Ballet about Caravaggio

Montage of Caravaggio paintings, demonstrating
chairoscuro - lively contrast of dark and light

28 Sept 2011: We went to the Playhouse for a modern Ballet performance, based on the life of Caravaggio. Apparently, it was the world premiere! and on the very night we attended. The music varied from pure electronic to very modern italian dance music, and for much of the time, the dancers were leading towards arrangements of subjects that appeared in the paintings - such as Doubting Thomas, or David and Goliath.
  We saw a Caravaggio last week in Genova in the Palazzo Bianco, and I wish I could remember which one it was.
  The ballet was put on by the Darshan Singh Bhuller company (and he was sitting with the audience viewing his creation).
  The ballet starts with Caravaggio (1571-1610) dying of fever and having flashbacks to his turbulent life - and it was an  extraordinary life, shared with Popes, prostitutes, beggars, rent boys, gamblers etc. The Ballet culminates with the game of royal Tennis in which he got into an argument over a bet, and finished killing the other man - for the rest of his life, he was on the run - still painting. I gather that he was due for a papal pardon at the age of 39, but he died of fever while travelling to Rome.

Italy summer 2011

Antoniella's dome at Novara

Sept 2011: We have been in Torino for three days, and before that, we spent a day in Novara - that is almost unknown to tourists, and it was pleasant to be in an Italian town that was just that.
    We seem unexpectedly to be in search of very tall things. Novara has an exceedingly tall dome over its principal church St Gaudenzio, but nobody seems to take an interest - we went inside and were the only people inside the vast building. (turns out later that the same architect, Antoniella, did the great Mole dome in Torino!)

Stresa from above (not my photo)

  We decided not to go to Torino direct, but to head north to Lago Maggiore, to see the magical coastline of that lake, and to see Stresa, the jewel like small town on the west coast - we stopped for a little lunch, I had a paddle in the lake water, and then we took the high road up to the hills, to go to Novara, cross country.
  On the way from Stresa to Torino is a hill town called Biella which has a large outskirts, including factories making cashmere-silk garments with many factory outlets. We drove about in a somewhat random fashion hoping to find one that was open... but didn't so continued on, hoping that the SatNav would be able to find the hotel in Novara.

_____________

There's a lot more to add, but I will have to retrofit the later articles under these, in date order. There are the wonders and pleasures of Torino, Chieri, Superga, Lingotto, Genova, Piacenza and Cremona to add in.

Natasha's wedding

25 August 2011: We went to the wedding of Natasha Evans (Niece) and Philip Way in St Peters, Parkstone. This was a big family affair, with both families fully represented. We stayed in the Bournemouth seafront Travelodge the night before. It was a wonderfully happy event, with everyone dressed in their best outfits, and the couple truly in love.

There was a long reception at Sandbanks hotel after (where Tasha works), and dinner dance, late into the night. The hotel is in prime position, closest to where boats pass by, in and out of Poole Harbour. The following morning, those who were still around met again in the coffee lounge of Sandbanks before departing home. Phil and Tasha went to Mauritius shortly after for the honeymoon.

  It was great to see such a lot of family, especially Robert and Jane (Dobbie), and all the Coles. oh, and Rupert played the saxophone during much of the drinks reception.

[I'll try dig out a few more photos for the blog.]

Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield July '11

28 July 2013: We visited Wakefield to see the Barbara Hepworth gallery - designed by David Chipperfield. This is largely in in-situ concrete (of exceptional quality) and is situated over the river Calder, south of the city centre. 

All the main displays are on one level, and most of the lower floor is for conservation and storage areas.


Most people approach the gallery from the north, on the footbridge over the Calder.


The windows are organised to give the best views with seemingly frameless fixing of the glass.

For more info about the gallery, see:

http://www.hepworthwakefield.org/

Fountains Abbey July '11

27 July 2011: We took a long weekend in Yorkshire (staying the night in Harrogate) , and started with a drive to Fountains Abbey near Ripon. This cistercian abbey was one of the largest monasteries in the North, and seemed to be the main node for the regional economy, health, education etc. It is difficult to believe that such cultural destruction could have occurred, but greed combined with despotic level of power knows no bounds. 

Apart from the main Abbey, the supporting outbuildings extend for a very long way. The residential population must have been huge.


Fountains has extensive grounds with the Georgian Water garden of Studley Royal.


Some kind visitor offered to take our picture


Nave interior


The small village buildings nearby are undoubtedly built from stones quarried from the Abbey.

Dame Stella delights

21 June 2011: On the summer solstice evening, we went to an evening of the Lowdham Book Festival, with Dame Stella Rimington stepping in at short notice to replace the BBC journalist John Simpson. She was director general of MI5 in the nineties, and probably the inspiration behind having Judi Dench playing the part of 'M' in the Bond movies. She is now a successful novelist, with the character Liz Carlyle (not totally based on herself) playing her part to defend Britain against spooks, spies and saboteurs.
  She really was a good speaker (I think she went to school in Nottingham so this is her old home), and she answered all the questions well, including two from DNC, one about the Iraq 'dodgy dossier' and one asking her if she had met Judi Dench.

Great Notts Bike Ride 2011

19 June 2011: I (DNC) took part in the GNBR for another year on the 58 mile ride. I wondered where everyone had gone, apparently most people had left at 8 am, but as the departure time was any time between 8am and 11, I thought it was alright to turn up at 9 o clock. I rode with someone called Alison who shared the ride with me last year.
    All the way round, we found very few people, the communality was missing altogether. At the half time lunch stop at Kelham, there were only one other picnic table with people sitting. None of the usual buzz of Newark. After Kelham, the route changed from its normal easy Trent side cruise into a nasty ride along the busy A616, and an even nastier long hill climb up to Eakring (where there was no feed-station), and back down the hill again to Southwell.
   I think nobody had thought it through or ridden the route at normal speed. They expected the ride to be 8 hours (including stops), but by 4pm, they were already taking down signs and closing the feed-stations - no tea or anything at Thurgarton, only 5 hours after the latest start time of 11am, and nothing organised at Eakring, the most distant part of the ride. Any Alison's trip computer said that the ride was 65 miles, not 58 miles!
  The original concept of the 50 mile ride was to enable light weight riders like me to extend our normal range by making a 50 mile cruising route that stays mainly on the plain. The hill climbs should be for the 72 mile sportive route. The start should be restored to 9am, with everybody encourage to leave in that hour, and nobody allowed after 10am. The bunching at the start is part of the pleasure of the ride.
  I had a horrible experience.... losing my iPhone somewhere along the route (fell out of the panier), but didn't discover it till we got to Thurgaton, about 12 miles after I last used it. We texted the phone with my home landline, and thankfully, the phone had been picked up before it had been run over by a car, and the cyclist who found it was one of the few people who was actually behind us. So we waited at Holme Pierrepont and he brought it to us, and collected a good reward!
    Hence... No Photographs!