No photos of the boats, birds or the Penryn river today as the rain was interminable! and so very heavy! However we had a lovely sing and a very good choir friend sent me the following video – “May this room be filled with joy and harmony” – and it was!
Author Archives: mybeautfulthings
The Nutcracker and My Dad
Today Daughter no 2 and her daughter, LiveWire no 3 went to see The Nutcracker at The Royal Ballet and Opera House in London and this evening we have been to see the livestream of the same performance. It was wonderful and I love the idea that, despite being hundreds of miles apart, we have just shared the ballet experience together.
Today too, I remember my wonderful Dad who died on this day in 2004 after a very hard nine months and his final, even harder ,17 days in St John’s Hospice in Doncaster. where he, and I, were extremely well looked after with love and understanding.
Another Christmas Gig
As we are about to start singing
On display
Just finished singing The Twelve Days of Christmas with audience participation
One of the beautiful horses
Lights across the Trehaddle Valley on zoom
No zoom
Colouring, Cake and Christmas Lights
We bought a delightful Advent calendar for one of our LiveWires, the Wild Advent Colouring Book – British Wildlife Edition, and she has been sending us the pictures as she colours them in. We love her precision and care.
Tomorrow’s cake for the volunteers is a lemon sponge in the shape of a Christmas tree.
I’m loving the effect of my trying to take Christmas lights from a moving car, being driven by my lovely Mr S.
Performance, Ukraine and Singing
Yesterday was so busy that two important things were missed!
After the delightful party for J, 90 years old, in the evening we went with friends to see a fabulous Christmas show called Christmas.Time. This is the third time we have seen the show and loved it every time. It’s the 18th year that the two very talented young men who are Near-ta Theatre have performed the show which has become a staple hereabouts. If you, Dear Reader, live nearby, there are shows still to be seen at The Poly, Falmouth. Here’s the link.You won’t regret it!
I have ordered a beautiful jigsaw puzzle from Ukraine for the family to do together when they are all here over New Year. I am here reprinting the whole message I received from the company yesterday. At the end you can hear The Ingleheart Singers with their first rehearsal this year of Carol of the Bells.
While our capacity to produce and to ship puzzles from Ukraine has been severely impacted by power outages caused by the constant shelling of Ukrainian power infrastructure by Russia (that’s why most of puzzles are shown as out of stock on our website), we still can continue telling about Ukrainian culture.
This week’s email is about Mykola Leontovych (13 Dec 1877 – 23 Jan 1921), the Ukrainian composer and author of the famous “Shchedryk” / “Carol of the Bells,” whose birthday we commemorate today.
Mykola Leontovych, the son of a priest, was also a conductor and teacher who specialized in a cappella choral music. He is best known for composing “Shchedryk,” which later became famous around the world as the Christmas classic “Carol of the Bells.” That happened thanks to enormous efforts of cultural figures and some politicians of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in the last months of its existence before the Soviet occupation of Ukraine in 1919. This treasure had all chances to be demolished and buried, as it happened with Boychukism and many other phenomena of Ukrainian culture, but in some miraculous way, it overcame all the obstacles along with the Ukrainian Republic Capella under the leadership of choral conductor Oleksandr Koshyts.
On January 23, 1921, while audiences in Paris were triumphantly applauding the newly discovered “Shchedryk,” its composer, Mykola Leontovych, was shot in his own home by a Chekist (a Soviet state security agent).
Important to note that Leontovych wrote “Schedryk” in the town of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, which currently is one of the key battlefields in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
So, please keep the Ukrainian Warriors who are now defending Pokrovsk and all of Ukraine in your thoughts each time you hear “Carol of the Bells” this holiday season.
Dawn, Colours and Cake
Another beautiful dawn sky, paint charts to choose from and another fabulous birthday cake!
Our morning was spent choosing paint and then starting the job. A couple of weeks ago we had a new window fitted and now the repair plaster is dry, we can begin the re-decoration. 
My very dear choir buddy had another birthday party this afternoon and another beautiful cake, this one covered in handmade sugar flowers, absolutely gorgeous.
Fabulous 90th birthday cake made by the very skilled Kathryn
Winter Trees, Puddle and Christmas Lights
After a delicious Christmas lunch at Trennick Mill with our friends, we drove home beside the Truro River and the winter trees stood out against the wintering sky..
Reflected in a puddle
On the Trafalgar roundabout there is a lights model of Truro Cathedral.
Nearly home, we saw a lovely nativity scene in lights.
Party, Knitting and Supper
Today is the 90th birthday of my very good friend and singing mentor whom I met in 2008 when I first joined The Ingleheart Singers. She took me under her wing then and has kept me there ever since! Her Family arranged a secret party this afternoon and asked for the choir to turn up as a surprise and to sing for her ,so of course we did! It was a delightful afternoon.
Jean’s beautiful cake, wish I could credit the maker.
Another friend from choir spotted a knitted crib earlier this week and sent me the next photo, knowing how much I would like it. I love the smile on Mary’s face and have to wonder why one of the shepherds is up on the roof!
A simple meal was called for this evening, Macaroni Cheese, comfort food at its best.
Tree, Wreath and Sunset Sky
I’ve put up our first decorations, both fabric, both beautiful gifts from family. I hang them each side of the glass in the inner door.
Tree, a gift from family in Warsaw, Poland
Wreath of fabric hearts, a gift from family in Atlanta, USA
Walking home this evening the sky was lovely, gentle pastel colours in the sky behind the Bassett Monument and the castle on Carn Brea.
Kite, Candle Snuffer and Chocolates
We’ve been sorting out lots of the toys kept for LiveWires and have been deciding where they are all to go now everyone has grown out of them. The kite has been claimed by our son for his twins, LiveWires 5 and 6. It came to us many years ago from family in America and was much loved and well used. I even have the original instructions that came to us in about 1983, such an unusual personalised present that the kids all loved and which gave the whole family lots of fun.
Our old silver candle snuffer is being used every day when the advent candle has burned the day’s date away.
We have an advent calendar that gives us two little truffles each day – a calendar for couples!
P.S. The big storm that is battering Cornwall and much of the UK today has been named Bram. In Cornish, Bram means ‘fart’ which has amused many of us as we hear the howling winds.
