Old Friends

"I am inspired by wild unspoiled places, there is an enlightened state of mind to be found in their unbroken silence and beauty"
(John Cheall)

This is a view of Guisborough in North East England, where Andrew spent his formative years. It's painted by John Cheall, an old friend from those days and an excellent painter of landscapes. Check out his website.

I (A) have recently been reunited with John through the wonderful world of the web. Indeed we are now engaged in a three way game of online scrabble with Simon, another old friend from Guisborough days. Simon is another dharma bum too - a member of a zen sangha in Toledo, Ohio. In the old days we spent hours in the hills behind Guisborough (from where John's view is taken). Precious times. We three old gits have been apart for years but we are all now interested in "enlightenment" in our own ways.

Now Jules and I are back living in England we have relatively few friends close at hand and the good old web is a great way of staying in touch with people.

Raining

Its raining....has been for days. No street work possible. Oh well. Stay in, warm and dry.

Fiddle Lessons

Jules has a couple of students coming for fiddle lessons. Great. She wanted a CD to give to her students of the tracks she is teaching them so one evening we sat down with the mixer and the laptop and recorded Jules fiddling and Andrew accompanying with chords on the mandola. Three tracks, Flop Eared Mule, Mountain Road/Cooleys and The Hags Purse/Morrissons. The results were very pleasing - the clearest, cleaning recordings we have of ourselves. Guess eventually we'll get round to putting them on a diddly-skwot myspace.....

Words of Wisdom from Sharpham (2)

"Its up to us whether we are at peace or not......"


Mahesi, Sharpham, November 29th 2007

Waves

Photoshopped picture of waves off Redcliffe, Paignton.

Words of Wisdom from Sharpham (1)

"Let go of concern for the content of our experience......"

Mahesi, teacher at thursday night open meditation session, Sharpham, Ashprington, Devon

Preston Sands

Friday 9th November - Irish Session at The Wellington, Ipplepen

To the pub in Ipplepen for a session - six of us in total but only a disjointed hour of music before the others had to go home for various reasons. A month ago the session was rocking so a little disappointed. We drank beer and made some new friends instead so a worthwhile night out none the less.

Thursday 8th November - Rainy Newton Abbot

An early start in Newton Abbot. Going well until outflanked by an accordionist 100 yards to the right and a couple of big issue sellers to the left. Too many street workers makes no cash for anyone. The big issue guys are regulars on this street - as is the accordion player. Fair play. However if you have two buskers close together then all the public can hear is a sound mush. Its diddly-skwot policy never to start playing if there is already somebody busking within earshot.......Then it started raining. Ho hum.

Swinging in Teignmouth

Teignmouth - what a great town. There must be something in the water. The locals love music. It always works well for us here. Lots of positive feedback. Andrew is playing the banjo to avoid upsetting the shopkeepers in the narrow main street - the mandola's amplification having caused a few comments last time out. Consequently met a bloke from Paignton learning to play the five-string banjo and a kind lady from Teignmouth who plays the tenor banjo in a jazz band. The tenor banjist had spoken to us last time we were in town - telling us how much she liked the music. Positive comments are at least as good as the cash drops. Brilliant play park on the seafront too which keeps the Blake thing happy....

Paignton - 1st November 2007

We had to find a new place to play on Paignton High Street because the closed shopfront we usually used has turned into yet another greetings card outlet. Chose to play under a tree opposite Stokes' veg shop - nice smiles from the staff. Also we went out too early so takings were slow to start with, but it picked up when Jules took over on the second shift. Taking photos for this blog made people take more interest -'if they are being photographed they must be good....'.



Blake learning to drive in Victoria Park while Jules does her shift.




A beautiful morning....