Flirting with Fountains
Sensual snowflakes
Flutter, picked out by spotlights
Flirting with fountains
Fleetingly famous
Fortunes melting in moments
As snowflakes dissolve
Snowflakes like sequins
Dressing skeletal branches
Sparkle in spotlights
skeletal branches
Went to Birmingham at the weekend for the live performance of my favourite TV Show ~ Strictly Come Dancing. The tickets were an inspired and very thoughtful Christmas present from my children. The show was at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The whole day was wonderful. The NIA is set in the most beautiful part of Birmingham, Brindley Place, where the canals meet. The setting is always beautiful with trees , water and lighting, but on Sunday it was amazing as the whole scene was set off beautifully by an iced covering of crisp white snow.
Once inside the arena, the performance was truly spectacular. The costumes, choreography and lighting were breathtaking. The professional dancers were fabulous and the celebrity contestants were superb. My favourite of course was the Olympic Gymnast ~ silver medal winner ~ Louis Smith. he really should be the next James Bond as he has looks, style, physique and boy can he dance!
Judging time at Strictly Live Show
Inside the NIA
Amazing lighting
Before the show
Snow covered fir trees
This post is inspired by Haiku Heights prompt “Dusk”.
When daylight departs
Choirs gather to sing Vespers,
Most ancient of prayers.
After I retired from teaching, one of the jobs I did was running an after school creche for children at King’s School in Gloucester. This was a delight and a privilege as the school is set in the grounds of Gloucester Cathedral to which it is attached. The children were cared for and amused until 6pm or whenever their parents picked them up. During this time we could hear the choir singing Evensong or Vespers which they do daily at 5.15pm. It is a beautiful time of day when the sun is going down, the body clock is slowing down, and children need to unwind. Nothing could be better than to relax to the sound of well trained choristers singing their thanks for the day before their evening meal.
While I was at King’s, the Cathedral was being used as the setting for a part of the Harry Potter film. The playground of the Junior school was filled with enormous luxury camper vans in which the crew and stars stayed. We often saw them, and some of the King’s pupils were even used as extras in the film. The local BBC recorded the events:
Gloucester’s historic cathedral cloisters were transformed into the corridors of Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the films of JK Rowling’s first two books – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. There was the strictest of security to keep out the curious world’s press while filming took place – but now some of the movie-makers’ secrets can be revealed. In fact there is a Harry Potter trail at the Cathedral which visitors can follow and there are still signs of Hogwarts to spot!
Let there be (hidden) lights
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| Spot the hidden electrics |
All modern signs, locks and electrics had to be disguised under panels painted to look like the stone walls. There are cunningly concealed electric light switches inside the East Cloister door?
Harry Potter and the Hidden Haloes
For the films anything that would give away the set as a church had to disappear. The haloes on the stained glass figures in the cloister windows were painstakingly covered with coloured plastic filter paper to blend in with the surrounding glass.
One window has figures of Adam and Eve, and because these might have been in shot in the movies, they were given clothes and even the trademark Harry Potter ‘lightning flash’ on their foreheads!
Harry Potter and the Buried Tombs
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| These figures of Adam and Eve were ‘dressed’ and given forehead marks like Harry’s |
There are nearly 100 tombstones on the cloister floors which had to be disguised during filming.
They were covered with roofing felt, which was then painted, marked, polished, varnished and made to look faded to match the rest of the stone-flagged floor.
Water Wizardry in Dark Entry
The red door in Dark Entry, at the north-eastern corner of the cloisters, was where the flood from the girls toilets was filmed.
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| The Dark Entry doorway |
Water from a tanker parked in the road outside was pumped through the doorway, into a huge specially constructed container and out to a drain in the Garth (the cloister’s central garden).
Written in Blood
The wall by Dark Entry is where panelling, made in the studio to look just like the stone walling, was hung with the chilling message in ‘blood’ – really a film-maker’s magic potion – that read: The Chamber of Secrets has been opened – enemies of the heir BEWARE!
The Poltergeist’s Cut
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Rik Mayall, as playful poltergiest Peeves, set all the broomsticks zooming about in the East Cloister walk.
Unfortunately the scene was one of several that ended up on the cutting room floor because the film had to be cut to a manageable length.
Troll Terror in the Lavatorium
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| Harry and Ron hid in the Lavatorium |
The Lavatorium on the left hand side of the North walk (yes, it’s really called that – and it wasn’t the ancient Abbey monks’ loo but the place they washed) is where Harry and Ron hide from a giant troll behind the pillars.
The troll in the film is mainly computer-generated, but huge legs were used in filming to make it look more realistic – so big that there was some difficulty in getting them in through the cathedral’s massive main doors!
Harry by Gaslight
For filming the cloister walks were lit by special gas-fired torches using a special gas that would not harm the ancient stonework.
The Gryffindor Door
As you come to the end of the West Walk the oddly-named West Slype door is on your right. A slype is the name for a covered passage from a church or monastery cloister.
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| The West Slype doorway |
In the films it was made to look smaller by means of a plastic mould placed over the real doorway, with a hinged portrait of the Fat Lady in front of it, and became the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.
In real life steps lead down from the other side of the doorway but more film wizardry was used to make it look like the common room.
A false floor on stilts was built sloping slightly upwards to a backlit screen with a picture of the common room – a film-making device called a translight.
I am thrilled to have been nominated again for this award by “On Dragonfly Wings with Buttercup Tea” And here are the rules:
1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award.
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.
3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them
5 You can now also join the award’s Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience if you choose to
6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…
Yes – that’s right – there are stars to collect!
Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once – this award is different!
When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog – you can add another star!
There are a total of 6 stars to collect.
Which means that you can check out your favorite blogs – and even if they have already been given the award by someone else – you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!
There are so many wonderful blogs out there which I love reading. Some I dip in and out of and some I would not miss. From my desk I can travel to India, USA, Canada, Australia and all the places in between. I can see fabulous photos and read wise words. I can enjoy newsletters, magazines, unpublished stories and a wealth of poetry. I can be stunned by haiku and warmed by appreciative comments. I can even say that I have made friendships as some bloggers give and receive advice, tips and encouragement freely. I am constantly amazed by the talents, wisdom and sincerity that exists and I feel privileged to share in it through blogging. I have a long list of blogs that I would not miss and I have nominated some of them for awards before. So I have decided to give another star to those I previously nominated for the ‘Blog of the Year 2012:
If you do not accept Awards I understand, just know you are appreciated by https://heavenhappens.wordpress.com
http://wordcoaster.wordpress.com
miracleshappen13.blogspot.co.uk
On this post you will find the thumbnails of the ‘Star Awards’. ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/
It snowed overnight and the roads are a fright,
So the schools are all closed ~ on a Friday!
Mums and dads can’t drive, their cars slip and slide
So its family fun on a school day.
Dogs in bright jackets are leaping for joy
Taken out for a walk, on a school day.
Babies and toddlers peep out of their prams
They’re going to the park, on a school day.
Tiny tots muffled in mittens and hats,
Squeal in delight, on a school day.
Giggling girls, hugging their friends,
Slide down the hill, on a school day.
Teen terrors in hoodies become little boys
Throwing snowballs at girls, on a school day.
Steep slopes draw the daring on sledges and boards,
They hurtle downhill, on a school day.
I sit at the window and, like falling snow,
My thoughts pile up into drifts.
My smiles turn to tears at the sights and sounds
Of my school days, as the frozen scene shifts.
Of ink wells and blotters, of wafers and milk,
Of chalk boards and outside loos;
Of walking to school by the RiverTyne,
Of castles, and coalmines and ships.
And then there are people, who wave as they pass,
Loved aunties and cousins and friends
A sister and brother no longer in touch
A mother and father I mourned.
There are icicles hanging near a frozen stream,
The snow covered branches are bending
The field is a snow frosted wonderland
Its beauty my broken heart mending.
On a soft white cloud
As silver stars surround him
He silently sleeps
Tonight I sat and watched as Stanley slept unable to take my eyes off his tiny form ~ a miracle of perfect proportions.
A small stone is a short piece of writing (prose or poetry) that precisely captures a fully-engaged (mindful) moment. The process of finding small stones is as important as the finished product – searching for them will encourage you to keep your eyes, heart and mind open.
Took my little dog, Dayna, for her walk today to our favourite spot ~ the football pitch. Dayna loves it as not many people go there in the week and I love it as she can run about safely without a lead. I promise I do not let her make a mess there! Anyway it was icy cold today and the snowflakes were fluttering down. I was mesmerised by the beauty of the potholes and stud marks which had filled with water and were frozen into little diamond divots. So of course I had to write a haiku:
Glittering goalposts
Iced sparkling diamond divots
Frozen field of dreams
These haiku are written for this week’s prompt at haiku Heights which is the word “Death”
Woodpecker on gravestone
The Boy
Fragile and different
Defeated by the bullies
He jumped to his death
The girl
Remnants of ribbons
And fading flowers weep, where she
Fell to her death
The father
The death of his son
Drove him to despair. Destroyed,
His life he ended.
The cemetery
Lawned garden of grief
Compassion carved into stone
Too late to show love
Draped over the earth
Coloured remnants of ribbon
Symbolising peace
Rainbow
ilovesmallstones
This has got to be the most beautiful and uplifting post i have seen for a while x I have never seen a hummingbird so they are a delight for me to see and share.
Roots of the ancient Yew Tree at painswick
Spring was in the air today. The hellebores flowers are just about open in my garden and the snowdrops are already out at the Rococo gardens. I love this time of year.
Our local newspaper (Gloucestershire Echo) today reported that,
SNOWDROPS have started to bloom at a garden in Painswick following a mild start to the new year.
With temperatures hovering around the 10C mark so far this January, dozens of the white flowers have emerged earlier than expected at Rococo Garden.
Paul Hervey-Brookes, garden adviser at Rococo, said: “They usually start to bloom around the second week of January and the last to flower finish by the end of March.
“But because it has been mild this year so far, they have been tricked into thinking it is later in January than it is, and they have started to come out.”
Temperatures are predicted to plummet in Gloucestershire this week, but Paul says the snowdrops will survive.
He said: “The cold weather will not kill them, it will just stop their bloom, and then they will continue when it starts to get milder.”
Forecasters are predicting a progressive drop in temperature as the week goes on, with a night time low of -1C possible by Thursday.
There should be a let up for areas affected by flooding, as no heavy rain is predicted.
Snowdrops at Painswick Rococo Garden
I happened to be at Painswick when the sun was shining, the views long, the trees magnificently silhouetted against a blue sky. I like trees better in winter than summer. The form becomes the chief point of them, not just the mass of green that is all we see in summer. And because the situation of the Painswick garden is so extraordinary, you get long views both across and down, snowdrops clothing the steep banks below the renovated Eagle House, snowdrops, many of them fat doubles, thick on the grassy bank that leads up to the viewpoint above the maze, snowdrops down by the fish pond and the square, rather dark plunge pool where surely only the most muscular of Victorians would have wanted to plunge. A bonus at Painswick was the best bank of winter-flowering cyclamen I’ve ever seen, pink and magenta Cyclamen coum seeding itself through the grass with an abandon I could only envy.
The Independent 2008
Full Journal 2012
Hard back now broken
Skin leathered, wrinkled and worn
Soul spilled on the page
Having tidied away the decorations, cleaned the house and washed the dog and her bedding this weekend, it is now time to sort out my boxes of journals. The one above is a much used notebook from 2012. The yellow leather binding is worn, the ribbon is frayed and the pages are falling out. In fact it looks a bit like I feel; but inside it, the essence of me is distilled.
On a sea of ink
I sail to oblivion
In a paper boat
Do you remember the feeling you used to get every September when school started? Everything was new ~ uniform, pens, pencils, rulers, rubbers, sharpeners, geometry equipment, art materials and virginal exercise books covered in pretty paper. Whatever had happened the previous term, the new school year was filled with hope for a fresh start, a clean sheet, a copybook with no blots!
Well I got that feeling when I opened my Christmas presents and found a beautiful new journal. It is from the Wedgewood Archive Collection and the design is called Yellow Butterfly. Of course one journal is never enough for the addicted writer so this year I have bought 2 other journals in the sales! I am torn as to which one to start writing in first, they are all so beautiful.
Three new journals for 2013
On pristine pages
Bound with butterflies and birds
I journal my journey
Trawling the depths of
meandering memories
In rivers of words
The prompt for Haiku Heights this week is the word ‘script’. I knew immediately what I wanted to write about but it is a painful memory. When my father was very ill with cancer I would sit by his bed for hours on end whenever I was not at work. He was a self taught man who left school at the age of 13 to work in the shipyards in the North of England where he lived. He spent his whole life working with steel, eventually owning his own business. He was in great demand as a consultant on huge projects from bridges to buildings like Canary Wharf in London and Terminal 4 at Heathrow. He was also recognised as a bit of an expert on safety in Nuclear Power Stations which he used to inspect. I absolutely adored him and shared his passion for bridges, buildings and anything of beauty.
Now my father kept a diary all his life and his last sentence on every entry was a prayer of thanks for his day. He always used a propelling pencil and wrote with a beautiful script. As he got weaker his diary became really important to him. However hard it was to write he would still insist on filling in the days news. He recorded every visit by doctors, nurses, priests and friends. The day before he died he was quite distressed that he could not hold his pencil and he insisted that I should write what he dictated, which I did. When he fell asleep with the exhaustion of it I took a peek at his diary and I was totally shocked by what i found. For the worst months of his illness he had ended every entry with a prayer to St Jude ~ patron Saint of Lost causes! This was a bit upsetting. But the really upsetting thing was that for the last two weeks his entries were in mirror writing. Every word and line was written backwards. It was still legible although the writing was getting rather spidery.
I found this deeply moving as it seemed to me that his life was going into reverse. After he died I mentioned the mirror writing to the doctor and he said it sometimes happens as a result of neurological disturbance. I suppose this would make sense as he was so ill and on strong pain relief. But I still found it very unsettling.
I have heard since that some people like Leonardo Da Vinci used to do mirror writing. It is a strange phenomenon still not fully understood.
As in a mirror
His writing flowed in reverse
His Life rewinding
Man of steel, my Angel of the North
I can’t believe how quickly my grandson, Stanley is developing. he is 5 weeks old today and he is already smiling! I went for a long walk with him, Jenny his mummy and my little dog, Dayna today. It was wonderful as the weather is dry and mild again. The fields all around Gloucestershire are still waterlogged though with lots of flooding near the rivers. But for me there was only one thing that mattered today ~ Stanley’s smile.
No gold nor jewels
Could be as precious to me
As Stanley’s first smile
Small stone 4
I picked up this small stone on Chesil Beach and when I saw it today it reminded me of a blogpost I wrote called Finding the Still Point. If you have not read it you might enjoy it and the pictures that go with it.
Winter vegetables
And rhubarb from the garden
Make nourishing meal
I am starting 2013 by clearing space for beauty and joining the Mindful Writing Challenge entitled Small Stones. A small stone is a short piece of writing (prose or poetry) that precisely captures a fully-engaged (mindful) moment. The process of finding small stones is as important as the finished product – searching for them will encourage you to keep your eyes (and ears, nose, mouth, fingers, feelings and mind) open.
Why don’t you go out and buy yourself a gorgeous notebook, start writing your small stones, and you’ll be in the river too.
ilovesmallstones
Small stone number 4
Plump pigeons patrol
Seeking seeds dropped by sparrows
Beneath bare pear tree
I am starting 2013 by clearing space for beauty and joining the Mindful Writing Challenge entitled Small Stones. A small stone is a short piece of writing (prose or poetry) that precisely captures a fully-engaged (mindful) moment. The process of finding small stones is as important as the finished product – searching for them will encourage you to keep your eyes (and ears, nose, mouth, fingers, feelings and mind) open.
Why don’t you go out and buy yourself a gorgeous notebook, start writing your small stones, and you’ll be in the river too.
ilovesmallstones
I am starting 2013 by clearing space for beauty and joining the Mindful Writing Challenge entitled Small Stones. A small stone is a short piece of writing (prose or poetry) that precisely captures a fully-engaged (mindful) moment. The process of finding small stones is as important as the finished product – searching for them will encourage you to keep your eyes (and ears, nose, mouth, fingers, feelings and mind) open.
Why don’t you go out and buy yourself a gorgeous notebook, start writing your small stones, and you’ll be in the river too.
Fledged in Fuschia
The Christmas holiday is over and my children have all gone home to their various exciting lives. On New Year’s day we drove to the airport in Bristol and as I was sad to see them all go, so we decided to have a day at the seaside. This always cheers me up and blows the cobwebs away. Burnham on Sea may not be exotic but I love it! It has miles of sand and is almost deserted out of season, so that is where we headed. My little dog, Dayna, seemed totally confused at first so I imagine she has never seen the sea before. However in no time at all she was having fun chasing the waves and shaking the sand off her tiny legs. As the wind blew her tail and ears waved in the air. Instant laughter and a dreaded day reworked into a blessing.
New Year’s Day on Burnham Beach in Somerset
Soaring and screeching
Seagulls over sinking sand
On Somerset shore
So much fun on a deserted beach
Storm in a rockpool
weaving waves into whirlpools
Miniature maelstrom
First taste of the sea for Dayna
On a New Year’s day
Windy beaches are deserted
To Dayna’s delight
I am starting 2013 by clearing space for beauty and joining the Mindful Writing Challenge entitled Small Stones. A small stone is a short piece of writing (prose or poetry) that precisely captures a fully-engaged (mindful) moment. The process of finding small stones is as important as the finished product – searching for them will encourage you to keep your eyes (and ears, nose, mouth, fingers, feelings and mind) open.
Why don’t you go out and buy yourself a gorgeous notebook, start writing your small stones, and you’ll be in the river too.
Heavenhappens 