Reading My Way Around the World

Saturday 19 September 2015

Around here


Low tide at Rostrevor Bay Wednesday night
We've been having some lovely September sunshine these past few days - and great sunsets.   I find it hard capturing sunsets, even with the special setting on my camera - it never quite gets the light right.   

Still, I'm enjoying practising.   





And the crescent moon over Finn McCool last night was gorgeous. 




It's hard to believe it's already Autumn, and I can't believe that we've all been so focussed on the weather this year lol   My American friends on Facebook are welcoming in the season of jeans and sweaters and boots and bonfires - we have hardly been out of the jeans and sweaters and boots and the fire has been lit many nights over the past few months...  

We even had a bonfire last night to clear up some of the garden rubbish.



But in spite of the cold summer, my passion flower which never gets any direct sun, bloomed all through August - a couple of blooms a day ... It's such a lovely flower.  


The first of my lovely group of singers started up a few weeks back and now I'm abandoning them to head out of the road for a run of concerts in Europe.  My friend Brona will be taking over for one of the weeks before she leaves to get married and then we get back into full swing once we return.

There's something so exciting about packing up for a tour - seeing old friends again after a year or two's absence, meeting new ones along the way.  Visiting neighbourhoods we're familiar with and this time going to a couple of new towns.   

And most of all being able to focus on just one thing for a length of time.  

We've a couple of very long drives on this trip, but still the focus of the day is on the concert and much and all as I love my singing groups, my students and my work with Csilla and the Emigrants Tale, it's delightful to focus on my own playing, singing and writing for a while. 

The few days before leaving reminds me of packing up for boarding school when I was a kid.   There was an old trunk in the house and as everything from the list was bought, or made, it was added to the trunk.  I'm sure I unpacked and repacked that thing everyday of that summer before finally making the 25 mile journey to school.   
That excitement of packing still catches me - and getting all the things ready from the list is pure pleasure. 

I'll keep you posted along the way on our travels - the full list is at my website - sign up for my mailing list when you're there if you'd like to get occasional updates of things going on that don't involve photographs of flowers :) 

So here's to la belle France, then Germany (hopefully there won't be any delays getting in and out of Munich with the immigrant crisis), then Denmark for a day and back through Germany to Luxembourg for our final port of call and back through France for the ferry home.  

5 comments:

  1. Hi Fil,
    What a delightful post. The sunset is lovely as is your passion flower. I have two Zinnias growing from some old seeds that I had. They are flourishing and still bringing forth more blooms. Isn't it nice to enjoy some of the simple things in life. I loved reading about your "trunk packing". Those sound like very special memories. Your tour sounds wonderful and I look forward to hearing about your journey and adventures as you. Best wishes for your travels and singing. Be safe.

    Tamara

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  2. It will be an amazing tour, dear Fil, I am sure, and I will love seeing more pictures. though I love pictures of flowers - and by the way, what for an amazing crescent moon! I like winter or fall, and I know many people love summer, but for me, fall could be all year long :) So I guess your place would be great for me :) I checked places where I could move to have that feeling all year long :) Some cities in Norway, the south of Chile, Toronto, there must be other places :) I am sure you will enjoy your tour through France, Germany and Denmark and I wish you a pleasant trip, and many sweet new built memories now :)
    DenisesPlanet.com

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  3. You have stirred nostalgic longings in my brain. It is so many years since I was in France, Germany or Denmark. Loved your photos, I thought your sunset pictures looked great. Have a grand trip.

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  4. I love those pictures of the sunset and the moon (I especially like the close up where you can see the man in the moon's nose!)

    I agree with you on the colder weather this summer. We've had to turn the heating on frequently through summer months when we wouldn't normally need to do that! So far though September has been one of the warmer months.

    Hope you have a good trip. :-)

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  5. How lovely to see your photos and that delightful passion flower. And how fun to feel your excitement as you prepare to head out on your tour. Have a most fabulous time!

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