On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Week 12

Week Commencing Monday, 1st June 2020

Fresh supply of Fruit and Veg delivered by Grace's Farm

Courtesy Grace's Farm Shop

Shop today. Always good to have a full fruit bowl and fresh veg. I've made the 'F' and 'V' capitals because of their importance, of course. We are lucky to be able to continue buying good quality produce. Long may it last.

Tai Chi continues to improve our minds and bodies and we're now moving on to 'Parting the Wild Horse's Mane' and even 'Jade Girl Works at the Shuttle' and looking to our teacher to help us move one from here. Yes, I know you've been dying to have this information. Now you are the first to know! 

I washed the car on Sunday. Must be the first time for ... this year! The things one does in Lockdown! Was thinking about waxing it, but then it rained ... on to the next job.

We've been receiving quotes from competing contractors for a battery to store our solar energy production as well as an air source heat pump. We are now beginning to feel that the latter is a non-starter under current and foreseeable circumstances, primarily because it requires access by installers to all areas of our home. 

Wild 'Dog' Rose along the Steel Valley Walk

It seems that the UK, particularly England, is fast becoming known as the epicentre of the pandemic in Europe. Unsurprising, considering the statistics. Deaths have now exceeded 40,000 and the number of confirmed cases over 280,000. On the other hand, the battery will happily be installed in one location and not require access by installers to anywhere else in the house. So the risk is containable. 

I am now convinced the installation of a battery offers so many benefits, not least being able to utilise power more efficiently, for example charging from the solar panels during the day and charging from the grid at cheaper rates at night or even being paid to take excess electricity from the grid during windy nights! So it’s a no-brainer for me. 

Probably Another Wild Rose

B has recently joined a local, well, regional volunteer group that is making face masks for the care community around the county.

Last week she got up to speed with the specific design, that has pleats, a wired nose piece and a pocket to insert an extra filter. Testing the specific dimensions on me pulled my ears forward and made me look like the BFG! Some adjustment was therefore required for bigheads. This week she has consistently made four masks a day. She is restricting herself to that number so that she has time to carry out her several other regular tasks, which Mask orders from family. Nonetheless, she has made twenty masks in her first full production week. Well done, missus. 

Steel Valley Walk

Walked a little bit of the Steel Valley Walk with Taz on Friday on the way back from picking up some more hen food and my ‘scrip from the chemist. Pictures of what I saw on this brief excursion are above.

We’ve had some welcome rain for the past two or three days. Temperatures have dropped significantly, from the late teens and early twenties for the past week or so, down to barely ten degrees. 

New longer term plans for Hallmark of Harmony emerged on Tuesday this week. Adding structure and form to a cycle of routines, which will include one 'social' a month and one musical 'education' session. Benefits could accrue to this lockdown life that might not have been realised otherwise. It's making us all review our priorities and also how we can do things. The latest new song is the Crossroads arrangement of "You Don't, You Won't". It's a brute of a song with a beast of a bass line (and probably beastly baritone, lead and tenor lines too), but we are up for it ... and how! 

In the mean time, as B continues making face masks for our son and his family, I took both dogs out for walks today, in dubious weather, teaming with rain at one stage, but then nobody can call me a fair weather walker.

See you next week.

Here's some music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder" ...

Monday: "Je Te Veux" by Erik Satie (1866-1925) and the occasion of my and my wife's forty-sixth wedding anniversary. I could probably have selected  something else, but it is very pleasant nonetheless and, according to Clemency, the ultimate cabaret song.

Tuesday: Divertimento on Sellinger's Round 2: 'A Lament' : Andante espressivo by Michael Tippett (1905-1998). The whole works, of which this is the second movement, is a collaboration between several composers including Tippett, Britten and Walton. The occasion was the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on this day (2nd June) in 1953.

Wednesday: Ave Maria by Charles Gounod (1818-1893) after J. S. Bach (1685-1750).

Thursday: Overture from Ruslan and Lyudmila by Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857). 

Friday: Ribers No.8 Traditional Danish, arr. Danish String Quartet. This is a string quartet whose roots are in classical music of Haydn, Schubert and Mozart, which they take very seriously, but this leaning to the traditions of folk music shows how grounded they are and not narrow minded about their primary genre. "This piece" argues Burton-Hill,"speaks honestly to who they are as musicians and the rich tradition from which they come as anything else they might care to play". 

Saturday: Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Spartacus by Adam Khachaturian (1903-1978). Khachaturian, born on this day (6th June) in 1903, was know as the Rubens of Russian music, because of what Clemency Burton-Hill calls his 'painterly' music. Listening to this famous composition exemplifies that for me, without any doubt. This composition was part of the revival of his fortunes after Stalin, in whose time Khachaturian was out of favour, had died in 1953. It was massively popular.

Sunday: Raga Piloo Traditional Indian Version by Ravi Shankar (1920-2012) and Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999). I seem to recall that Yehudi Menuhin collaborated with many musicians across different genre, amongst the better known of whom was jazz violinist, Stephane Grappelli. Famously Menuhin commissioned a composition by Alan Hovhaness, for violin and sitar with full Western symphony orchestral accompaniment. This was titled 'Shambala'. Sadly it was never recorded by them, but there is much to admire in this piece, played by them both.

However you may be affected by anything I've written here, do let me know by leaving a comment below or, if you prefer not to, share your thoughts with a trusted friend or someone you love.