Wittenham Clumps - looking up

closeup of the above, showing wing detail

The red kite was just begging to have its photograph taken.   So I did.   I like the first picture best, where you can see the detail of the pattern on its wings.  Took these, then went home happy.

Wittenham Clumps - looking down

 He loves me....

He loves me not.....

He loves me.....

He definitely loves me not.....                                                                                                            

A smart ladybird in a glossy suit

And this pretty butterfly nestling in the glass

Wittenham Clumps

 Looking up at Wittenham Clumps, where the ox-eye daisies are in clover

Looking across the ox-eye daisies at Didcot Power Station.   I walked down here closely past  herd of cows that turned out to be .....not.

Olympic torch

 I can honestly say that, if it hadn't been for the fact that the torch was going to be passing literally a few yards from my front door, I wouldn't have bothered....

 Here she comes...

 Here she is....

There she goes....

Fun with wire

Had some spare time when I felt like making something, so I found some bits and pieces and odd bits of leftover wire, and made pictures with the wire away from the background so that the shadows give a picture behind the picture, if you see what I mean.   Anyway, this is what they came out like:

Ballet and Streetdance

Some people have the most original ideas - The English National Ballet and Flawless decided to combine forces and do a show of ballet and streetdance and acrobatics.  It was incredible, and quite difficult to understand how they managed to do that night after night.



The idea was a follow-on from a performance at Peace One Day at the O2 last year, and so this production has a story (a Professor who has a mystical hat which lets him manipulate time, his adventures and students of an Academy's adventures along the way).  


If they come your way - go and see them.   How do they do it???

Matthew Bourne's Early Adventures

Yes, this really IS from Matthew Bourne's amazing triple bill 'Early Adventures'.   The first ballet, Spitfire, is subtitled 'An advertisement divertissement' and takes the mickey out of the world of advertising - the dancers do amazing poses and parody, wonderful, clever and oh so funny.


Then there is Town and Country (subtitle Lie back and think of England) and then The Infernal Galop.   Lovely bit in Country with a dead hedgehog.  You have to see it to get it.

The sequence in the bathroom is timed to perfection, maybe a few naughty glimpses, but the towels are cleverly used.    However, one of the funniest pieces was in a pissoir (I think that's what it's called) when the pissing went on.  And on.   And on.  Again, you have to see it to understand how funny it was, and in fact a very sexy piece it turned out to be.


This was so funny I seem to have pasted it twice.....

Vive la France

Had a lovely holiday in France (Dordogne) for a week, and the weather was fabulous, and the company was fabulous, and the food and drink was ....fabulous.   Went to various little towns and managed to disgrace myself by falling over (no, no, it was morning, long before GT (gin time)) and boy was it painful.   Had to go to hospital and have x-rays on my hand because it was thought to be broken.  So when anyone asks to see my holiday snaps I get out my x-rays.  My face swelled up like elephant (wo)man, and cut and bruised knees, etc., but did it spoil the holiday - not a bit.

Anyway, I won't bore you too much, but will just put a few pics on.   The whole thing was summed up for me by being able to sit in a garden in the sun with a drink in my hand, and listening to the birds singing - and they did sing. A lot.  Also there was a terrapin and some goldfish, but they didn't do a lot of singing to be honest.

Run away to the circus

Went to the circus again this year - this time it was just down the road, only took about 10 minutes to get there, and managed to get about the only sunny day we've had.  This year's show was called 'The Saturday Book' (being the 11th Annual Appearance of this Renowned Repository of Curiosities and Looking-Glass of past and present).  The Saturday Book was an annual miscellany published from 1941 (the year I was born!) to 1975.   Neil and Toti Gifford's approach to the circus has an intimate quality, with beautiful hand-crafted tent lining, and amazing costumes and joi de vivre thoughout the whole delightful production.

This last picture is of the clown, and it so wonderful that he is not the usual clown - there is no scary makeup, no red nose, just fun and a lot of talent and skill.

There are no huge animals, no lions and tigers, just Jester and Nutmeg the terriers, horses called Savvy and Militaire, fillies Joplin and Moon, some beautiful doves, Brian the goose, and a pretend bear (sorry kids, he really is pretend) called Myrtle.

I've just realized I haven't done a post on my trip to the Dordogne, so this will have to be out of order.

Chandeliers

Another request was for me to put chandeliers on my blog - most of the pictures of the ones I used to make have disappeared into the mists of time (or albums) but I just quickly took a few pics of the ones I have in the flat now - you may see some earrings hanging on one or two of them because that's where I keep my earrings!   Easy to find, and are pretty when they are not being worn.   It was mainly to show that I use things like silver toast racks (removable for cleaning!) and silver spoons.   My favourite one is still the very first one I made, that is now living in Canada.

Oh, I've put in a couple of candlesticks as well..