Monday, April 23, 2012

Fragmentation capured in a first novel

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Writing on Shakespeare's birthday, I'm tempted to report that my withers are wrung by Samantha Harvey's The Wilderness .  This...
Sunday, April 22, 2012

Haydn sets me off again ...

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It happened again. That sudden tide of memory washing over and through, this time triggered by four notes: the opening of Hadyn's Symp...
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Lilacs out of the dead land

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April is the cruellest month - you bet it is. These light, chilly days, the sudden glimpse of primroses by a burn or a lone violet amids...
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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Deeply satisfying

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A couple of weeks ago now I finished reading Vikram Seth's An Equal Music  - though if I'd read the review published on the Amazon...
Friday, April 06, 2012

The Garden

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That night there was no peace in the garden. The voice beat randomly and wordless on the shrinking sense as the flames flickered irr...
Sunday, April 01, 2012

Queasy among the palms

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I think I have never felt good about Palm Sunday. Whether it was reading/hearing the whole of the Passion story, or concentrating on the eve...
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Never constituted to be a saint*

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I finished reading Richard Holloway's Leaving Alexandria last week, but was overtaken by sunshine and the desire to be out of doors so...
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Of plainsong, penitence and nightly fears and fantasies

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We were practising plainsong this morning - a group from the congregation learning the Tonus Peregrinus and familiarising themselves with th...
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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Going back

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A concert in memory of Kenneth Elliott had me back at Glasgow University last night. Oddly, I felt most at home actually in the Memorial Ch...
Thursday, March 22, 2012

An unseasonal soup recipe

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Hmm. Posting this on a day when the sun is shining and it's warm enough to be outside in only one layer of clothing, the steaming soup i...
4 comments:
Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Confessions of a church cleaner

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Water jug Originally uploaded by goforchris . I'm just back from the last stint for now of church cleaning. My partner-in-crime a...
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Monday, March 19, 2012

Nothing new about teaching Scottish Literature, but.

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I was irritated by something I overheard on Radio Scotland this morning - something that had already irritated me when it was first announce...
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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Dali's Christ

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 © Culture and Sport Glasgow (Museums) There are no nails no bonds or blood to mar perfection. Instead, the figure hangs beautif...
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Friday, March 09, 2012

Another for the suitcase

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I've just finished Erin Kelly's novel The Poison Tree . If you follow the link to Amazon, you can watch a short video of the author ...
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Thursday, March 08, 2012

When two or three are gathered together ...

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I have been attending the diocesan synod of Argyll and The Isles for some years now - since before I retired, come to think of it - and my m...
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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Importunate Witnesses

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I invite you to share a few moments of my Saturday morning. It won't take long... I am sitting in the study, working on various bits a...
4 comments:
Saturday, February 25, 2012

Restoration, in more ways than one.

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I've recently discovered Rose Tremain - I'm still in that lovely place when you realise that someone whose writing you enjoy has wr...
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Monday, February 20, 2012

How the other half lives with liturgy ...

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Last week I spent some time in interestingly erudite company thinking about Liturgy. I tend to feel, on these occasions, like the class idio...
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Monday, February 13, 2012

Carver, Tallis and ghosts

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We don't go to concerts often these days - we're as likely to be performing as listening, to be honest, and the late-night return, ...
6 comments:
Saturday, February 11, 2012

Wrestling with Swedish hornets

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I managed, for reasons associated with where I live, not to see the film of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , though I wish I had and still ...
6 comments: