Fun Weekend

This weekend should be fun.

On Friday night I have a ticket to see 'The Tempest' in Bath, Saturday is the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who, and on Sunday Russell Brand is in Bath doing a live show prior to a new tour, which should be fun.

I'm guessing that housework is going to take a back seat again this weekend.

I'm feeling fairly relaxed about that.

In Which There is an Author

On Saturday morning, while checking Twitter, I saw Garth Nix tweet that he would be in Bath that evening, which sounded as though it might be interesting, so I went along.

I have enjoyed his books for several years now, particularly the 'Old Kingdom' ones, and I enjoyed his talk, too.

He started by talking about his name (not a pseudonym, despite what people may suspect) and about telling stories, and where he gets ideas from (unlike Neil Gaiman and others, not from a little shop in southern England, it would seem) and the process of making stories.

He also read us a little of the most recent books he has out; 'A Confusion of  Princes' and 'Trouble Twisters' and also a short excerpt from what will, probably, be the prologue to a new 'Old Kingdom' book - 'Claribel: The Lost Abhorsen', which sounds as though it's going to be a book I want to read.

He then answered questions before signing books and chatting, which was fun.

I was slightly distracted during the talk by the fact that there was some decorative bunting up, which had clearly been made out of books.. This bothered me a little. I couldn't help but notice that the bunting was made from actual pages, not anything printed as bunting.

(It's OK. I went and asked one of the staff members after the reading; they explained it was made from a damaged proof copy of a book, so it wasn't destroyed specially)

I'm currently about 1/3 of the way through 'A Confusion of Princes' which I'm enjoying.

There are going to be more authors, soon. It's the Bath Kids Lit Fest next month, which should also be fun, and I have a theatre trip or two lined up.

And on an unrelated note, I went to donate blood today. Turns out it was my 50th donation, which means they give me a shiny brooch and a nice pen, and I was surprised at how chuffed I was about it!

More family stuff

I stayed in Devon for a couple of days after the wedding, hanging out with various family members, which was fun.

 Having poured with rain for the wedding, and on Saturday, the weather improved and Sunday turned out to be sunshiny, almost as if it were properly summer!

I took the opportunity to play more with my new camera, taking pictures of flowers and leaves and baby frogs. And then, of course, on Monday I had to come home (and face a disgruntled cat, who assures me he was starved and mistreated during my absence, although he seemed to be looking very well on it, so I suspect he may have been lying to me.) and on Tuesday it was back to work.

This could have been a bit of a come down, but happily my Aunt S, who lives in the frozen north, had decided to make good use of the fact she'd travelled south for the wedding, and she came to visit for a couple of days, en route to visit other friends over the bank holiday weekend. It's been fun having her here, and having someone to cook and eat with, after work, although as she wasn't here for the weekend, I couldn't go out and play with her!

On Friday, I found that my parents' Local Paper came out, (and that it has a website!) including a story about K's wedding and the ringing afterwards. Which was nice, although I think it's a pity they didn't use a group photo, as the entire band was made up of family members, which they seem to have overlooked..

In Which There is a Wedding

Proud Dad!

My sister, K, got married on Friday! The weather was atrocious, but everything else was fantastic.

K and C met through sailing, and decided on a nautical theme for their wedding, so the hall was decorated with signal flags, the tables were each named for a different type of yacht, the names for the places setting were boats (crewed by jelly babies) and the theme was blue and white.

And of  course, the cake was in keeping as well. (My mum, C's mum and I each made one tier of the cake, and my mum then made all of the blue icing sails (with strict instructions from the Groom to ensure that they are on the correct tack and sailing in the right direction!)

Almost everything was done by family, or by K and C themselves, so it felt really personal to them.

K was, of course, absolutely beautiful. The ceremony itself was in the village church - one of our aunts played the organ, C's daughter (12), my other sister, E, and I were bridesmaids and my brother R, and C's nephew J were the ushers. My parent's house is very close to the church, and, wearing anything other than a full length dress with a train, it is a 5 minutes walk. However, on this specific occasion it had been decided that a car would be more sensible, so we put some ribbon on my dad's car and he drove us down to the church, where we dodged the drizzle,  and then rearranged shoes and skirts in the church porch before heading up the aisle with suitable solemnity.

All went smoothly, and at the end of the service there was a very brief family ring (all of us learned how to ring, as children, and K decided it would be nice to have a short ring herself so 6 of us (K, me, my parents, C's daughter SmallC, and our cousin M) headed to the back of the church and rang the bells for about 5 minutes before handing over to the local ringers (several of whom have learnt to ring in the last 18 months or so, taught by my parents) rang while we had lots of photos taken.

We had to take the pictures inside the church as it was pouring with rain, but fortunately the plan was to have a fairly small number of pictures anyway. Equally fortunately, the village hall, where the reception was held, is next door to the church, so it wasn't difficult to get everyone there under relays of umbrellas, without too much trouble, and then, with the formal business of the day over, we were able to party!

All of the toasts/speeches were commendably brief - (I may have had a tear in my eye when my Dad gave his!, and the Best Man managed to be entertaining without embarrassing C too much) and after my Dad, C and the best man had all given their toasts, C's daughter, SmallC, also got up to speak, to say, basically, that not all step-mothers are evil, and that either K isn't a wicked step mother, or else she must be the best actress in the world, and hiding he wicked step-motherliness extremely well!) It was a lovely thing for her to do.

The reception ended with a live ceilidh band, so there was lots of dancing for all, (and of course, conversation and wedding cake) then about 2 hour after the reception finished, a group of us went (by invitation!)  to the hotel where K and C (and quite a lot of the guests) were staying, and spent the evening in the bar.

In a surreal finale to the day, it turned out that the owner / barman is something of an entertainer, who has taught himself to play a 'drum' accompaniment to George Formby's 'when I'm cleaning windows' using the bottles behind the bar as a drum kit... (there is a youtube video of him,  here..)

All in all, it was a wonderful day. K & C are a great couple, and the wedding was lovely. I'm really happy I was able to be a part of it.

Brand New Mr and Mrs

Family, and Fun Things

I arrived in deepest Devon on Tuesday night, to help prepare for my sister's wedding on Friday. The weather is pretty poor, with lots of rain, but other than that, things are good.

My sisters and their respective partners, plus my step-niece-to-be all arrived on Tuesday and by the time I got there, were all busily engaged in making origami flowers. This is the first time my (younger) sister's boyfriend has met us en masse, but he hasn't panicked and run away yet!

On Wednesday, the party was augmented by my brother and his girlfriend, so we now have a VERY full house (my parents are sleeping in their caravan at the bottom of the garden!)

As lots of both extended families live quite a distance away, several of them have come down early and are incorporating the wedding into a summer holiday, and on Wednesday morning my cousin S, with her husband and 2 children arrived at the house to see everyone, and then E and her partner, and I, joined them for a trip to the local zoo, which is very small, but fun, especially if you have the foresight to take a 3 year old child with you!

I also enjoyed playing with my new camera, to take pictures of some of the animals (and of course of the 3 and one year old cousins...)

In the evening we had the rehearsal for the wedding, and discussions about how and where to take pictures if, as seems likely, it pours with rain.

Today has been entirely taken up with preparations - the hall has been decorated (with a nautical theme) tables set up, (much consultation of the plan required) wine and soft drinks ferried to the hall, flowers collected, crockery and cutlery laid out, and many, many other things! My mum finished constructing the cake (which has delicate icing 'sails' all around it)

The ladies of the party had their nails done, in relays, and there was a last minute dash to pick up yje buttonholes, and then the evening was spent making the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids.

It's been a long day, but I **think**  everything is in hand. (except of course the weather, which is out of our control. We have emergency umbrellas.

Being a Girl

Life can be odd. Yesterday, I paid actual, real money; enough to have bought a paperback book and have enough left over for some beer, to have someone pull out some of my hairs by the roots.

And then spent some more cash on some make up, which it turns out comes really expensive. I don't normally wear make up, partly because I don't have the hand-eye coordination before I have my morning coffee, and and I don't have the time afterwards, and partly because I have very sensitive skin, and it gets old having to throw stuff out a quarter of the way through the tube because I've started to react to it.

Anyway, I think I have now finished all of my shopping and preparation for this bridesmaid gig. Which is just as well, as I have no more time. 2 days more of work then I'm off to Devon to help set stuff up.

Meanwhile, last night I went for a walk at about 11.30 p.m. to see whether I could see any of the Perseids, but when I got far enough from the house to be out of the glare from the street lights it became clear that there was a lot of low cloud, so I couldn't see any perseids - or indeed any stars at all. I'm hoping that maybe later in the week (when I'm down in Devon, with a lot less light pollution) I might get another chance.

How's everyone else's weekend been?

In Which There is Sport, and Other Stuff

There seems to be a lot of sport on the telly at the moment, for some reason.

I did like Danny Boyle's big Olympic Opening - I hadn't planned to watch, as I'm not very interested in the Olympics, but there was bugger all else on the TV. However, I admit, I'm glad I did watch.(video  here)

I particularly liked the inclusion of the NHS/Children's books, as they are both things which I think the UK can be justifiably proud of, and to remind everyone that this is not just about the sport. I also loved the fact that the flame was lit by young and unknown athletes, and the beautiful dandelion clock effect of the lighting.

And I think it is wonderful that rather than banning participants from taking photos during rehearsals, or asking them to sign non-disclosure agreements, Danny Boyle simply asked everyone to keep things secret - and they did!

I admit I've been less interested in the actual sporting events, although I've seen little bits of the gymnastics, and of the dressage and showjumping, and I gather that the UK has been doing pretty well, which is nice for those who like that sort of thing.

It turns out that Royal Mail is issuing stamps to celebrate each gold medal (which is unusual - normally you have to be either dead or royal to be on a stamp), and they are also painting a pillar box gold in each gold medal winner's home town. Which is a nice idea. And I learned today that one of the gold medal winners, Ed McKeever, lives in Bradford on Avon, about 10 minutes drive from here. I may have to go to see his gold box when they paint it :-)  I'm also a little curious as to how long they will stay gold. I don't know how often post boxes are usually repainted.

Sorry for the delay

Oops. There's been another gap, hasn't there? Sorry.

I just haven't been doing anything terribly exciting for the past 10 days.

Having watched 'Richard II', I also watched, and thoroughly enjoyed, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. I haven't been particularly aware of Tom Hiddleston before. I have to say, that as well as looking good in a codpiece and on a white charger, he is also a damn good actor.

In Which There Are Hens

I may have mentioned one or twice that my sister is getting married soon - and this weekend just got was her hen party. Since getting while wearing L-Plates and a veil isn't really K's style, we went for the more sedate and civilised option, of going to a hotel with it's own spa for the weekend. Which was nice.

As well as several of K's friends, both my Mum and K's future mother-in-law came, as did one of C's sisters and her daughter,so it was an opportunity to get to know them better, too.

We went to the Isle of Wight, K's home. Most of the weekend was rather grey and rainy, but as we were mostly sitting in the hub tub and chatting, or sitting in the sauna and chatting, or having manicures or pedicures or facials or massages, so the weather really wasn't a major issue.

After doing the spa day, we did tease K a little over dinner - my sister E had set C a quiz, and K had to guess what answers he'd given (we judged that she got enough right to be able to go ahead and marry him!).We also brought various little bits and pieces to talk about how we knew her.. which was also fun - one friend, who went travelling with K, brought a world map with stories about some of the more interesting events of their travels, the friends who work with her had prepared a story, with visual aids, in the style of the ones they make for the (special needs) children they work with, about her wedding, and so on.

 On Sunday morning, those of us who didn't need to rush off too quickly went for a short walk in Shanklin, making the most of the weekend's brief sunshine, then K, E and I, with my mum, had a very good pub lunch before heading home.

It was a nice weekend, and I think K enjoyed herself, which is the main thing. And now it's only a month to the wedding!

The School for Scandal

'The School for Scandal' was first performed in 1777, and I have to say that some parts of it have worn rather better than others. Last night's prodution was well done, but not entirely to my personal taste.
The play is not subtle. We open with Lady Sneerwell and her accomplice, Mr Snake, who carefully explain to each other their nefarious plot. All of the characters have names which clearly telegraph their defining  (when you have a character named 'Sir Benjamin Backbite' or 'Lady Sneerwell'  None of the actors could be accused of under-acting, or allowing any undue subtlty to creep into the performance. Of course, this is very much down to the text itself, and once you adjust to an almost pantomimic level of ham the play is quite entertaining.

I enjoyed the performances of Edward Bennett and Nigel Harman, as Joseph and Charles Surface, respectively - and of Susannah Fielding as the spendthrift and pleasure-seeking Lady Teazle - in fact, the majority of the actors were excellent - but I got a little bored with the text. Which is, I suppose, Sheridan's fault, and not that of the company!

The Hollow Crown (Richard II)

As part of the cultural olympiad, The BBC has a whole tranche of Shakespeare related programmes (their 'Shakespeare Unlocked season) as part of which it is showing new productions of 4 of Shakespeare's history plays - Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V.

photo: BBC

The first, Richard II, was shown on Saturday night, and was breathtaking! Richard was played by Ben Wishaw, as a young, indecisive, mercurial and often petulant king, making the estrangement of so many of his court believable. 

photo: BBC

By contrast, Rory Kinnear's Bolingbroke was a taciturn, pragmatic soldier, who also managed to convey a level of slightly affectionate exasperation at Richard, which reminded me that they were related; there was a trace of 'older sibling' in there..

I am very much looking forward to seeing the other plays in the cycle, and while I do want to Jeremy Irons as Henry IV, I am a little disappointed that Rory Kinnear won't be playing the role (although I suppose he'd be a little young for it) And seeing Henry V will be interested, especially so soon after seeing it on stage - I always enjoy comparing different productions.

If you get the opportunity, do watch.

In Which There is Baking

My sister is getting married in August, and some time ago, I, perhaps foolishly, agreed to make one tier of the cake. Mine is the bottom tier, which means it is BIG - 12" x 12".

All the ingredients

I woke up early this morning, and headed out to buy ingredients.. the recipe calls for almost 6lbs of dried fruit, as well as 9 eggs, over 1lb of butter, and a fair bit of brandy. All of which turns out to be quite heavy.

Brown paper and string

Once I got back to the house, I started on the weighing and measuring, and also on what turned out to be the trickiest part of the whole enterprise, the lining and wrapping of the tin. It had to have two layers of greaseproof paper inside, and two layers of brown paper outside.the purpose being (I assume) to provide some insulation so that the outer extremities of the cake don't burn while you wait for the middle to be cooked. For the same reason, you sit it on a pad of newspaper in the oven, and make it a little hat out of greaseproof paper to wear after the first hour or so of cooking.

I've never made a christmas/wedding cake this large before. In fact, I don't think I have ever made this kind of cake on my own before, and although I have been party to christmas-cake making at home with my mother, I haven't done that for about 10 years. So I was a little bit nervous, especially as the recipe I am using has quantities and timings based on round cakes (up to 9" Diameter) whereas I was making a Square cake (12" square) I spent a lot of time last night doing calculations, and looking through my recipe books for similar cakes,  to work out how much of everything I might need - at one point, based on volumes and the 1969 Good Housekeeping Cookery Book, I was up to 17 eggs, but I decided that was probably excessive, and would need a taller tin.

Actually making the cake probably took about an hour, and the actaul mixing is surprisingly hard work (physically) there's a lot of resistance in all that butter and sugar and flour and black treacle.

for size reference: the mixing bowls are each 12" across

However, the mixture ended up looking pretty much how I expected it to look, which is always a good sign, and when I ladled it all into my carefully lined and wrapped tin it filled it without having any left over, so it looks as through I got the quantities about right.

After a little over 3 hours in the oven, the cake seemed done.

It will be spending the next few weeks carefully wrapped in paper and then foil, being fed a spoonfull of brandy once a week, before it is brought out to be covered in marzipan, after which my responsibility will come to an end, as I am not going to ice the cake - I believe my mother is going to be doing that, for all three tiers.

I may cheat and buy ready to use marzipan, instead of making it, depending on how much time I have. That wouldn't make me a bad person, would it?

The colour scheme of the wedding is blue and white, and the decorations are  nautically themed (K&C met through sailing). I believe that the plan is to have sail-based decoration on the cake - something similar to this, although I think without any people.

Which reminds me - I don't think I shared the lovely invitation - each one was individually hand-made by K - the love-knot is made with real string, which is a nice touch.

And as it turned out that this June day has been characterised by torrential rain, and occasional hail, I feel that the decision to  stay indoors and bake a cake was a good one!