Today’s guest picture is another from my friend Sue’s cycle tour in the Hebrides. It is not a sign that you see often.
A busy day started with a before breakfast drive up to Bentpath with Sandy to put our photo entries in to the Westerkirk Horticultural Society’s annual show. It didn’t take long for us to arrange them and we were soon in our way home. We stopped for a moment to chat to one or two locals who were standing about but they were strangely uncommunicative.
After a bite of breakfast, I went along to the Buccleuch Centre to the monthly producers’ market there and was very pleased to find that a keen and well stocked cheese monger has taken a stall and will be coming regularly. I bought four or five tasty looking pieces of cheese, mixing some goat and sheep with the more usual cows milk varieties.
Additional purchases of fresh fish and venison, together with some apples and a small tub of the minister’s wife’s Sundae Special home made ice cream meant that I got home as a very satisfied shopper.
Then there was just time for a walk round the garden….
…followed by a cup of coffee and a wrestle with a tricky but rewarding crossword and then it was time to get things ready for our recorder group concert in the evening. The reason for the early preparations is that we had been called for a rehearsal in the hall at a quarter past four, some three hours before the concert.
I did find time to pause and look out of the kitchen window for a moment.
When my preparations were completed, I just had time to nip back up to the Benty Show to see whether any of my entries had caught the judge’s eye. It was a perfect day for a country show.
I was pleased to find that a couple of photos from my entries had pleased the judge:
I didn’t have time to stop for the hound trail or the terrier racing or any other of the joys of the day and was soon shooting back down the road, passing Sandy who was cycling up in the other direction. He too had caught the judge’s eye several times, though neither of us had done well enough to win the overall cup this year.
Once home, a picnic meal was packed up and we headed south, picking up Susan on our way, to visit Newbiggin Hall near Temple Sowerby. Google Maps, in a very precise way, had suggested that we might need an hour and one minute for the trip and we did in fact take exactly an hour and one minute. We were very surprised.
Newbiggin Hall was a very appropriate venue for our music for much of the hall dates from the time when the music we were playing was written (1550-1650) and some from even earlier. I was asked not to take any pictures of the hall which was disappointing.
We had a practice and enjoyed tea on the lawn before eating our packed meal and getting changed into our tootling outfits. Mrs Tootlepedal had gone off to visit a National Trust garden nearby while we were puffing away.
The concert had been organised as a chance for a local and very talented five member early music vocal consort to run through some material which they are taking on a short tour of Germany and we were there to provide some dance music in contrast to their songs.
It took place in the big hall of the house and with an audience if about twenty five filling the heavily panelled room, the atmosphere felt just right for the occasion. I was very pleased that some of my favourite composers (Byrd, Dowland, Morley and Purcell) figured in the singers’ programme. We played well, the singers sang very well and the audience seemed pleased so everyone was happy. It took us and hour and two minutes to get back home (it was dark by then).
Once again, I have a double dose of mixed gender flying birds of the day to show how cheerful I am.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Congratulations on getting the judge interested. I don’t think I’ve seen a photo of the bull before.
It has been on the blog but perhaps understandably your eyes might have glazed over for a moment as you perused the usual mountain of mundane stuff that passes for interest in my life. I did perk up the picture a bit before printing it which made it look a good deal better this time round.
Congratulations on doing well in the photo show, and the concert!
Thank you.
The concert sounds great fun and just my sort of music, I wish I had been there. Glad you got some prizes at the show, I loved the fuchsia today.
I was thinking of you last night and hoping the concert went well – I am glad it did and would have loved to have been there. A busy day for you yesterday – I hope today is a little calmer. I like the photo of the perching blue tit.
We could have squeezed one or two more in but it was a small performance space.
What a very successful day. So glad the photographs did well and that the concert was enjoyable and all your practising achieved satisfactory results.
What a good day, accolades for your photos (rightly so) and a successful concert. What a same they wouldn’t let you take photos of the hall though.
They were worried about security.
That sign in the guest photo gave me a smile. 🙂
Congrats on the photo show and your concert. I would love to sit and share a cheese plate with you. My favorite food! 🙂 That market sounded wonderful.
Fresh bread, good cheese and a bowl of fruit are all that a person needs to lead the good life as far as food goes (though fish and chips every now and again are very welcome too).
Mmmmm, yes!