4 January 2020: The Smiths
Our first outing of the decade was a visit to Mike and Marianna Smith’s house; an opportunity to eat together, make some music together and to see their kids, Eva and Bob, now that they are teenagers.
For those Ogblog readers who don’t know…
…and who are looking for somebody to blame for my music-making…
…it was Mike Smith who got me into the idea of playing the four-string guitar.
Mike makes & refurbishes stringed instruments of many varieties – the picture below depicts Mike playing a mandola, with a cello-like thing made from a half-baked mandolin by his side:
The pictures imply that Mariana did all the cooking and that Mike and I did all the playing, but that would be unfair on Mike (who prepared much of the delicious Mexican meal we enjoyed) and indeed on Eva, who is cultivating pie making skills, as illustrated above.
We also spent plenty of time chatting too, about the kids school activities, Mike’s latest initiatives and learning some more about Mariana’s Slovak family and background.
One strange coincidence vis-a-vis the music and Mariana. Amongst other things, I was tinkling the renaissance song Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie, which I am currently working on with Ian Pittaway, my early music teacher.
A few days after our delightful evening with The Smiths, I read Ian Pittaway’s essay on this piece and its context:
Ian has added an annex to that essay about the Czechoslovakian folk group, Spirituál kvintet, who wrote and recorded a “Czechoslovakian protest” version of this song in the 1960s:
On discovering the coincidental link between the song and Mariana’s origins, I sent the link to Mike and Mariana. In typically subdued language, Mariana resonded:
I was slightly blown away by Spirituál Kvintet’s Pavana…
12 January 2020: Marcena & the Neighbours
As if we didn’t eat and drink enough with friends and neighbours in December, Marcena very kindly invited us in for drinks and nibbles on the second Sunday of the decade.
Coincidentally, Marcena’s centrepiece was also Mexican, a very tasty tacos dish, although there were also potatoes and chicken cutlets which bore the hallmarks of her southern Asian and southern African backgrounds.
It was a very enjoyable evening. Janie (Daisy) tried to construct an alternative narrative for everyone else’s life…
…in fact at one point I wondered whether the full moon a couple of evenings earlier had got to her…
…but in the end the truth would out and we all found out a bit more about each other, over some very tasty food and wine.
Chilled times.
Indeed, to add to the chilledness of the past two-three weeks, I also enjoyed:
- a couple of music lessons with Ian Pittaway,
- a jamming evening with DJ on 14 January at my place, with some yummy grub from Speck,
- several games of real tennis at Lord’s, including club night on 16 January.
