Garden flowers

The flower borders in the walled garden are coming along. I'm really pleased with the "wild flower" feel of one border in particular (photo above). I am a very impatient gardener, I want everything growing in abundance immediately, and as all gardeners know, nature doesn't work that way.

Currently the Dame's Rocket, geraniums and verbascum are growing taller than the weigelia, but it's time will come!

Still, I have to remind myself that the garden has come a long way since this...... (please note the sheep is *sleeping*, not dead! No animals were harmed in the making of this garden!!). The borders were only planted up in Summer 2009, so it will take a while for the trees and shrubs to get established.

Button enjoys accompanying me to inspect the flowers daily. Here she is doing the usual cat thing of dealing with vertical slopes without any hesitation....

Mostly though she enjoys a little sun worship!

And of course the new bench is an ideal vantage point to watch birdies and butterflies......

St Magnus Festival footnote : If you read my recent posts, last Saturday I went to a rather odd performance as part of the MagFest, the fringe theatre element of the festival. I've just read a review of the performance when it was performed at the Barbican in London in 2010 - thank goodness it wasn't just me then that didn't "get it"!  Don't get me wrong, I *love* "alternative" theatre performances. When I lived in London I frequented mostly fringe theatre rather than the big "shows".  A performance which had a huge impact on me was Samuel Beckett's "Not I", and "Waiting for Godot" is my all time favourite. But THIS performance was just bizarre with nothing to recommend it.  And most of the audience I heard talking about it felt the same, and it isn't that Orkney audiences are "unsophisticated"!  I'm probably more disappointed that I saw something that didn't work well for me, when there were so many other wonderful things I didn't see.  Sign.....

St Magnus Festival II

The recital by brass quintet "Pure Brass" exceeded expectations!  The quintet are a young group of professional musicians who gave a brilliant and, at times, witty, recital.  My personal favourites were the Fnugg, wonderfully executed, and I had NO idea a tuba could make those kinds of noises! Another fun piece was "the Reform of Rank Bajin" which included members of the audience being serenaded (um.... not sure if that's *quite* the right word for having a trumpet thrust in my right ear?!). Other more serious pieces were great too.

And the folk on Hoy made everyone welcome as usual, with lifts from the pier to the Hoy Kirk, via the cafe for tea and cake.  On the boat journey home we could hear the seals calling, a perfect end to a perfect evening.

And on the ferry over to Hoy we saw Dave MacLeod who had, the day previously, completed the ascent of St John's Head cliffs. Breaking new ground as that particular route hadn't been climbed before (and that is the limit of my climbing knowledge!).  He is either a very brave man, or completely bonkers! Either way, well done to him. Dave's description of the climb can be found on his blog here

One of my blog readers commented that I portrayed the Orkney landscape as soft rolling hills.  Well generally it is, though there are some high points around the coasts, and the island of Hoy has a hill just a wee bit shorter than a mountain! I must post some pictures sometime..... Graemsay though is definitely low lying with the highest point being just 65 feet!

Here are some of the Hoy Hills from Graemsay, but the cliffs that were climbed are out of sight....

St Magnus Festival

As I mentioned briefly yesterday, this week it's the St Magnus Festival, the annual "arts" festival in Orkney. It began in 1977, set up by composer Peter Maxwell Davies, a long time resident of Orkney (now Master of the Queen's Music or some such fancy title!).

Anyway this signals a week of events including performances of classical music, poetry readings, theatre and performance. This year due to pressure of work I've only been to a couple of events, and one more to go tonight.

Both Kirkwall (the main town in Orkney), and Stromness (the town just across the water from Graemsay) are quite lively during Festival week. Visitors come from far and wide to join locals in all the events which include "Festival Clubs" going on into the wee small hours.

On Saturday I went to a piano recital given by Alessandro Taverna performing pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Debussy and Stravinsky. It was a brilliant recital. We were in the "cheap seats" up in the gods of the balcony of the Town Hall (a former church), but actually we had a great view and could watch his amazing fingerwork across the keyboard. I love local festivals, because as well as having the chance to see international performers, you always meet lots of folk you know and it gives you a chance to catch up with them in the interval or at the local cafes!

Later that evening we went into Kirkwall where the St Magnus Festival always has a "fringe theatre" space. This year it was in an old builder's merchant shed, and we saw a show which was billed as "A stunning, hypnotic show. The sorceress-puppeteer creates theatre of startling images, at once droll and frightening." Hmm let's say it was from the sublime to the ridiculous. Several people walked out and it was one of the longest hours I have spent..... It will be interesting to see the reviews - I'm not sure anyone in the audience I was part of enjoyed it.....

One of the "events" that even made it to the BBC news was Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (known locally as Max) incensed at the number of mobile phones ringing during performances. One in particular apparently ruined a magnificent silence at a performance in the cathedral. It's amazing considering there is ALWAYS an announcement at the beginning to turn off your mobile phone!  Even at the piano recital I heard a phone ring, but fortunately it didn't disturb the musical atmosphere, just made people cross! Mobile phones can be wonderful but oft-times they can equally be a curse!

Tonight it's off to Hoy for a performance of the Stromabank Pub Choir (from the island) together with a visiting group "Pure Brass". That should be very entertaining!

As well as the Festival there are other activities going on, including a new summer exhibition at the Pier Arts Centre, and an initiative by local artists which consists of the display of works by 45 local artists in shop and house windows along the main street in Stromness.  It's a great idea and I love seeing the art in unusual spaces! For a review click here.

St Magnus Festival

Above is a photo of the "Lord Nelson", a sailing ship that was in Stromness for a couple of days recently. It came and went under motor power, there not being enough wind for the sails - not a usual occurrence in Orkney!

Last week I went to a number of events at the annual St Magnus Festival. The programme this year included a number of performers from Poland, including classical musicians and a folk dance group. Each year performances are held around Orkney, some in large spaces like the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall, and some in more intimate spaces such as the Italian Chapel.

This year I went to a poetry reading in Stromness, given by Simon Armitage, a British poet. Though at the reading I attended he gave a lecture on his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, unfortunately some of the more gruesome bits! But his description of the process of translation of such an ancient poem (written in "old English") was interesting. After this session it was a brisk walk to the next venue where Polish pianist Eva Kupiec gave a fabulous performance of some Chopin pieces. Her energy at playing the music quite tired me out!

The festival runs for several days, so the next day I went to the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall to hear the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. The Sports Hall was converted into a concert hall. I sat so close to the musicians I could have turned the pages of music for the lead violinist - if I could have read music that is!! As part of the festival the BBC orchestra had also been working with the Orkney youth orchestra and at another event they performed together. I was unable to attend but by all accounts it was an excellent performance and I know the young players enjoyed the opportunity to play with a professional orchestra.

I also went along to the Johnsmas Foy, a performance of music, dance, words and images conceived by Nalini Paul, who has the George Mackay Brown Fellowship and works with local performers and with the schools encouraging the arts, particularly writing. It was a very inventive performance on a theme "In search of Home" and was much appreciated by the audience, myself included.

I had planned on going to see some of the Polish dancers, but circumstances changed and I didn't get the chance to go. However I did get to a lunchtime concert in St Magnus Cathedral with a performance by Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti which was wonderful. I've not been to a performance in St Magnus before, the acoustics are great, but the sight-lines are not so good. Although I'd got the tickets on the first day they went on sale, many events are so popular that only "unreserved" seats were available. So at this concert I ended up in the choir stalls. However I really enjoyed the experience. I was cocooned in wood in an individual stall, as were about a dozen other folk, at the back of the cathedral. I couldn't see the musicians without craning my neck, so instead I gazed up at the Cathedral Rose window and listened to the beautiful music! It was a lovely experience.

As well as these various events I managed to fit in various opportunities for tea and cake, as well as chats with other Festival goers. I also managed to meet up with L & J who are on a visit from the US, and I got to know through my blog. It was delightful meeting them.

St Magnus Festival

Last weekend the St Magnus Festival was taking place in Orkney. This is an annual “arts” festival, with international musicians, poets, writers and artists performing in various venues around Orkney.

I spent the weekend in Stromness as there were several events I wanted to attend. The town feels really buzzy during the festival as events start in the morning and go on into the evening, with folk strolling around the different venues, stopping to chat or eat Orkney ice cream (I can recommend the orange marmalade flavoured ice-cream!).

Saturday I went to a reading by the poet, Wendy Cope. She read a number of poems from her various collections, many of them humorous but still with depth. Then in the afternoon wandered down the street to the Town Hall (a converted church) and listened to a piano recital by French pianist, Eric Le Sage, who is acclaimed for his interpretations of Schumann. He also played a modern piece by George Crumb (Three Romances) which is quite “Avant Garde” in the beginning and included various twanging and muffling of the actual strings of the piano as well as – um – clonking of the keys (you can tell I’m no musician!). Apparently the piano (a baby Steinway) was hired from a local musician who was in the audience and having kittens at what was being done to her precious piano in the name of “art”! However piano and musician survived to tell the tale.

In the evening we went to a late cabaret show in the “Moulin Rouge Speigaltent” – a venue well adapted to cabaret, with plush velvet booths and a bar. “Oiseau Rouge” had a variety of artists including acrobats and a juggling comedian. Very entertaining!

Sunday morning there was a recital by Andrew Motion (the former UK Poet Laureate) reading from his new collection of autobiographical writing and new poems. And this was followed by the Endellion String Quartet performing with Eric Le Sage and also doing a quirky musical piece with Wendy Cope narrating poems which were portraits of archetypal audience members including “The Cougher”, “The First Date”, and “The Traditionalist”. Clever and good fun.

The weather was lovely and warm and I took a walk along to the South end of Stromness. I have to confess I don’t venture to that part of the town normally, so it was lovely to explore and see some different views.

Here are some photos of the South end of the town……




Photo on the left - Graemsay in the distance.












And on the left here is one of the "Stromness Cats" - domestic cats who live in the houses along the street and are seen parading around or dozing on warm car bonnets (hoods).