And A Cousin Hellin, Too…

Hope Mountain near Caergwrle in Wales – where Christmas Hellin is said to have lived.  Image courtesy of www.dailypost.co.uk

It’s not every day you acquire a new cousin, so today’s been pretty special.

It began when a lovely lass in Scotland was researching her family tree.  She stumbled across the name, Christmas Hellin, and googled him.  That brought her to the blog post I wrote about him two years ago.  An e-mail later and, hey presto, I have a new cousin!

As if that wasn’t enough, she was able to tell me some delightful new facts about Great-Great-Uncle Christmas.  Her great-aunt can actually remember visiting him.  Apparently he lived on top of a mountain and had a very long grey beard!  I love the man more and more!

Now we’re trying to figure out exactly how many times removed as cousins we officially are.

Don’t you just love the internet?!

The Morning After The Night Before

This morning, the smell of bonfires still hung in the air.  Embers were smouldering in fields and gardens around the valley.  And this evening, there are still a few stray fireworks going off.

It was Bonfire Night in the UK last night.  From where we live, on the side of the valley, we could see several fires.  And fireworks galore.  Not only those in our own small hamlet but in the sky above the villages around and even over the distant town.  That’s the advantage of living on a hillside!

The weather was kind.  The forecast has been gloomy for days now - the weathermen predicting leaden skies and rain.  But day after day this week, the morning mist has cleared and left blue sky and sunshine in its wake. 

This morning was the most idyllic of all.  Not a whisper of a breeze; a little colder than of late; and gloriously sunny.  The leaves that remain on the trees seem ecstatic; the scant foliage is ravishing.

Red leaves, blue sky and that smoky smell in the air.  Just perfect.

The Fondest Farewell

When I was seven years old, my parents bought me a second hand piano.  My mum had just returned to work for the first time after having her family and the piano cost the whole of her first week’s wage.

I remember going to see it in the home of the two elderly ladies who owned it.  One of them played Bobby Shaftoe, picking out the notes with just one finger, and I clearly remember the awe with which I thought, ‘I’ll never be that good!’

I did get to be that good.  Even a little better.  That small cottage piano saw me through all my piano exams.  And, when I grew up and eventually became a piano teacher, dozens more people took their first musical steps at its keys.

The piano has accompanied me through a long series of house moves.  It’s been a treasured instrument and a good one.  I have an inordinate number of memories bound up in it….of piano parties and carol singing, of quality time spent with children I adored, of my own eccentric piano teacher, of playing duets with a good friend, of hours spent playing alone.  That piano has, time and again, been the first friend I’ve turned to when feeling down; and it’s also known countless hours of fun and laughter.

Now, history is repeating itself.  This week, my beloved piano moved home yet again….only this time, not with me.  It’s gone to another small seven year old.  Her mum has bought the piano for her with money she wanted to use for something special.  I’ve been to see my lovely instrument in its new home….and it looks perfect there.  Utterly right.  At more than 70 years of age, it’s been given a new lease of life in a family home where it will be played and useful….and where it will teach yet another small girl to love music.

I’m grateful.

Funky Warm

I’ve just added three new skirts to the Dixon Hill store.

The Funky Warm skirts are perfect for winter – made, as they are, from a heavy, boiled wool-type fabric.  They hang beautifully.  What’s more, they manage to look both smart and funky at the same time!

Go to the Funky Skirt page and scroll down – the skirts are numbers 12-14.

The Sound of Music

 



I freely admit I’m a huge Sound of Music fan.

Our trip to Salzburg just happened to coincide with the first ever stage production of the musical in the city in which it’s set.  And we were lucky enough to get tickets (it’s sold out for months to come).

Amazing!  To be in the Landestheater amongst Austrians, many in national costume, as ‘The Sound of Music Came Home’ was a very special experience indeed.  One I’ll never forget.

The performance received a standing ovation and the audience elicited several encores from the cast – all of whom seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.

If the songs are going round and round in my head for weeks to come, I shan’t mind in the least!