Still Alive!

Evening friends,

Yes, the Wardens are alive and well and back in Lincoln. Last update was from Edinburgh after my final hoorah with Rudsambee. I'll fill you in on our week and then put up some photos later when we've uploaded them all. So, last Monday was spent in the National Library (so much for holiday, huh?). Lots of interesting books and too little time but I'll be back there soon. On Tuesday we headed up to Kingussie, close to Aviemore. I think it is the most beautiful place in all the world. I always return to 'the real world' feeling completely chilled. We spent our time eating amazing food at the Mountain Cafe, walking through the awesome mountains and kayaking on the loch. D had a quality game of golf with Uncle Charlie on Kingussie Golf Course in the sunshine while I wandered along to Loch Gynack. I stood all alone on the banks of the loch and felt completely contented. Driving back to Edinburgh on Friday I felt a little sad to be leaving. I could quite easily live up there, I think.

So back to Edinburgh via Dunkeld for stovies at The Taybank. It is the best place for stovies! Saturday was spent in Leeds (we get about!) to celebrate the inauguration (that isn't the right word but you get what I mean!) of Mikey Luehrmann (now known by his Sunday name, 'Michael', apparently) as Pastor of City Evangelical Church. It was a really exciting event and great to see Mikey, Em and the children so settled in their new home. And, the best bit, they are only 1 hour 23 minutes away from Chez Warden. Huzzah!

But the biggest piece of news of our time away is that we are now Uncle David and Aunty Claire. Last Monday night/Tuesday morning we welcomed Rebecca Jane Warden into the world. Kev, Kat and Becca are all doing well and we spent a happy Friday night with them. We are pretty excited about our new roles and are looking forward to many good days with Becca as she grows up. She is very cute - generally new born babies look like a weird cross between and old man and ET but she is beautiful. Ok, so we might be a little biased.

Anyways, we are back to work tomorrow and are looking forward to the weeks ahead. Not a great deal planned really but term starts very soon so it's teaching prep all the way for me.

I'll post some photos tomorrow or Tuesday. Love to one and all.

CSW

Rudsambee review

Just a quickie to fill you in on tonight's performance. So, I was back for one night only with Rudsambee for the St Giles' festival gig. We started rehearsing at 2 so we could add the percussion, violin and piano. I just sang the first song (which I had had sung that very afternoon for the first time - glad the dear Rudsambee ladies knew what they were doing!) - and the final two - Five Hebrew Love Songs and Cloudburst both by Eric Whitacre. Both these pieces are just mega and it all seemed to go down very well. I was so glad for this final opportunity to sing with the group. It occurred to me tonight, as I listened to the beautiful Komitas pieces, that Rudsambee are seriously good. It was (and has been) a real privilege to sing with Rudsambee Company of Singers over the years. They are a wonderful bunch. Cheers for letting me back for one last hoorah, folks!

We've just finished watching highlights from the High Voltage Festival with Asia on top form. Looking forward to seeing John, Geoff, CP and Steve in December. Can't wait - it is going to be brilliant!

So, we're heading up north for a few days later in the week so probably no new blog update until the weekend. Hope all's well with all.

CSW

p.s. if you fancy listening to Rudsambee sing both these pieces then check out the group on youtube (just type in Rudsambee). Both are up there (in previous incarnations) for your enjoyment.

From Yorkshire to Edinburgh

Well, it's a quiet Saturday with the fam in Edinburgh. I am largely attempting to ignore the festival on our doorsteps as peace and relaxation is much more appealing! I'll get to the Surrealism exhibition at the Dean Gallery this afternoon but will probably leave it at that. Everyone is well here and we're looking forward to catching up with everyone. The concert tomorrow night is at the back of my mind - excited and nervous!

So we spent such a lovely couple of days in Yorkshire (actually, for the sake of accuracy, it was the Forest of Bowland). On Wednesday we visited my Great Uncle Ian (one of our great family characters) before stopping at Aysgarth Falls for a wee walk. The B&B was (in keeping with D's well-known ability to choose amazing holiday accommodation) lovely. Spent two happy sessions under the stars in the hot tub. On Thursday we visited the beautiful Fountains Abbey. I have wanted to visit this ruin for a long time but it exceeded my expectations. Just stunning! And then it was off to Harrogate to Betty's. Now Betty's is a Yorkshire institution - it is a proper old school cafe, famous for its lovely afternoon teas. So, given that it was our three year anniversary (I know! Unbelievable huh!) we treated ourselves to an amazing afternoon tea with cakes and fat rascals and delicious sandwiches and light Rwandan tea. All so good! What a great day we had! Then yesterday it was a long drive to Edinburgh. We decided to take a detour through Dumfries and Galloway as neither of us had ever been. It was a lovely drive topped off by a visit to New Lanark, Robert Owen's socialist paradise experiment. It is an amazing place and all fairly inspiring really. I like my socialist utopias! ;-)

We arrived in Edinburgh just last night and are looking forward to a couple of nice days in Auld Reekie before travelling up to Kingussie via Brechin. This is a fairly unusual holiday for us. Generally we are abroad exploring, but this trip has been great so far. It is just lovely to see everyone and to visit some of Britain's most beautiful places. D has taken some good photos so I'll post them here when we get back home in a week.

CSW

Another week begins and a Sunday Review

Hey folks,

Just a quick one post as I take my mid morning tea break. Have just spent the morning working on this Comparative Drama paper. It is now done and sent (huzzah!) so there's something else to cross off my 'to do before we go on holiday' list. Am also just about to send off our applications for new passports in preparation for our November trip to Seattle. I am finally changing my name from 'Altree' to 'Warden' and adding the 'Dr' bit. So if a request for a doctor comes over the aeroplane tannoy then I can answer the call! :-)

We had a lovely chilled out weekend, mostly just reading and playing as the weather outside was a bit dodgy. Yesterday I managed to sit out on the balcony though and listened to Manchester United drop their first points of the season on my radio - boo! Sunday was great as usual. It was good to see our Pastor's wife back as she was taken ill on Thursday night. Pastor gave a couple of great preaches. The first continued the theme from last week about riches. Often people think that Christians are tremendously self-righteous and arrogant. Sadly too often this is true but it should be completely the opposite, as our Pastor shared. He made us all realise how easy it is to become prideful. Definitely a trait to be avoided!

D and I went for a wee drive after the evening service and ended up in beautiful South Carlton, a lovely village just outside the town. We are fortunate to live in a really pretty place. Last night I was very thankful for the big skies of Lincolnshire. At times the landscape resembles that scene in North by Northwest! And it is all so close by - just a short drive! Our health kick continues to go well and we are both enjoying the challenge actually. A game of squash in store tonight though D broke the strings on his racket last Friday (he's just too strong!) so he'll be using a hire racket. Hopefully this gives me a bit of a chance! Our squash games have become a regular part of our week. We're both improving...though D seems to improve quicker than I do!

Anyways, I'm off to uni for the next couple of days to get a couple of jobs done before we go away. Then we'll be all set for our jolly holiday. We can't wait to have a few days of peace and catching up with friends and fam. I'm taking the old Mac Book with me so I'll post some details about our trip when I have a chance.

Until then...

CSW

Aching after Body Combat...

...it was my third class back to Combat today and I went for it! So sweaty and tired! All this is part of a health kick chez Warden. We are both trying to loss a couple of pounds and tone up. No big deal but we are eating better and working out a bit more. Actually I'm enjoying the challenge and, after only two weeks, we both feel a wee bit better for it. I must say, I love a bit of exercise - I guess I am pretty fortunate to enjoy working out! Anyways, I'll keep you posted on our progress.

So, what has happened since the last post? Well, as usual for my quiet, research-based summer, not a lot. I've started preparing for next term's classes and am looking forward to both the courses I am teaching in the first block. I am co-ordinating (first time for everything!) a course in technical theatre (I know, I know...) so am brushing up on my gobos and prosceniums. All fun. The Book is coming on well and I'm just about reaching the point where I need another big library visit. Am also currently writing a short review article for the journal Comparative Drama. Could do with getting that finished today really.

Heard of two sad deaths this week. The great literary critic Sir Frank Kermode died on the 17th. I saw him at the Edinburgh Festival a few years ago and you was extremely gracious and interesting. His articles for the LRB were also thought-provoking. Also on the 17th came the news that Edwin Morgan had passed away. He was a great Scottish poet and makar, and was really the last surviving member of that great generation of Scottish artists (in the broadest sense of the word). Two grand old men of culture sadly leaving us.

We are looking forward to our holiday which starts on Wednesday. If you're in Edinburgh then we'll hopefully see you at the weekend. If you fancy a performance at the festival then I am singing with Rudsambee on Sunday night at St Giles. Last night I had my first dream about trying to perform without knowing any of the words. Expect many more of these dreams over the next few nights. I haven't sung in anger since I left Rudsambee (7 months ago?) so it could all be very interesting! Holiday should be very jolly though. I'll write a couple of posts while we're away to fill you in on our trip and hopefully (courtesy of D's iphone) we'll have a couple of pictures to share with you as well. Anyways, this paper beckons. I'l listen to the football while I'm writing and hopefully my fantasy league team will do the business.

CSW

A quick break to fill you in on the weekend

I'm currently grappling with my paper for a conference in Seattle in November (we're going trans-Atlantic!) and it is proving tricky so I thought I'd have a quick break to write a post about the weekend. Listening to a radio programme about Tony Blair and Iraq which is making me want to throw things (is a war worse than starving a country to death through sanctions? I'll leave that with you...) - the show seems to have found a collection of the most ignorant people on this good green earth and have asked them to share their intensely passionate but wholly unsubstantiated views with the great British public. Phew...it's finished. Just as I felt my blood beginning to boil over.

Anyways, peace descends again chez Warden...we had a lovely weekend. Saturday was spent doing Body Combat (slightly less painful this week) and sorting out old clothes (always a rewarding sort of job). On Sunday Mum and Dad arrived. We visited Burton Waters so Dad could look at the boats and then enjoyed fish and chips at our old favourite, The Elite. They stayed over and it was very good to see them. Last night friends from church came over for dinner. A good time had by all. It goes without saying that Sunday's preach was excellent. Pastor spoke on that section about the rich man in Luke. It was a very balanced sermon - nowhere in the Bible does it say that it is wrong to have money, or wrong to enjoy the things money buys. It does encourage us to be generous, not to place any worth on what we own (money can just fly away) or to worry about the things we have. Lots of food for thought. I might come back to this in a later post.

It was also the first weekend of the new Premiership football season. Since top-flight football has been almost completely defined by how much money a club has, I have been much less passionate about it. As a teenager I was a Manchester United obsessive (btw how good is it to see Eric Cantona back on our televisions?) but my commitment has waned over the years. This year though, D and I are participating in a fantasy league where you choose your players and earn points depending on how well they play. I had a pretty good first weekend really, especially given that Drogba scored a hat-trick. At least it will make sure that this season is slightly more interesting.

So today it is back to the book. I am just about reaching the end - our holiday is just round the corner and we are looking forward to a break. I think I need a change of scenery and some time away from the book! I'm also looking forward to seeing the students again. This summer has been an amazing privilege - I spend days sitting in my office at home, writing, reading and thinking...perfect! But I can't wait to see the students. Anyways, I'm off to get some lunch. D bought me one of those lovely Innocent veggie pots. Oh too yum!

Have a great week one and all.

CSW

Another fun list

Ok so for my Friday list this week I thought I'd go for my top five poems after grappling with the top five book issue for just too long. So...(in no particular order):

Walter de la Mare, The Listeners.

I love this poem so much, mainly because it was one of my Granny's favourites. Given that we had a shared love of all things poetic I had to include it. When I read the first two lines - "Is there anybody there", said the Traveller,/ Knocking on the moonlit door - I can always hear her voice.

The Bible, Psalm 139

OK, so it's impossible to place Biblical poems alongside these other examples but it is my favourite psalm. Incredible poetry and, best of all, it reminds me that I can't go anywhere where God is not. Very encouraging.

W.H. Auden, Musee de Beaux Arts

Perhaps an odd choice given that it concludes with the unnoticed death of Icarus but this poem is one of Auden's best. It is such an insightful presentation of the problems of the contemporary world. People are so concerned with their own business that things like compassion and empathy seem to disappear. Still an amazingly timely piece.

John Donne, Batter My Heart Three Person'd God

I could have chosen a number of Doone poems, including a fair few that are incredibly risque! I love Doone because he never limited himself to just one genre and was always contentious. This poem, like many of his others, is just so amazingly passionate.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways

Oh, goodness I'm struggling. I should've given myself a list of ten! Rather than go with Robert Browning's terrifying My Last Duchess (this is my favourite one to teach as it always takes students by surprise!) I thought I'd choose a poem by another member of the Browning clan. I have a hand-painted version of Sonnets from the Portuguese (again, a present from Granny) and all of them are just beautiful.

So, there we are. As usual, I hope this gets you thinking.

I am sitting in my new Jack Wills cardigan. Just lovely and cosy while the rain lashes down outside.

Enjoy the evening

CSW