, but because it was 'far too cheerful and bouncy'. I pointed out that the Magnificat is Mary's Song of Joy, to which his reply was that it wasn't supposed to be joyful at all, at which point I called him a miserable lapsed Catholic, he agreed  and we left it at that. 

Today has been very busy with far too much Christmas related stuff and not sufficient thesis related stuff, but I hope to reverse the ratio tomorrow and all days following. Well until 25th, obvs. 

Catch Up! Days 6 - 9

So we just had a very quick trip to Glasgow. Day 6, which I opened before we went was this

Having looked at the shape of the 'window' I said 'it'll be soap again' which just goes to show that sometimes you're right and sometimes you're wrong. 

Days 7 & 8 I caught up with last night when we got back 

After the Rain shampoo and conditioner. 

And today we had 

Glenashdale soap. 

As for the Glasgow trip it was so we could attend the first of the Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Recitals for this year; there's another one in January when we'll be doing another of these mad dash trips. The recital was fun, although confined to only two singers, since one was away singing elsewhere, and another one had to give it a miss because she slipped and fell a couple of days before, suffering a concussion in the process. As a result the recital was a little over weighted towards the Russian repertoire, and if songs and lieder of Western Europe tend to make a drama out of a crisis that is as noting to what the Russian temperament does when let loose on emotion and art song. . But there was some fine singing. And (since we are supporting the repetiteur this year through the scheme) I should mention the very fine accompaniment as well.  A small and select group met at the Theatre Royal for the after recital lunch, and a good time was had by all the people I was sitting near, and presumably also by those at the other end of the table. 

On our way out we booked our tickets for a Scottish Ballet performance of Cinderella and a new opera in January. We hadn't really planned on two trips to Glasgow in January, and there will be another one in February too, but then as someone perspicaciously pointed out at lunch, I am making up for all the lost time of the past 20 months or so. 

Since we were traveling for two days and went to a concert on the middle one, and since we are going to another concert this evening I haven't rushed to listen to any music at home. I'll pick that up tomorrow when the Christmas panic starts to really kick in. (I can feel it gathering around me already, despite the fact hat actually we're really a long long way ahead with our preparations. I am afraid despite all efforts to resist, I am starting to suffer from The Churn again. 

On the upside if I apply myself this coming week the Christmas stuff  should all be done and another huge chunk of the thesis re-written too. Fingers crossed. 

Day 5

Well it was a Good News, Bad News sort of a thing with the advent calendar this morning. Good news - Gleanashdale again. Bad news, body lotion had to make an appearance sooner or later and we were probably lucky to get away with it this long. Like talcum powder of old, I'm never quite sure what to do with body lotion. 

I'm opening the calendar in the sun room each day; you can see how impressed the boys were with all the excitement! 

Music was Au Fond du Temple Saint aka The Pearl Fishers Duet. So good, as they say, that I listened twice.  I have a recording of Jussi Bjorling and Robert Merrill singing it, so that was first up. (Strangely enough, another link to my late aunt as she and my uncle were huge fans of Jussi Bjorling and it was probably them who introduced me to this piece in the first place.) Then on You Tube I hunted down the version with Gosta Winbergh and Hakan Hagegard, because, well, Hagegard, obviously, but I do think that in this their two voiced blend better than Bjorling's  and Merrill's do. 

In other news some knitting to show off, hot from the needles. 

I made this cowl for a swap and I found it very hard to give away. It's so pretty, and the yarn was the softest mix of alpaca, silk, camel and cashmere. On the upside, I may have finally found the pattern for the precious skein of camel blend yarn I bought way back at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. 

And the much delayed gansey for my elder grandson. I started this last year, but abandoned it when it became clear it was going to be far too big. He's another year older now so I picked it up and dragged myself through  finished it this year. Slightly worried that if I post it now it might get lost in the back log from the Canadian Postal workers strike so I may have to bite the bullet and send it and the one for his brother International tracked and signed for to be on the safe side. As my sister would say Ker-CHING. I'll see what the news is on the strike on Monday. 

Day 4

Glenashdale shower gel. Very glad to see this as I bought some for a friend for Christmas and for a while now have been lamenting the fact that I didn't get any for myself at the same time. 

Music -  Advent being a time of reflection I thought that some days I would listen to music that reminded me of those close to me who I have lost and give myself  chance to think about them and what they meant to me. I started that today by listening to Aly Bain and Willie Johnston playing 'Margaret's Waltz'. 

This was the closing music played at my aunt's funeral in October. She and her husband shared a love of music of all sorts; listening to it and even making it. It was a bond we had, because music was in short supply in my own home when I was young, and loving it and just sitting and listening to it was something my mother  couldn't understand. Margaret and John, my aunt and uncle, really did. 

I remember John telling stories sometimes when they came back from the Alnwick folk festival. They really enjoyed folk music without taking it too seriously. 'Then this lad comes on' my uncle would say ' and he says he's going to sing this song and he starts off and twenty minutes later he's still going, it feels like its 36 verses and every one of them followed by a four line chorus. Every time he sings the chorus, you think, that must have been the last verse, but no, he'd take a breath and start on another one. You wouldn't believe it'. 

I miss her. And when the day comes, I'll miss him even more. 

Something cheerful tomorrow perhaps .... 

Day Three

After the Rain soap. Which was a lovely start to the day as I love After the Rain, and already have some shower gel and perfume in it. 

Alas, after that the day deteriorated rather, thanks to a discombobulating e-mail from UHI Grad School telling me my submission date was not 31st January 2019 as we had all been assuming, but 30 November 2018. Which as the alert amongst you will have realised, has now passed. In the circumstances it was a thoughtful touch to attach an application form for an extension period. 

However I knew it was rubbish so I sent back a polite e-mail asking how on earth they had worked this out, only to get another one a couple of hours later to say that I was right and the January date was correct. Which was reassuring in one way, but not in another. Shouldn't they be the people keeping tags on this stuff, and getting it right? 

I was working hard on revising my first chapter when the first e-mail arrived and I carried on revising it afterwards, with just a brief five minute interval when I madly thought 'Sod this for a game of football, I'm taking my ball home'. That said, it reminded me of some the many reasons why I wish I had never set out on this journey in the first place. 

Being so unsettled didn't help me choose, or listen,  to my music today. I eventually settled on Thomas Allen and Valerie Masterson singing I've Never Been in Love Before, from Guys and Dolls, because I fancied being carried away by some loud sweeping strings. Sadly all I could hear were two beautiful voices far too powerful and nuanced for the music they were singing. 

So it was a very odd sort of day, although on the upside I did get a lot of work done. I have however written myself to exhaustion, which is why I'm about to turn in at the unheard of hour of not quite ten o' clock. 

I'm thinking I may wake up tomorrow early and refreshed and ready to tackle the next section with a bit more enthusiasm than I can muster at present. Hope. It springs eternal, eh? 

Day Two

Lavender and Lemongrass conditioner. Which I suppose is a predictable follow up to yesterday's lavender and lemongrass shampoo.

Today's music was Vivaldi's Lute Concerto in D major, which I chose because it makes me smile and want to dance. Lots of versions on YouTube if you want to try it - there are a few out there with a classical guitar rather than a lute though, and the lute sounds much better, so be alert. 

This being the first Sunday in Advent it was the tree lighting service at the Cathedral this morning. Here is the tree, gifted as always by the people of Grimstad in Norway

Then we went to the Christmas soup lunch in the St Magnus Centre, which was looking quite festive. We both chose the chicken and leek soup which was absolutely the right decision, it was gorgeous. 

After that we paid our annual visit to Shearer's Upstairs. Shearer's is one of those shops you can't really classify, except to say that if it's kitchen relayed, and that includes food, you'll probably find it there, but there are other bits tagged on the back as well. Anyway Upstairs is only open in the run up to Christmas and they have a real fire burning (no I have absolutely no idea how on earth they get health and safety clearance for that, ) and this year a Santa sat in front of it. 

And gorgeous merchandise, not all of the food and drink variety. 

I bought a present for a friend in the States, which was so nice we got one for ourselves too, and some pearlised chocolate pebbles that are locally produced. 

When we got downstairs again the OH went off to get some coffee beans and I stopped to talk to the shop cat. Which promptly walked up my arm and snuggled onto my shoulder, without any encouragement - although I was naturally delighted. 

 Next on the agenda, when I'd got rid of Shearer's Cat, which I have to say was impossible until he spied another gullible fool he could settle on, after which he graciously allowed himself to be put back down,  was Kirkness and Gorie where I had been lured by the prospect of tasting a different company's gin. All I'll say about that is that the elderflower tonic was very nice indeed. K and G have put lights on their courtyard tree, which were very pretty but doubtless look better when it gets dark. 

Finally dragged ourselves home to find Lorenzo out, and Markko distinctly uninterested in hearing about my cavortings with Another Cat. They don't half have flexible necks, cats, don't they? 

Day One

Lavender and Lemongrass shampoo.

But as Advent and Christmas aren't really all about getting stuff ....

I took some time, as I hope to do every day in Advent this year, to listen to some music. I so seldom take the time these days to just sit and listen, and now is the chance. I was going to say 'chance to discipline myself to do it' , but really it shouldn't be a matter of discipline. It's not as though  listening to music is a penance for me.

Today was Hakan Hagegard singing Bred Dina Vida Vingar. Recorded when he was probably at his  vocal best this is simple, unaccompanied, beautiful singing. If you want to try it, you can find it here

Lookee. lookee ....

So tomorrow sees the start of Advent, which is a time of year that I sort of love, except for the bits where I get stressed out about how fast Christmas is approaching, and there is always of course the Pre-Christmas meltdown to get past. Advent is going to be a very busy time for me this year as I try to complete the revision of my thesis at the same time as organise Christmas, and go away for three days as well.  However I am going to try and be mindful and centred and efficient-but-relaxed for the next twenty five days. I've made a start by getting all but six of the cards off already. And that is early, even for me!  

Possibly I'll be hugely helped by this, a (not so ) little something the OH bought me when we were last in Glasgow.

What is it, do I hear you cry? Well it is an advent calendar from Arran Aromatics 

That's what it looks like once the ribbon is off.. I'm looking forward to opening up the first little box tomorrow to see what it conceals. And gosh! doesn't this make finding a topic for the blog very easy from the 1st -24th December? Although we might find a few more things of interest to comment on as we wend our way  hurtle onwards to Christmas. 

If you want to know where I am ....

and yes you can sing that title to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'If you want to know who we are'.

Anyway, if you do want to know where I am, I am down the rabbit hole that is known as writing a thesis Literature Review, a long and tedious task which involves you in writing about everything you read in preparation for writing and pointing out where everybody else who has every written about the topic got it wrong whereas you yourself have got it totally right. 

I am not good at shouting about how much better my ideas are than anyone else's at the best of times and the best of times believe me, is not when comitting the thought to paper for posterity. Not that anyone in posterity is likely to look at this, but even so, the thought that someone might freaks me out ever so slightly. 

Anyway it is done, but there are fiddly bits to do tomorrow like check  it's in compliance with the  relevant style guide and has all the right references. Referencing is my weakness as long term readers will know. However needs must and I shall do my best. I suspect this will take most of tomorrow, after which I will come up for air,  aka knocking off a few chores before I dive back down the rabbit hole on Tuesday to write an appendix comparing and contrastng schizophrenia, bi-polar one and bi-polar two. I might also have time to blog about the local tree lighting. Because yes, we went. 

Baking Subscription November - and New Thing No 5 for 2018

Chocolate cheesecake brownies. And the new thing was, honestly, making brownies, which I've never done before. The reason I haven't done it before is because really, we just don't like them very much and that's also the reason why these leave me a bit cold. The chocolate on the top is fine, the baked cheesecake layer is lovely, but the bottom layer of brownie just lacks that indefinable something that brownies lack. Would be nicer with a layer of proper chocolate cake.

I'm obviously not going to make my goal of ten new things in 2018, but I'm going to forgive myself because for a lot of the year I couldn't really see properly which rather hampered efforts to get stuff done. Better luck next year, eh? 

We Had A Visitor

Personally I think people are mad to visit Orkney in November because chances are you will be stuck indoors while outside it blows a gale and chucks it down, but in fact the weather was good so we crammed  quite a lot into the 3/4 days she was here.

First up we did a bit of a jewellery day, walking along the road to Fluke in the morning. Later on we re-visited Sheila Fleet, including the now no longer so new café. I had a blueberry and cinnamon scone, which the cashier did not, as she previously had when I was forced to have an apple and cinnamon one, describe as 'odd' when it was paid for, which is progress. The OH had of course declared he would never set foot in the place again, but given that the visitor wanted to see it, he was as putty in her hands. I took a few more photos of some of the beautiful details in the building

The next day we re-visited the alpaca place that the OH and I went to in October; they had their festive shop open and we spent a fair bit of money there. All in a good cause, mostly things for other people. Our visitor really loved it there.  And she picked up Ty the goat, although I don't have the photographic evidence of that. 

The next day we spent over on West Mainland visiting craft shops (witness the hat) and also went, for the first time but probably not the last, to the workshop of Alison Moore, where I splashed out on a pair of moonstone ear-rings which will go with the multi-stone pendant the OH ordered for me. It was very difficult to choose a favourite; a re-visit may well be on the cards. Although as we have just sent off the figures to the accountant, that may well depend on how much the taxman wants off us in January. 

On her last day we spent the morning beachcombing, as she does crafty stuff with shells. You honestly would not think, would you, that this is the northern isles in mid-November. But it was. 

And we finished off with a trip to the Orkney Gin Distillery, home of Kirkjuvagr gin. Unlike the visitor, we're not keen on gin and on the rare occasion I want to drink a spirit it's a decent malt, or a vodka, so we hadn't previously bothered to go to the Kirkjuvagr visitor centre or do the tour. However it was hugely enjoyable and we're really pleased we went. It's a very small operation but seems to be doing well which is always good news about start ups in small economies. You were encouraged to take pictures so

the company logo, based on an old Icelandic 'compass'

their four current gins

a rather lovely individual copper still - the ones they use to make the gin are actually slightly larger than this! 

and our tasting glasses when we were finished with them. 

If you like gin, Kirkjuvagr I thought was quite nice. Archangel is the same flavour but much much stronger. They had one called Harpa which was their 'Summer' version, which the OH and I both thought tasted like bathroom cleaner (not, I hasten to add, that we have ever eaten any form of bathroom cleaner but it tasted like  what you would expect bathroom cleaning chemicals to taste like judging from the smell.) And finally there was the  soon to be released Winter/Christmas one, which is called Aurora. This was the OH's favourite but for me had too much clove in it. 

Visitor left on the midnight ferry on Friday night and I spent most of yesterday in my pyjamas and dressing gown recovering!  Today is a day for chores and catching up, because this coming week I have a lecture to deliver (already written) and a Ph D Literature Review to submit (which unhappily is not). Although to be fair I have an old version of the Lit Review which just needs expanding and I know what I'm going to add. But I  know form bitter experience that having something half done and knowing what else you're going to say doesn't necessarily make for a quick writing experience! 

I Bought a Hat

I'm not going to say 'isn't it gorgeous?' because I suspect that one woman's hat meat is another woman's hat poison but I love it, which presumably is why I bought it despite the fact that I very rarely wear hats and when I do it is mostly to keep off the weather. This is more likely to take wing in the wind that protect me from it so it will be reserved for calm days, as well as general looking-at-and-marvelling-that-I-am-a-proper-hat owner. 

But like my hair cur it is very Phryne Fisher , of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries fame. It's  shame I don't suit the shape of 1920s dresses, but the hair and the hats I can do! 

Embra Days

The OH set off back to Orkney the day after Edgar, but I stayed on in the Central Belt, hauling myself over to Edinburgh for three days in a row. This was largely so that I could once again expose myself to the horror that is researching in the National Library. I think, and devoutly hope, this was my last foray there before completing my Ph D. Fingers crossed, eh? 

True to form there was a problem. I got up to the Special Collections Reading Room, presented my ticket for admittance, and promptly got knocked back by the machine which controls entry. 'I'm sorry' said the Guardian of the Gate, 'I can't let you in. Your ticket has expired'. 'Expired' I said, 'how can it have expired,  it doesn't have a date on it.' No' he said 'but it has expired, you can renew it downstairs at the Registration Desk.' 

Down at the Registration Desk a young man told me that 'I should have had an e-mail about the ticket expiring.' Which is possibly true but, you know, not helpful. He then asked if I had any form of ID on me, to which the answer was no because I hadn't expected to have to produce any. So he asked me for my post code, which luckily I know, and for my e-mail address, which was slightly more problematic because when he asked for it I sad 'Oh gosh I have four, I wonder which one I registered here' and he said helpfully 'well it's the BT one'. So I wonder quite how secure the security questions are, but anyway, the ticket got renewed and I went back upstairs.

The research went relatively well; I knew what I was looking for and found it, so that was good. What wasn't so good was the pop up exhibition of early Gaelic texts which I had been delighted to see before I left Orkney was scheduled for my first day in the National Library. When I arrived I saw that it was only open from 11.00 until 3.00 which seemed odd, but doable. Sadly when I came down at just after two for some refreshment and a visit to the exhibition it was to find two technician types looking balefully at the door to the exhibition hall and a notice on said door, denying access due to 'technical difficulties'. 

So there you go, I am obviously destined never to see The Book of the Dean of Lismore in real life. But it could have been worse. 

The third day my trip to Edinburgh was for a whole nicer reason as I was meeting up with two friends and we were of to the National Museum to look at an exhibition of Scottish Samplers. This was really just a hook to hang lunch, coffee and a good long chin wag on, but we had a good time. The samplers were interesting and so was the food (I will say that the National Museums/Galleries in Edinburgh have their catering well sorted) and a good time was had by all. I was supposed to go back to the National Library the next day but I had developed a nasty limp and a sore spot on my right foot so I stayed indoors in  Glasgow instead and rested it. Didn't want it to give up when I moved on to Leeds the next day ...

Once again - the blog paradox ....

... lots of time, noting to write about, no time, lots to write about. I'm very busy. But if I don't blog soon about the opera we saw down in Glasgow at the end of October I'll have forgotten all about it.

First up was Rigoletto. It's years since we saw Rigoletto and I had forgotten how beautiful the music is. But it really is, and it was well sung and well played in this production, which is a revival of one SO did a few years ago but which we obviously didn't see. What I liked about it was that it pulled no punches about what a man's world this court at Mantua was; women were literally sexual playthings and Gilda's treatment at the hands of the Duke was very obviously a rape and not a gentle seduction. When I say liked, I probably mean admired; it's easy to dress this opera up as a doomed love story, but unless you're talking about the love of a father and daughter for each other, then it's definitely not. I was sorry to hear the OH and Son No 2 laughing in places where, although what was happening on stage was designed to elicit a laugh from the male members of the audience, no husband or son of a feminist should have been laughing.

Here's a production photo of the Duke and Rigoletto

 

The following afternoon we went to see a concert version of Puccini's second opera, Edgar. This is 'rarely performed' and despite previous strictures here about 'rarely performed' being 'rarely performed for a reason', in this case I think it grows from Puccini's own comments (reportedly he  didn't think it was very good), ignorance (Self fulfilling prophecy, rarely performed, not known, no-one thinks to perform it because they don't know it) and staging problems (yes, the hero does burn down his father's house at the end of part one.) That said, if you ever get a chance to see it performed, stand not upon the order of your going,  just go. The music is fabulous and although the plot is a bit garbled, lots of operas have fairly garbled plots and this is no worse then many. Singing and playing were once again fabulous. It's invidious to single people out so I won't, except to say that I hope a certain Mr David Stout turns up on a Scottish Opera stage again in the not too distant future. He wasn't the best singer of the afternoon, although it was a case of wafer thin gradations between all the principals, but he started ahead of the pack for me by being a baritone. 

It was a wonderful start to my week away. 

Yes, I've been away. But never mind that - here's some knitting.

The being away was for ten days, give or take, and most of it was really enjoyable, or useful or both. No doubt I will stretch out the relevant tales over several blog entries over the next few days.  Meanwhile, in keeping with my determination to keep the knitting aspect of the blog up to date, here are some recently finished projects. Many of them are Christmas presents but I reckon I'm safe since neither of my boys, or my daughter-in-law,  actually read my blog. 

I started this jumper and hat set for younger grandson way back in the spring, then put it to one side when my eyes couldn't cope with reading the pattern. Recently finished and I am very happy with how it turned out. 

As always I have an 'if I were doing it again...' because I was brought up never to be happy with anything I did, and if I were doing it again I would put some red on the hat, but you know, I'm not doing it again, and a three year old isn't going to write me a  thank you letter saying 'I wish you'd done the ribbing on the hat in red' So I'm not going to stress. 

Then there are the Christmas present socks

These are for son number two who, like his father, likes bright socks.

These actually are mine, and not for Christmas, which is as well considering how much I have worn them since I finished them.

These are Christmas socks and are for Son No 1, who like me, prefers his socks to be on the conservative side, colour wise. 

I haven't yet posted about our experience of the annual archaeological extravaganza that is Brochtoberfest here in Orkney. I will, but meanwhile it is worth noting that if there was one thing that it taught me, it was the value of a warm, close fitting hat. I didn't have one, but never let it be said that I don't take lessons on board. Not long after I got home and started to warm up, I cast on this. It's basic, it was a quick knit, the yarn was in my stash and how I wish I had cast it on in the days before Brochtoberfest and not afterwards. And yes, I am going to do a matching set of fingerless mittens. Just not yet. 

That's it for knitting for now except for a shocking story. I was on the train from Leeds to Edinburgh yesterday afternoon. Happily I was not sitting on the sunny side of the carriage, although the lady  opposite was, naturally. As a result she was having problems seeing her Kindle and so she pulled down the anti-glare blind. Immediately the woman behind her squeaked 'I need the light'. Then she stood up, lowered over the reader (she was a big woman) and said 'I'm knitting. I need the light. You've pulled the blind down. I need you to put it back up'. Which the startled reader did; after which she had to curl her left hand round her Kindle in order to see the screen. Since the blind really does just reduce glare without cutting down the amount of light, I was annoyed and embarrassed that a fellow knitter should make such an unnecessary and really rather selfish fuss. I always think that knitters are all nice people, although I don't know why I think this, because experience has taught me that although probably about 98% are, there is always the stray 2%, and sooner or later you're going to meet one. 

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Baking Subscription October - yes, already!

Because I left the September box until quite late on because of my sisters visit, it wasn't long after I'd baked that that the October box came. And I made it more or less straight away. It is a thing of, if not, beauty, at least of joy. Just look!

Sticky toffee drip cake. It's luverlee. Although it was a bit of a faff and if I'm being really picky it's a bit sweet so needs something to cut through the sugary taste - if I were ever to do it again, which seems unlikely but not impossible, I'd put some lemon or lime curd through the middle. But definitely a success. 

So, that was a nice weekend....

... although I'm not sure how it as taken me until Thursday to blog about it!

We started off with a visit to the preview of the exhibition at The Loft Gallery. These change on a monthly basis through ten months of the year and when we're here, and if we remember, we like to go and show our faces to support the artists who show there.  The current exhibition is called Curious Beasts, which sounded promising, but the work was not to our taste sadly. It happens, and actually less often than you might think. There are some very talented artists, in all media,  who live and work in Orkney and we love their work much more often than not. 

(Incidentally a couple of weeks ago we went to an exhibition in The Old Library of the work of Kathy Pickles, whose website is here, and we enjoyed that enormously. The only reason that we didn't buy anything was because all the ones we really liked had gone before we got there - so, in about the first 40 minutes!)

After a quick lunch we scooted off to Skate Rumple Orkney Alpacas where we had a fabulous time. We saw, and fed, goats, pigs and the alpacas, also ducks by default as they stood around your feet waiting for all the stuff to drop out of the feeding scoops while the animals scarfed. Since hens make me feel uneasy, to put it mildly, I was pleased to see that there was only one hen in evidence and I was able to avoid her quite easily.

There are a few pictures, naturally

The pigs are called Chutney, Pickle and Ketchup!

Alpaca

Pygmy Goat

Angora Goat

More alpacas, the white one is called Moomin

Rather better view of an angora goat.

More goats

pretty ducks - although you can't really tell that from the pictures. 

The place has been open to the public for about nine years apparently so I don't know how it is that I have only become aware of them in the past six months or so, but anyway, we had a great time, despite the miserable weather. After we had fed the animals we got fed ourselves with a very fine home baked lemon drizzle cake, and coffee especially blended for them by The Orkney Roastery ( I know, surprising isn't it?) . We bought a bag of the beans to use in our new bean to cup coffee machine because it was really nice. We're now waiting for the Facebook announcement of their Christmas Sop opening times! and I expect we will go back again quite a lot, next year. 

On Sunday the weather brightened up no end and we went for a walk. Sadly the new walks book has gone and hidden itself somewhere so we just drove down to Burwick, which is more or less the most southern tip of South Ronaldsay, got out of the car and had a wander. 

I worry that I'm getting a bit obsessed with graveyards , but honestly they throw up the oddest and most photogenic of things

 yes, that really is an old bedframe round a grave

and as always, in Orkney, the view

And actually I know perfectly well why t has taken me so long to blog about it and that is because I have returned to my studies big-time. I had forgotten how long it takes to actually read stuff, especially stuff more challenging than a detective novel.