Pipes in Clover

When I was (much) younger I went through a phase of reading pony books. The only title I remember is Ponies in Clover. I couldn't tell you anything about the book. My one abiding memory of pony books is the point at which (did it really happen in every pony book?) the plucky girl would notice that one of the horses had colic. It was late at night, grown-ups were absent, but the plucky girl knew what to do. She had to walk that horse. She had to walk and walk with that horse until they were both asleep on their feet, because a horse with colic that lies down dies.

I thought about colicky horses this evening. I had a skimpy lunch (too hot to be bothered), came home, got dinner in the oven, poured an aperitif and began to play. Naturally the aperitif went straight to my head so my fingers and brain disconnected themselves and great waves of sleepiness kept washing over me. I managed a handful of tunes, but then the Cudgel got stuck on a loop of B parts, Athol kept skipping direct from the first to the fourth part, and the Braemar Gathering stalled after two parts. I kept walking about to keep myself going, but decided to give up while I was still playing recognisable strings of notes.

And one in the wash

One of my favourite pastimes is planning. Actually, planning makes it sounds too organised. Speculating? OK - maybe it's just daydreaming. I ponder possibilities of yarn and patterns. I consider fabric. I make lists of books to read. I mark up recipes in my favourite cookery books. I have big plans for the allotment in the autumn which involve moving the strawberry beds, replacing the raspberries with a better variety and finding room for two more redcurrants.

Musically my plans are modest. I intend to avoid distraction by alternating days I play with days going down the plot. In some ways this is pointless. The two activities don't really overlap. Piping needs to be done before dinner. In the current weather work at the plot needs to be done after dinner, when it's cool. But there are so many other things to squeeze into an evening.... So, one day piping, the next day plotting, as it were. (From my childhood - perhaps from books set in even more ancient times - I have the concept of three of everything: one on, one off, and one in the wash...)

My plans go agley so often, but I enjoy them while they last. Everything in my plans is so neat and tidy and organised.

I played yesterday, and enjoyed it very much. Then I got out the silver cloth and gave the Monkey a good clean. Today the plot. Tomorrow I'll be late home after work so maybe have time for neither... So much for plans.

The longest day

Actually, it has been the longest week. An annual event at work has meant I've been working 11 hour days, mostly outside, with the temperatures on the high side for this part of the world. I enjoy it, but I've not had the energy to do anything else.

This weekend we've had a family event, and I've managed some weeding and harvesting at the plot, and that's about it. I've played not one note, but I've thought abut music, about playing. Tunes have gone round my head and I have missed my monkey.

The naming of names

Fiddling (or piping) around this evening, trying out possible sets. I wondered about Magersfontein and Dargai. I think they go nicely but it might just be that my fingers love Dargai and play it - or Loch Bee - with pretty much everything.

I'm better at thinking up the names of sets than actually putting tunes together. I want several Highland Brigade tunes so I can have a set called "Postcards from the Highland Brigade". It's a shame that Braemar and Troy wouldn't suit as I rather fancy them together as "Dearly Beloved".

A kind relative has just rung to point out a programme on BBC2 on pipers in the trenches during World War one, the Great War.

Bridge over troubled water

Life isn't always straightforward, things don't always go as you hope. But there are always pipes.

Got the first part of Braemar by heart. The second and third are there, but I needed a prompt to find them. Getting there.

You hum it....

I sat down today with a tune clear in my mind. It's still there. I am pretty sure it is Castle Dangerous, which I've had nothing whatsoever to do with for months. I vaguely thought it began with a throw on D, so began there and went straight in to My Home Town and then various other of the usual suspects, plus the tunes still being worked on, where I wondered if the Cudgel ought to come before the Pickle or whether they actually didn't belong together at all. But Castle Dangerous, or whatever it is, would not come...

I'm not sure why that tune is in my head. I was expecting any stray tune to be Teribus, having read yesterday about the Common Riding at Howick, where Teribus is apparently their local anthem (but whether they are the same Teribus I know not).

Wondering when I might last have played Castle it occurred to me that it would be useful to tag all my tunes and as I have - as I have so often mentioned - endless spare hours in the day and nothing to fill them with, I think I'll do just that.

Updated to add - scrap that. Turns out there is a limit on total characters for all tags and I've exceeded it with the first half dozen tunes. :-( I guess I could make a post to link to each tune mention....