Sex and Death in Austro-Hungary

 or The Scandal at Mayerling.

which was the ballet we went to see in Inverness last week.

Long term readers may recall that Inverness and I have had our issues in the past but fingers crossed they seem to be behind us and this was a successful trip Smooth journey down, a quick dip into M & S where I  bought two new shirts and a pair of leggings, (to which I am a late but enthusiastic convert) hotel check in and then the ballet. 

I'd never seen it, as my ballet going has been limited. I enjoyed it, if enjoyed is the word given the subject matter and  I  took a particular interest in the costumes since  I had given to the appeal for help with funding them. I'm such a sucker for theatrical textiles. They were sumptuous, it has to be said, although when the curtain opened on Act 2, in a tavern come brothel and displayed some rather staggeringly attired lades of the night I did whisper to the OH that I hoped none  of my money had gone towards those particular costumes. 

The program (see above) cost a bomb and was a waste of money since a) I couldn't see well enough to read the type and b) it didn't contain a cast list. The first of these is not the fault of SB but the second seems a huge mistake/oversight on their part. I don't know many SB dancers by face or name yet so only recognised the amazing Bethany Kingsley Garner as Princess Louise. Who was, naturally, amazing

So that was a nice break and we now have a very very quiet week, in contrast to next week which is shaping up to be mega busy and exhausting. Although, with the exception of my out  patients visit on Monday (sadly not for my eyes) it should be enjoyable too as we zap to Glasgow for a Very Special Occasion. 

Are we suddenly all back in 1941?

I ask because a lot of my time recently has been spent either knitting for refugees (see previous post) or doing things that could have come from a Make Do and Mend page in a women's magazine circa 1938.

Last year when we were down in Devon I bought a new cardigan (regular readers may recall that there was a bit of a packing fail/weather disconnect) and I had to purchase a few emergency additions to the wardrobe, this cardigan included. I loathed the buttons on it, so in fact I never wore it on the holiday or since, but I was suddenly taken with a desire to change them and make the cardigan usable, last week. So I did. I took these buttons off

and replaced  them with these pretty floral ones that I had in my stash courtesy I think of a magazine give away several years ago.  I could have lived with the original had they all been bees, but the flower was just too bling for me and the serpent was just totally the wrong shape for a button if you wanted it to function as a button. Which I did. The flowers are a great improvement and I have since worn the cardigan several times. So that's a result. 

Some readers may remember the dull jumper saga which Google apparently doesn't want to link but May 2019.Well a while ago  I was told 'it had gone through at the elbow (lovely use of the passive voice there) and I didn't think that I had any wool left to do anything to try and mend it, so the jumper lurked on a wardrobe shelf, and presumably cried quiet tears to itself because it was no longer of any use in the  world. Actually in the back of my mind I had a feeling that there had been quite  a lot of the wool for it left but a cursory search in the most likely place had failed to turn it up so I forgot about it. Then when I was searching out wool for hats I found two full skeins and a little more of the right stuff and naturally I fell on this with cries and whoops of joy. I then had to work out what to do as the hole was quite big, the edges were felted and the wool around them very thin. There was no prospect of a darn. What I did in the end was knit two identical patches and sew one to the inside and one to the outside of the sleeve. 

I do know blogs where the writer would have taken photos of the offending hole and every stage of the mending process plus the finished article, presumably in the belief that everyone is fascinated by their mending techniques. I do not expect my readers to be fascinated by my bodged together repairs so I didn't bother with any of that. Here's a picture of the finished patch, which looks rather more visible in the photo than it does in real life. I think in real life if you didn't know the patch was there you really wouldn't notice it. 

Anyway that's by the by. The OH is pleased it was possible to mend, however bodged the job, and he has hardly had the thing off his back since. So that's another result really. 

So Much Catching Up to Do ....

 and I'll start with the knitting. 

Way back towards the end of December, when we heard we couldn't go to Canada, I started a project I called Practicing Thankfulness, which was basically to remind myself that on the scale of things I am such a lucky person that I should be grateful for all the good things and not dwell too much on the (temporary) disappointment of not being able to visit family abroad. So for several months I picked out some wool from stash and spent 30 minutes a day knitting something for someone else whie reminding myself ow lucky I am. I didn't know who the someone else would be but I knew that if nothing else came up I could send the things to the Shoebox Appeal in December. 

And then came the Ukraine war and the refugee crisis and the local collection for that  so all the Practicing Thankfulness' things went there. And then I started knitting specifically for that since they wanted hats amongst other things. The closing date for receiving donations was set for yesterday so before we went off to Inverness for the ballet (report to come) I took my last contribution. 

These thirteen hats - someone very kindly donated me some yellow wool for the rainbow ones as it was the one colour I didn't have and as there was lots left and I found some turquoise-y blue of the same weight I was very pleased to be able to add these two as well

and I managed to finish a pair of socks at the last minute and pop those in too. 

For once I felt pleased to have a stash of wool that I could just go to and use, although sad for the reason it was needful. 

So fifteen hats plus a par of socks and the stuff I sent previously, It's something isn't it?  A drop in the ocean of need, but  I decided at the beginning of the year to take on board that saying about how it's 'better to light a candle than to rage at the darkness'. These are some of my little candles. 

Culcher at the Pictures

 

There was a Royal Opera live cast yesterday of La Traviata aka La Dame aux Camellias , hence the picture grabbed from Gardenia.net. We had two beautiful camellias of our own when we lived n Leeds but couldn't bring them with us as they don't like wind and I don't have any photos of them sadly. I love a nice camellia, me. 

Anyway it was an interesting performance. The music is gorgeous the production was the old Richard Eyre one which has largely stood the test of time, although it did lead me to wonder  where the idea that gypsies always dance on tables came from? I could not fault the singing which was generally excellent. The title role calls for three different voices, or at least three different aspects of the same voice and the singer (the very talented South African Pretty Yende) was very good in two of them, although she lacked the darker dramatic tones ideally needed for Act 2. They may come as she gets older. The baritone in Trav. really can't go wrong given the gorgeous music Verdi wrote for the role, as long as he hits the right notes it's a done deal. Last night's did, although as a last minute stand in he wasn't 100% present in the set and stage choreography. The tenor was the weak link really Nothing wrong with his voice, although he strained a bit with long phrases, but no stage presence at all. It made the performance rather more 'all about Violetta' than I've seen it before and I don't know that I liked it. But this is all nit picking. You'd have to go a long way to find a better performance overall. There is never, can never be, a perfect production of anything.

We were both highly irritated by the little film inserts that these live casts and film casts insist on providing to fill the interval time. Opera by numbers, a patronising presenter - last nights constantly waved her hand up and down to emphasise what she was saying  - and very little insight into anything, not to mention the same tired old 'jokes' aired more than once. No doubt TPTB reckon these give added value, but they brig nothing to the party for us. 

It was really long too, thanks to two intervals of 30 minute and 25 minutes plus a short pause between the two scenes of Act 2. I'd rather have got home half an hour earlier, but I suppose Covent Garden needs the bar revenue. 

Next month's offering  is Swan Lake and we're looking forward  to that. 

Proud Parent Alert

 Last Wednesday was Son N 2's graduation, or as the University put it his 'day of celebration; since it was nothng like a traditional degree cerremony. 

There were robes, there was prosecco, there were balloons there was a celebratory lunch with hot chocolate and it was a  good day. 

There was also a random statue of a  lion.

Spring Nails

Friday I had a hair cut and colour, and also got my nails done. 

Ice cream (or possibly mini egg) colours, and lace. 

You'll have to click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see the lace though, Sadly it doesn't show up against the pastel colours as well as I would have liked. 

All this titivating is in a good cause, We are (DV) off to Glasgow on Tuesday for Son No 2's Covid-delayed B/A. celebration. Uni very hot on pointing out it's not a graduation ceremony for technically wibbly wobbly reasons, but anyway, whatever it is, we're going. Perhaps he will get a 'proper' ceremony for his M A in due course. Anyway the graduation thing is Wednesday, Thursday, covid willing we'll be visiting Scottish Opera for something or other and then going shopping for sheets. We have ordered a new mattress and it's about deep enough to feature in an illustration of The Princess and th Pea. Well, not quite, but we will need extra deep sheets, so that's another trip to some branch or other of M & S to source them in time for the mattress coming. And then we'll be back Friday. 

I have been feeling quite wobbly all week but much better, if not 100%, today so hoping that by Tuesday I'll be full of my usual bounce - such as it is, ad ready to enjoy myself.