Birds in England

(If you are unable to see the slideshow, click on this post's title to bring up the post directly, or, alternatively, click here to view the photographs. Thanks to Shy Songbird for identifying that issue, and thanks to both Shy Songbird and John at Hedgeland Tales for correcting my identification of some of the birds!)

Wildflowers in England

If you are unable to see the slideshow, click on this post's title to bring up the post directly, or, alternatively, click here to view the photographs.

While I remain "on hiatus," I am given to understand that there are those who would like more photographs of the trip to England.  It seems I took over a thousand photographs (OK, I often bracket exposures, but just the same . . .). I will not burden anyone with even a fraction of that, but will post some as I manage to cull them.

Friko's Castle and Garden

Many thanks to Friko and Beloved for their hospitality and for permission to share these photographs and video with you.  For those who may have missed the video in the last post, here it is:

In Benno's World

We had no phone reception where we were staying, as it turned out.  The day after we arrived, we drove until we found a place where the phone would work. We pulled into a parking lot, and I called Friko from there.  It transpired that we had parked right below her house.  "I'll be down in five minutes," she said.

In Friko's World

Sometimes a picture must tell the tale, so here is one:  Friko's castle, from her garden.  Our visit with Friko, Beloved, and Benno was a golden time, and Shropshire is beautiful.

Wales Diary, From Celtic Village to Castle Gardens

St Fagans Castle Grounds

The sun continued to shine for the remainder of my stay.  Nothing short of miraculous, and it created a conundrum for my last day in Wales.  I pored over the train and bus routes, but to no avail:  a stretch of wild Welsh coastal path where I might ramble as I quoted from Dylan Thomas (or something of the sort) was simply out of reach.

Wales Diary, Art and the Aquabus

National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

And lo, the sun shone on Cardiff once again.  Not just a dry day, but another blue-sky sunny day.  Nonetheless, I had one important indoor activity to which I needed to attend.  The one-day stoppage was over, and the National Museum Cardiff demanded to be seen:  in particular, the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection bequeathed to the Museum by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies.

Wales Diary, the Covered Streets of Cardiff

Morgan Arcade

My third day in Cardiff was again glowering and rainy, but I had the absolute best of indoor plans.  I was going to spend the day at the National Museum Cardiff.  Just for starters, thanks to the Davies sisters, the National Museum has one of the largest collections of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art outside of Paris.  Some say the largest, but I’m from Chicago, so you won’t hear that from me (read:  Art Institute).

Wales Diary, Cardiff Castle

—for Hilary and her mother

My first attempt to breach the walls of Cardiff Castle didn’t work out quite as planned.  When I returned from walking the barrage, it wasn’t yet 6 o’clock, and the sun was still out, so I thought, why not hop over to the castle and take a look?  The hotel’s front desk staff recommended a taxi over the bus, and I thought, OK, just this once.  I’ll figure out public transportation after I’ve had a proper night’s sleep.

Wales Diary, Cardiff Bay Barrage

Cardiff Bay Barrage

I’d not been in this position before when traveling:  my evenings while in Wales were, by and large, spoken for with Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music concerts, but I’d nothing planned for the days.

Worlds Entwined

Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff Bay, May 11, 2012

Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music

The closing concert of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music was held in Cardiff Bay, at the Wales Millenium Centre’s BBC Hoddinott Hall, home to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.  This time, as I was staying in Cardiff Bay, my own two feet were my transportation.  The day was fine, and the early evening light set the Centre’s bronzed edifice aglow.

Ancient Instruments, Timeless Sounds

St. Donats Arts Centre, Llantwit Major, Wales, May 9, 2012

Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music

I’ve not learned to drive on the “wrong” side of the road.  That meant cadging a lift to Llantwit Major for my first Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music concert.  Thank goodness for Festival staff member Cathy Morris, who did the driving, for the evening was rainy, and Llantwit Major is about an hour’s drive from Cardiff on small and yet smaller roads.

Crossing a Bridge of Dreams

All Saints Church, Penarth, Wales, May 10, 2012

Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music

The taxi driver knew exactly where to find All Saints Church in Penarth.  “I was married there,” he said.  When we told him we were going to a concert of choral music, he seemed almost as excited as I was.  It transpired he’d sung in a choir as a boy, at least until his voice changed.  “It went all flat,” he said. His dejection at not being able to continue was palpable, even now.

The Welcoming Spirit of Composer John Metcalf

John Metcalf

Composer and Artistic Director of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music

On May 7, I'm heading to Wales to attend the last three concerts of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music.  The Festival, which this year runs from May 1 through May 11, is dedicated to celebrating the work of living composers from all over the world.  This year, for example, two of the featured composers are Danish composer Per Nørgård (on the occasion of his 80th birthday) and Chinese composer Qigang Chen.

Some Days, Everything Is A Picture

Photography is always a subjective way to see the world, it is an art—you think about your composition, you omit, you choose a special detail, a segment or angle—in short:  you create.

—Brigitta Hügel

Ah, fine photographers.  They understand their equipment; they have patience and skill; they have the eye to spot the perfect shot.  My appreciation for them grows every time I venture forth with my camera.

City Sojourn

Grand Central Station at night

My City

Balmy, it was.  Last winter, New York City was snowbound.  We had to pick our way across the slushy streets.  This holiday season, though, we could step out when and where we liked.

Maine's Great Clepsydra

“Clepsydra” is really a meditation on how time feels as it is passing.

—John Ashbery

John Ashbery’s poem, Clepsydra, begins with the phrase “Hasn’t the sky?”  The question, opening out to anywhere, lured me into the poem.

Hasn’t the sky?  Returned from moving the other
Authority recently dropped, wrested as much of
That severe sunshine as you need now on the way
You go. . . .

Clepsydra is the Greek word for water clock.  John Steinbeck used it also, to describe the action of the tides:  "Time is more complex near the sea than in any other place, for in addition to the circling of the sun and the turning of the seasons, the waves beat out the passage of time on the rocks and the tides rise and fall as a great clepsydra."

Searching for Birds in the Adirondacks

—for Jan & Ann

While at magnificent Elk Lake in the Adirondacks this year, I had cause to think of John, that consummate birder, over at Hedgeland Tales.  I was thinking particularly of a post about butterflies he’d written when “birds were scarce” at Nene Washes (which looks to be a wonderful nature reserve in Cambridgeshire, England).