Friday, July 25, 2014

I don’t know about you…

… but the combination of heat, humidity and sheer busyness plays havoc with my thinking processes. It’s been a very hot and sticky week since I last posted and now we have friends coming to stay tomorrow at short notice. In all the rush to get ready for them, my planned blog-post has gone by the board.

Once we have the house to ourselves again I’ll be back, but in the meantime I’d like to share a link DD sent me which I think is one of the loveliest things I've ever heard. However busy I might be, I would have to stop, listen and wonder at their artistry and the exquisite sound they achieve.




40 comments:

  1. Oh wow! How absolutely beautiful. I don't think I've ever heard a glass harp before, but I just love it. Gorgeous sound, and so brilliantly played. I was fascinated by the way they crossed over in Anitra's Dance, without a flicker of interruption of the rhythm - amazing!
    It's been hot and sticky here, too - we went to the Show on Wednesday, and the temp was around 28-30C, but fortunately there was a fairly lively breeze to temper it (unfortunately it kept blowing my hat off!) It was a really good day (much more so because we'd been given Members' tickets, so could use the members facilities!!) But we've both been exceedingly tired since then! I finished the second batch of apricot jam that evening, and cooked a chicken (to have cold on Thursday)! Tonight I've done a stir-fry - not really a good idea in this weather! The forecast is for a bit of a cooling down over the weekend - I must say I could do with it, and even the BH has been unwilling to get out in the garden, but has concentrated on inside jobs!! I was a grease-spot at the Show!
    Enjoy your guests - and try to keep cool. Love to you both. H xx

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    1. I thought you's appreciate it, Helva. We had a lovely weekend with our friends and thankfully it's much cooler and fresher today. Now they have left I'm trying to catch up before going out to craft this afternoon.

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  2. Hari OM
    Gracious, that is spellbinding! Enjoy the summer P - we're here when you are &*> YAM xx

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    1. Isn't it just, Yam! We're having a lovely summer, thanks, and today it's cooler and I can think!

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  3. Quite remarkable and really surprisingly accurate musically. I came in from my hot sweaty choir practice and headed straight upstairs to the only cool room and sat and listened to this with the windows wide.
    I admire the dexterous stepping around each other almost as much as the music. Like a ballet in its precision.
    Let's hope it will cool down for all our sakes.
    If it doesn't ease up soon the blogs will fall silent and that would be a tragedy:)

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    1. Yes, it's a joy to watch as well as to listen to, Ray. It's much cooler and fresher with us today so i really hope it's the same for you. I just can't take too much heat as I get older. Now i can think again I'll get back to that blogpost...

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  4. I love the way they cross over - their music is spell binding.

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    1. It's almost like ballet, with them providing their own music.

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  5. I do sympathise...humidity reduces me to a wet rag. Life on the coast here would be unbearable.
    It's always lovely to have friends coming to visit...but I do like a little notice, if only to clear all the tables of their varied content.
    Do enjoy the visit...and let's hope for a breeze.

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    1. Yes, it's the humidity that's the killer, Helen. Dry heat is so much more manageable. We had a lovely weekend with our friends and at least the short notice meant I got lots more exercise. ;-)

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  6. Amazing, Perpetua! Just beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing this! I can sympathize with heat and humidity. It was 116 in Phoenix yesterday. My husband and I went to an evening replay of
    Monty Python Live (Mostly) at a movie theater about an hour away. When we came out of the theater about 10:30 p.m., it was still 101! And it isn't a dry heat because it's monsoon season. The heat definitely slows me down, too!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Kathy. Gosh, your temperatures make ours look almost Arctic! How on earth do you cope with that degree of heat when it's not long a desert dry heat? I do hope your monsoon season doesn't last long.

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  7. It's been a hot and sticky week here in the Loire, too. Three showers a day has been the order of the day!
    I hope you enjoy your visitors.

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    1. We had a lovely time with them, thanks. It's much cooler and fresher here today and I hope the same is true for the Loire.

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  8. Mmmmm, Greig! Astonishing artistry, I have no idea how they do that! My brain turns to mush in the Summer heat. Once it gets above about 32 deg. I am hopeless... Enjoy your visitors, and may a cool breeze blow in for you, Perpetua.

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    1. I thought that video would appeal to you, Patricia. Yes it was around 30 and very humid when I wrote, but thankfully, after a lovely weekend with our friends, a cool front has blown in today.

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  9. I too find this heat difficult to cope with - it takes me all of my time just to do the basics, so that is all I am doing.
    I loved the Greig - both must have a wonderful musical ear to get the pitch so perfect - a joy to listen to.

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    1. It's been as hot in the UK as in much of France, Rosemary, so I know how you've been feeling. Much cooler and fresher here today, thank goodness.

      Yes, the Greig is a joy and I'm filled with admiration whenever i watch it.

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  10. Love having friends to stay and we've got a friend arriving on the 2nd and some others coming later in August; but I do like a bit of notice to get all shipshape.

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    1. So do I, but they just weren't able to confirm until the middle of the week. They were very apologetic and it was lovely to see them.

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  11. Dear Perpetua.
    Only difference there in France from here in Alentejo, is we don't have a humid climate.
    It can become very uncomfortable when too humid.
    How great that you will have friends to stay. Summertime is enjoying friends and family.
    Have a wonderful time.
    I too have just posted.. but still taking time out. Will pop back now and again.
    val xxx

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    1. It's the humidity that made the heat so difficult last week, Val. Thankfully it's much cooler and fresher this morning and DH and I feel much more awake. :-) We had a lovely time with our friends and have just waved them off.

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  12. Absolutely lovely, Perpetua. An interlude of such beauty really helps a sticky day out, doesn't it?
    I don't mind the heat so much as the humidly, which seems to make my bones groan. Oddly enough, we've had a fairly mild summer with more than our share of perfect days, which is usually unheard of here in the midwest. I will wish some your way ( and know I'll be complaining come the dog days of August). Enjoy your company.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed the Greig, Penny. I know I shouldn't even be grumbling when I compare our summer weather with that in much of the US, but we're just not used to high heat and humidity combined. DH and I are now revelling in the return of cooler, fresher air today. I hope your more moderate weather continues as long as possible.

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  13. So beautiful. I have always loved this kind of music. I don't do well in the heat either. I've always had trouble, even as a little kid. I can remember making myself so sick at summer birthday parties, eating too much and running around in the heat. I hope you get to enjoy some cool, refreshing weather soon.

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    1. It's beautiful, Jennifer. I'm very pleased to report that your hope for cooler weather for us has come true today and DH and I are feeling very much refreshed. If you don't like too much heat, you must find your New Mexico summers very wearing at times.

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  14. Oh! How exquisite was that. Slightly freaky effect on the whippets though, must be the pitch.

    Have a lovely summer Perpetua, we will still be here to read your posts when life allows you time to write them x

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    1. It's totally ethereal, isn't it, Annie? I can well imagine the high notes could affect a dog's sensitive hearing. The summer does seem to be busy and today we had a long power cut which put paid to my plans to draft another post. Hey-ho...

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  15. I haven't been able to post too often this summer myself, Perpetua. It seems that in every direction I go there are added responsibilities or the promise of something fun that takes me off! I have had guests and I, too, am struggling a bit with maintaining the blogging connection, even though I enjoy it very much. You enjoy the guests and the things that bring delight and we'll have long, winter months to blog away! :-)

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    1. You're absolutely right, Debra. If I look at my posting pattern over the past three years, the summer is always a slack period as other activities take over. Like you I very much enjoy blogging, but it looks like it will be sporadic until the shorter cooler days of autumn arrive. :) Enjoy your summer too and I hope your weather isn't too extreme.

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  16. I keep thinking I've commented on posts but then find that I haven't. I blame the heat which seems to be affecting my brain. Not much energy for posting during the summer months. I think most of us feel the same xx

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    1. That's so easily done, Ayak, especially if, like me, you skim read in a reader, meaning to come back and comment when you have more time.and then forget I think the recent sticky heat has been addling all our brains. :) Cooler and fresher here today, so hope it colls down for you too. xx

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  17. Hot & sticky weather here, Perpetua. A thundery downpour yesterday afternoon has brought some fresher air but it takes sometime for that fresher air to circulate around the flat. In the meantime, my brain doesn't function that well, either :-(

    Thanks for the video which is quite amazing as well fun to watch.

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    1. It seems to have been the same all over Europe recently, Ricky. We too had a thunderstorm and very heavy rain yesterday afternoon and the difference today is marked. Much cooler and fresher and I'm even wearing a sweatshirt! I hope the flat cools down soon.

      I'm glad you enjoyed the video. It's just stunning. I saw a YouTube clip recently showing a street entertainer in Prague playing music like this, but on a smaller scale.

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  18. Lovely. I’ve never seen a ‘glass harp’ before.

    I hope that the heat has lessened for you, it’s certainly a little cooler and much more pleasant here now. I can breathe freely again.

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    1. Isn't it wonderful. I've only seen one other and that was much smaller.

      I'm pleased to say that after a thunderstorm and heavy rain yesterday it's much cooler and fresher here and I'm even wearing a sweatshirt. :-)

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  19. I love the glass 'harp', Perpetua and we've often made a very cut down version of one at Christmas time...with rather different results, of course!
    Back home, it's heat without the humidity. I sometimes feel I will just be set alight before I break sweat, so dry it is. It doesn't sap the energy in the same way but we have to stay out of the heat for much of the day, which really limits working time. Hope it's a bit better for you now. Axxx

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    1. What a great idea to try this at home, Annie. One for the grandsons at Christmas if I have enough wine glasses. :-)

      I'm glad to say it's much cooler and fresher here now, to the extent that I'm wearing a sweatshirt as i type this. My father use to tell me the same as you about the dry heat in the Australian outback - how it was much hotter, but more bearable than the humid coast. It can't be easy for you to see so much of the day go by without being able to be outside, so I hope it cools down a bit for you soon.

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  20. Exquisite!
    I hope you got that mistletoe down safely!

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    1. Isn't it! The mistletoe is still to do - too busy with the greengages. :-)

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