What do you mean - it's nearly 2014?!

Well how embarrassing - no blogging since early October. And here we are post-Christmas Day and rapidly approaching 2014. 

Since then I've had a '0' birthday, Tyler has finished Year 4 with a very good school report and we've just had a lovely Christmas. 

So here's a few photos to help recap the last few months:

Pedro went from this - 

To this - 

Tyler dressed as Count Dracula for Halloween

I had my '0' birthday

Chris got us a new toy

And Santa visited

So a good ending to the year - although apparently we are doing a repeat of the Nevis trip tomorrow with some friends, one of whom is a rally driver. At least we have a 4-wheel drive this time. I think that helps...!

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve I came home from singing at the first service at St Mary's at around 9:20pm to find Tyler fast asleep in the hallway because apparently he was 'waiting to catch Santa'.

On the bench he had laid out a feast for Santa and the 'rainder' with a little note.

Off I went to St Mary's again for round 2 at 11:30pm, finishing just before 1am. By the time I got home and ensured everything was ready for Santa it was 1:45am. 

Tyler came "Merry Christmas!"-ing into our room at 5:15am but amazingly we were able to get him to settle down in our bed till 6am at which time he dragged me out to the lounge with him to open his Santa presents and the presents from us. Much excitement ensued as amongst other things a skateboard was revealed.

Tyler and I played Monopoly and then we headed over to Mum's at midday to open presents and indulge in a traditional Christmas feast with Mum's personalised home-made crackers between courses. 

It was a gloriously hot, sunny day.

                    Chris                                                          Stephen

 

Back home Tyler played happily with his loot while Chris watched a movie and I had a big nana-nap! 

Christmas is Coming

We have one not-so-small-now boy happy as a Christmas elf high on frankincense and myrrh after putting up the Christmas tree this afternoon. We put up the Advent calendar last night so he has already had his first gift from that.

We have one of those Advent calendars with 24 small pockets into which I put a slip of paper with a picture of a location at which he will find a 'wee something.' This year we are having the usual toy/lolly type gifts and then we are adding in some 'Time Vouchers' which will have things like "Spend an hour at the beach with Mum &/or Dad' or 'Picnic at the park'.  Like a lot of kids, Tyler's love currency is time with us, so not only do we get away from buying cheap cr@p that will get tossed in a week or two, but we all benefit from the time together.

Surprisingly, we have been having difficulty getting out of him what he wants for Christmas presents. He consistently says that he will like whatever we get him (oh the fish-hooks in that one!) and that he wants to do things with his family. He actually wrote a note to Santa asking for 'something the whole family can do play together'. 

I recently created his PNP Santa video and it was a sight to behold when the video got to the bit where Santa has a look under the cover at what the elves are making for Tyler. Santa "Oh Tyler, I see you want something that everyone can do together". Tyler's eyes went like saucers, his mouth dropped open and he exclaimed "Oh my goodness!"  Belief is still strong in him :)

This year's new ornaments.

Random Tyler photo - with his new Beywheel rink

Something old, something new

Now is the time of the singing year where, with competitions over, I get to choose a whole bunch of new music to learn and expand my (pathetically small) repertoire and Christmas music starts looming in the shape of end of year concerts and solos gigs. So a mixture of new (to me) and old.

Firstly the new music. My teacher hauls out all sorts of new and delicious pieces from her vast collection and tantalises me by singing snippets of this lieder and that aria which she thinks will suit my voice. Frankly I just want to sit and listen to her sing the whole time but she's clever enough just to sing enough to let me get a feel for a piece and decide if it's 'me' or not and then she moves on to the next one. I know there are teachers who just say "Here's what you are to learn" and off you go, but I guess I'm a big enough girl to say no and my teacher is relaxed enough to not mind when I say no. Let's face it, it's not like I'm preparing myself for a singing career where I would have to sing things I might not like in order to advance myself. 

So currently I'm beavering away at: the lower part of the Flower Duet* from Lakme (will learn the upper part later), Mendelssohn's 'Neue Liebe', and 'Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen' from Der Freischutz. 

As we work away at extending my register upwards, it's a pleasant feeling to be able to look at piece of music with a C6 or three and not feel an immediate rise in heart rate. If I can become as comfortable with D6 as with the C6 then it will open up a whole lot of new repertoire for me. It's only 2 semitones difference but feels like 2 vertical miles some days.

Christmas music comes in the form of choir music with A Capella Singers and the usual church music including 2 services on Christmas Eve. The ACS concert is a combined one with a brass band. This is a combination for which the singers will have to find their collective squillo!! Then there is a programme of Christmas music at Womens Club which I am in charge of, which is allowing me to be self-indulgent and allot myself Adam's O Holy Night, which I can then repeat at a dinner gig a week later.

*Do those of you of a similar vintage to me always think of the old British Airways ads when you hear/sing this??

Holidays

• So there I was, finishing work just after 3pm on Thursday 22 December....nek minnit......it's 14 January and work looms.

Apart from the earthquakes we had a lovely relaxed holiday, including a couple of days in Te Anau (where I nearly buggered the jetski propeller, but we won't talk about that).  I also had a day visit to Dunedin where I caught up with a singing buddy, currently over from Australia, and had another session with my SLT.

New Year's Eve was spent at a friend's house nearby with a barbecue and table-tennis. Quite a challenge seeing the ball as dusk falls!

Tyler and I have been to the movies to see 'Puss In Boots' and 'Hugo' in 3D (beautiful movie) and amongst all the relaxation I managed to knock off a few things on my To Do list, to whit:

• Clean and reorganise pantry
• Cull books and organise bookcases
• Transfer all 2011 photos and video to DVD

Tomorrow I tackle the office - send a search party if I haven't surfaced by tea-time. The problem with tidying the office is that it involves sorting and tidying music and inevitably I find little gems that I had forgotten about and just have to try out. Six arias, two etudes and a flute sonata later.....

A couple of photos to finish:

A hole in the road with liquefaction just after the 6.0 earthquake on the 23rd

St Paul's Cathedral, Oamaru (Christmas Eve service)

Table-tennis on New Year's Eve

Christmas & Earthquakes

So this is how our Christmas went:

Thursday 22nd: I finish work just after 3pm, scoot home, we throw our stuff in the car and off we go, collecting Anton on the way, all the way to Christchurch. We arrive sometime after 11pm and off to bed we go.

Friday 23rd: Chris takes his mother and the kids porn shopping i.e. Bunnings while I head out to Dad's in Rangiora to catch up. Just before lunch we head over to Pegasus and visit Donna & Garry who are renting there, prior to building. We have a nice lunch at a local cafe and then head back to Dad's. Just getting ready to leave and wham! an earthquake hits. I look around wildly for a place to take cover and Dad yells out "Garage!" (the reasoning being it doesn't have another story above it fall  on top of us). However the shaking and rolling subsides before we get there. First thought: If it was bad here, how much worse will it be in Christchurch? Frantic attempts to call and txt - system overloading - but confirmation quickly that Chris, his Mum Rosina and the boys are fine and are at home. Several sharp aftershocks rattle the nerves. 

I drive home, get out of the car and just as I am closing the driveway gate, the rumble starts and then all hell breaks loose. I cling to the gate for dear life, watching my Holden get bounced around like a toy and then as soon as I am able to stand without falling over, rush inside screaming for Tyler. He is remarkably calm, Chris is all laissez-faire and I burst into tears and declare that I want to go home. Chris' Mum administers some arnica spray and then we start riding out the aftershocks. No power so tea is cooked on the BBQ and we listen to reports on the radio. The second quake is a 6.0. We walk down the road and see liquefaction and holes opened up in the middle of the road. Power restored around 7pm. Aftershocks continue. Sleep that night is hard to come by. Even a truck rumbling makes me leap up in alarm.

Saturday 24th: We get outa Dodge and drive down to Oamaru to Chris' sister Leona's. The rest of Chris' side of the family are gathering there for a midday Christmas dinner. We feast on turkey, ham, lamb and new potatos, followed by pav, fruit salad, jellies and chocolate chip sherry log. We quaff excellent wines.

Tyler and Olivia enjoying Christmas dinner in the sun

Tyler's stocking and winding wool to find his Santa sack

 Tyler playing his new Nintendo 3D with Anton

In the evening, I take Olivia down to St Paul's Presbyterian for a mid-evening Christmas service - the lights are turned off and we all light candles and sing traditional carols. Get home and sort out Tyler's stocking and Santa sack and then get some much-needed, non-shaken sleep. 

Tyler wakes at 5:40am and begs to open his stocking. By 6:30m all the kids are awake and the big ones grab their piece of wool and starting winding it up to find their Santa sacks. The strings go all over the house and outside. Tyler finds his sack behind the BBQ. We open the rest of the presents in the lounge and the floor is a sea of paper and toys. We enjoy croissants, bacon and eggs for breakfast and then head off back to Invercargill.

So not a traditional Christmas for me at all, but very enjoyable nontheless.

All I Want For Christmas.....

Tyler recently wrote out his Christmas Wish List. The first two items are as expected. Then a candle - interesting. I queried this and he said he wanted a 'Christmas candle'. Hopefully the nice red glittery candle in a glass I have acquired - oops I mean Santa has made - will do the trick. 

An Angry Bird - not hard to figure that one out, he loves the red soft toy Angry Bird that sits on my desk and sets off its angry little squawks whenever he visits my office. 

More of the expected follows and then, items 9 and 10. Bless.

Only 7 more sleeps!

Seriously entertained

Last night I sang at a Christmas dinner function. I was scheduled in between the main and dessert. Perfect timing really – the guests have had enough wine to be slightly merry and expansively forgiving of any minor slip-ups, but not so much food they’re going to sleep and you have to studiously ignore the man at the second table with his head resting on his side plate, snoring in the key of E♭.

Actually it wasn’t really me they wanted. Originally the organiser rang my teacher Rebecca Ryan, but she was unable to do it, so she recommended me. With any luck no-one told the dinner guests that they were getting second choice and a very distant second at that. Like three miles astern. When I was discussing the details with the organiser he said that they wanted a ‘serious’ singer. This tends to be a non-singer’s term for ‘person who sings very loudly, with a lot of vibrato and in a foreign language and therefore must be rather good’.

It’s always interesting choosing repertoire for performances. You may have just put the finishing touches on a technically-challenging 20^th century aria with more accidentals and time signature changes than should ever be crammed into 5 pages, but it’s most likely going to fall flat with a bunch of Rotarian’s at their Christmas party looking to be entertained. Oh they’ll politely applaud and look impressed but will they enjoy it? Probably not. So serious, but enjoyable was required.

I started with the short but very sweet Quilter song ‘Music, when soft voices die’, just to give them a dose of ‘serious’. This seemed to be appreciated i.e. thank heavens you’re singing in English and it’s short and tuneful. And then I combined ‘serious’ with ‘entertainment’ and let rip with Flanders and Swanns’ ‘A Word on my Ear’.  If you’ll forgive my lack of modesty, I had them at ‘Hello, I am the great operatic diva Dame Edith Huntington-Smythe-Jones-Smythe’ and it was all smiles, laughs and applause from there. A girl could really get used to that. I’ve sung this several times now and I’m at the point where I can relax and really get into the acting side of things and not sing it through strictly adhering to the time/bar lines/rests etc. Of course the accompanist is very much an intergral part of not just the music, but the acting in this one and mine was with me every step of the way.

So that’s the last pre-Christmas performance and with three weeks holiday starting from Friday next week, plenty of time to start getting my teeth into new repertoire. ‘King David’ here I come….

Seriously entertained

Last night I sang at a Christmas dinner function. I was scheduled in between the main and dessert. Perfect timing really – the guests have had enough wine to be slightly merry and expansively forgiving of any minor slip-ups, but not so much food they’re going to sleep and you have to studiously ignore the man at the second table with his head resting on his side plate, snoring in the key of E♭.

Actually it wasn’t really me they wanted. Originally the organiser rang my teacher Rebecca Ryan, but she was unable to do it, so she recommended me. With any luck no-one told the dinner guests that they were getting second choice and a very distant second at that. Like three miles astern. When I was discussing the details with the organiser he said that they wanted a ‘serious’ singer. This tends to be a non-singer’s term for ‘person who sings very loudly, with a lot of vibrato and in a foreign language and therefore must be rather good’.

It’s always interesting choosing repertoire for performances. You may have just put the finishing touches on a technically-challenging 20^th century aria with more accidentals and time signature changes than should ever be crammed into 5 pages, but it’s most likely going to fall flat with a bunch of Rotarian’s at their Christmas party looking to be entertained. Oh they’ll politely applaud and look impressed but will they enjoy it? Probably not. So serious, but enjoyable was required.

I started with the short but very sweet Quilter song ‘Music, when soft voices die’, just to give them a dose of ‘serious’. This seemed to be appreciated i.e. thank heavens you’re singing in English and it’s short and tuneful. And then I combined ‘serious’ with ‘entertainment’ and let rip with Flanders and Swanns’ ‘A Word on my Ear’.  If you’ll forgive my lack of modesty, I had them at ‘Hello, I am the great operatic diva Dame Edith Huntington-Smythe-Jones-Smythe’ and it was all smiles, laughs and applause from there. A girl could really get used to that. I’ve sung this several times now and I’m at the point where I can relax and really get into the acting side of things and not sing it through strictly adhering to the time/bar lines/rests etc. Of course the accompanist is very much an intergral part of not just the music, but the acting in this one and mine was with me every step of the way.

So that’s the last pre-Christmas performance and with three weeks holiday starting from Friday next week, plenty of time to start getting my teeth into new repertoire. ‘King David’ here I come….

Christmas Countdown

Number of sleeps till Christmas is being checked every day, the Advent Calendar gifts are being sought every morning, and the tree is well and truly up. Tyler was a most excellent Santa's Helper with the Christmas Tree and only became bored about half way through the ornamentation stage.

Of course all that effort is exhausting for a small boy and a wee nap, with the warming addition of his Mum's dressing-gown, was called for. 

Incidentally, we got Tyler's school report on Friday and I am happy to report that it was excellent, both academically and socially. His teacher described him as a 'happy, social boy' and on all his personal attributes he achieved in the Always range, including 'Respect for others'. He is achieving the standards and is at spelling age of 9. (Clearly gets that from me). So we were very happy parents. Next year he is in a composite Year3/4 class so that will be interesting.

We had our first BBQ of the summer on Friday night and Tyler was given the task of cooking the sausages, and a very good job he made of it too. Here he is being instructed in the Manly Art of Barbecuing by Chris.

Yesterday was the Preston Russell Law Christmas Party - we went to Christmas at the Races at Ascot Park. We had a big marquee right on the finishing straight and a Tote about 10 paces away, so with some excellent catering by Mash and a steady supply of refreshments we were set. Most of the ladies took the opportunity to dress up and with the superb weather the stands and grounds were a riot of colourful dresses, hats, fascinators and sky-high heels. Here's me and Helen.

I've done my Christmas concert with A Capella Singers (see here for a run-down) and have a Rotary function to sing at this coming week.

Let There Be Joy!

Last night I was part of a world premiere! In fact, I can now claim to be the first person to sing a particular song in 450 years. I am a member of A Capella Singers and A Capella Concertino and last night we gave a performance entitled 'Let There Be Joy', music with Scottish connections for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. These are songs and carols researched, translated and edited by Dr Raymond White and recently published in a book also entitled Let There Be Joy. 

In the mid-1500's John Knox and his cohorts of the Reformation disapproved of art, music, dance - in fact as Raymond puts it in the preface of his book, 'they were the cultural terrorists of their time'. Apparently Knox had the idea that 'Satan had corrupted the noble gift of singing cheifly through the Papists, by the use of the Latin language that does not edify'.

Surely the man must have been tone deaf! How can you listen to Palestrina or Gabrieli and not want to be a better person?? 

It was a good test for me of how well my focus on breathing was working, as it was a big sing - 13 items in all, including 3 of them with the small Concertino group and one a solo. (Not to mention I was making my debut as a conductor with two of the songs). In rehearsal the solo had gone well, and felt nice and free. Stepping up to sing it at the performance my mouth was as dry as the Sahara and I was terrified that the lower notes at the end of the first and third lines (only middle C#, so yes I can hear the mezzos and altos amongst you scoffing - stop it Sarah!) but a leap downwards to get there and I wanted to stay in head voice rather than grind them out in my chest. So I just focused on taking the most relaxed and full breath I could and let that do the work for me. And it did. And more good breathing and the echo-y acoustic of St Mary's Basilica allowed the higher notes to float out easily. For once I was actually reasonably happy straight off.  Just the chamber organ and cello as accompaniment. 

The music as a whole was joyful and uplifting and I absolutely adored 'Illuminare Jerusalem'. So many of the songs are dance-like there were times I wished we could have moved accordingly, but of course choirs in church don't do that, that would be naughty. And the shade of John Knox would come and clip as all around our collective ears and consign us to the fires of Hell. 

And of course what would a concert of carols be without a good hearty rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, Adeste Fidele - ooh! more of that wicked Latin - and Silent Night.

My next gig is as part of the entertainment at the local Rotary club Christmas party. Apparently I will be on straight after the main meal so hopefully they won't have all nodded off by then. I'm going to lull them into a false sense of security with a Quilter art song and then knock 'em dead with 'A Word on My Ear'.

Let There Be Joy!

Last night I was part of a world premiere! In fact, I can now claim to be the first person to sing a particular song in 450 years. I am a member of A Capella Singers and A Capella Concertino and last night we gave a performance entitled 'Let There Be Joy', music with Scottish connections for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. These are songs and carols researched, translated and edited by Dr Raymond White and recently published in a book also entitled Let There Be Joy. 

In the mid-1500's John Knox and his cohorts of the Reformation disapproved of art, music, dance - in fact as Raymond puts it in the preface of his book, 'they were the cultural terrorists of their time'. Apparently Knox had the idea that 'Satan had corrupted the noble gift of singing cheifly through the Papists, by the use of the Latin language that does not edify'.

Surely the man must have been tone deaf! How can you listen to Palestrina or Gabrieli and not want to be a better person?? 

It was a good test for me of how well my focus on breathing was working, as it was a big sing - 13 items in all, including 3 of them with the small Concertino group and one a solo. (Not to mention I was making my debut as a conductor with two of the songs). In rehearsal the solo had gone well, and felt nice and free. Stepping up to sing it at the performance my mouth was as dry as the Sahara and I was terrified that the lower notes at the end of the first and third lines (only middle C#, so yes I can hear the mezzos and altos amongst you scoffing - stop it Sarah!) but a leap downwards to get there and I wanted to stay in head voice rather than grind them out in my chest. So I just focused on taking the most relaxed and full breath I could and let that do the work for me. And it did. And more good breathing and the echo-y acoustic of St Mary's Basilica allowed the higher notes to float out easily. For once I was actually reasonably happy straight off.  Just the chamber organ and cello as accompaniment. 

The music as a whole was joyful and uplifting and I absolutely adored 'Illuminare Jerusalem'. So many of the songs are dance-like there were times I wished we could have moved accordingly, but of course choirs in church don't do that, that would be naughty. And the shade of John Knox would come and clip as all around our collective ears and consign us to the fires of Hell. 

And of course what would a concert of carols be without a good hearty rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, Adeste Fidele - ooh! more of that wicked Latin - and Silent Night.

My next gig is as part of the entertainment at the local Rotary club Christmas party. Apparently I will be on straight after the main meal so hopefully they won't have all nodded off by then. I'm going to lull them into a false sense of security with a Quilter art song and then knock 'em dead with 'A Word on My Ear'.

Boxing Day

The Campbell-McLeod family had a lovely Christmas full of family, love and laughter.

Our day started at 5:10am, when Tyler got into our bed and said a very loud "Merry Christmas! - I'm not going to check out my Santa sack yet". Excellent we thought, he'll go back to sleep, but noooooooo. 5 minutes later he pipes up "Do you want to know what time it is?". I mumble something and he leaps out of bed looks at the clock and announces brightly "5:15! When can we get up?" Negotiations ensued resulting in 5:45am. From 5:15 till 5:45, the time was announced approximately every 5 minutes. We then sent him off to check out Santa's presents which he did by dragging the sack back to our bed and announcing every item with squeals of "Awesome!" "Cool!" etc very loudly and with every light in our bedroom on. As I had most of my brain in gear by that stage it was really very nice watching his wee face light up with each discovery :)

We had coffee and croissants for breakfast then Chris got his chef game-face on and started doing rude things to a turkey, so Tyler and I headed over to Mum's, along with the Howards, to exchange gifts.

Back to our house where Chris had laid on a feast (with plum puddings from Mum and honey & ginger-glazed carrots and a salad from the Howards). We had turkey, ham, new potatoes from our garden, peas, carrots and several salads. Then a brief rest followed by plum pudding with custard and cream, brandy snaps, fruit salad and jelly. There were 11 of us altogether and it was so nice to have everyone here and still have lots of space.

Once we'd digested all that lot, the Howards and Parsons departed and Chris, Tyler, Bruce, Ali and I played backyard cricket accompanied by much kidding around and laughter.

Anton, his girlfriend and his flatmate came over for tea and departed with as many leftovers as they could carry.

I tucked T-man into bed about 9pm and asked my usual bed-time questions:

Me: Did you have a good day today?

Tyler: It was the best day ever!

Me: So what was the best part of the day?

Tyler: Everything.

I'll second that.

Christmas Eve

Yes, it's finally here and Tyler is beyond excited. We have ready a carrot for Rudolph and some milk for Santa. We had a great big chocolate-coated oat biscuit ready for Santa but as I finished making a hot drink for Chris and I this afternoon, I looked up to see him mid-munch on said biscuit. Oopsie Daddy! Substitute sorted. T-man snapped a few photos this afternoon for your viewing pleasure:

He made this at school for me and Chris

Santa's Little Helper

Prezzies under the tree

I am off to the Basilica to sing twice tonight - firstly at 7:30pm for Christmas Carols & Vigil Mass and then at 11:30pm for Midnight Mass. It will be great to sing some really traditional Christmas music.

I just realised I haven't blogged since before we had the Advent Verspers performance. It went well, and I was reasonably happy with my aria. I managed to do a number of the things I had been trying to technique-wise so that was a bonus. The whole service was lovely.

Feeling Christmassy

Saturday was Christmas-tree-putting-up day. Tyler was very excited about this and was thrilled that the new Christmas tree was put together using letters of the alphabet so he could work out which branches went where. The intial decorating resulted in a large cluster of ornaments right at the front, so there was a little surreptitious after-the-event redecorating to balance things out :)

New nativity scene

Another new ornament.

Living round the corner from 'The Christmas Shop' is dangerous to one's purse!

We also have the hanging Advent Calendar going - it has pockets in which I put a piece of paper with a picture of a place or thing for Tyler to go and find a wee treat. He bounces out of bed in the morning and the first thing he says is "Can I go and find my treat now?" He can always tell me how many sleeps till Christmas and we are also counting down the sleeps till school finishes.

Last Friday I sang and played my flute at the SGHS Old Girls Association Christmas function and it was great to catch up with a number of people I knew, including my first music teacher at Girls' High, Mrs Doris Scott. On Sunday was my singing teacher's end of year recital - she has mostly school-aged pupils but she asked me and another adult student (my singing buddy Ruth) to come and perform too, because she wanted the younger ones to see what they could aspire to. No pressure then! I had my first performance of In uomini, in soldati and it wasn't too bad (even making up two lines worth of words on the fly).

The next singing engagement is on the 19th at the Basilica where I will be performing the 'Echo Aria' (Flost mein Heiland) from Bach's Christmas Oratorio complete with continuo and oboe. Really looking forward to it.

Chris is busy finishing of the outside tidying up and flossying, which has included concrete curbing round the edge of the garden and has given it a really nice finish. He had a good day at softball on Saturday, making one huge hit which got 2 of his team home and him onto second base, and taking several really good catches. I asked him how much softball he'd played before last year when he joined the Wallacetown team and he said, "Well, none really". He looks like he's been doing it since childhood. Irritating for those of us without a co-ordinated bone in our bodies.

Milestone

Tyler is about to reach another milestone, he has not one but two wiggly teeth. He is very excited about the prospect of a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Meanwhile Mum and Dad have been consulting his classmates' parents re the going rate. Obviously the kids at school have been discussing the ins and outs of Tooth Fairy behaviour because when I asked him what would happen if he lost a tooth he nonchalantly replied "Oh you just write a note to the Tooth Fairy and leave it under your bed".

We had a busy day today, up early to cheer on the Preston Russell Law Vikings at the Corpor8 rowing - they won, hurrah!! - and then a joint birthday lunch at Eat on Windsor with the Howards and Mum & Richard.

Singing tomorrow at the First Church sesquicentennial celebrations morning service - I have the solo in Psalm 23, the 'Vicar of Dibley' setting by Howard Goodall. We are also doing Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence and the Clare Benediction.

'Tis the season...

Ha, you thought I was talking about Christmas didn't you? Well I will, but first we have to get through Guy Fawkes. Yes I know the official night was last night, but Saturday night's work so much better for that sort of thing, don't you think? So in about 2.5 hours, we will be trotting down the road to a paddock beside a friend's place, with our box of fireworks (with compulsory sparklers), to dance around a bonfire and ooh and aah at the fireworks display. I love daylight savings and the long, long, evening light, but it sure makes for a late night! Hopefully some pics to come from that.

We visited the Christmas Magic Shop today, and I overspent my self-imposed budget, but came away satisfied :) We now have a traditional style Nativity set, a centre-piece for the table and number of smaller decorations including a snow globe that Tyler particularly liked. It's really the start of the Campbell-McLeod family's Christmas decorations collection.

On a completely different note, here is what greets me when I pull the curtains at the front door in the mornings - a riot of colour. The photo doesn't do justice to the vibrancy of the colours.