Much water under the bridge, both literally and figuratively (most of the country had a month’s worth of rain in the past 24 hours). Cousin Emily is here from California to visit with mum, which is great. We had been to see the surgeon at Durham hospital on Monday, and he opened up his chock-a-block schedule to squeeze her in on Wednesday, when he took out another 8 tumors – go, mum… [there was a slight blip when we discovered the hospital had her down for a general anesthetic which is way beyond her at this point, but after half a day on the phone I finally tracked down the surgeon and sorted it out, back to the local we had agreed upon – oops… ghastly, but I gave her my iPod and she listened to the Buena Vista Social Club and Schubert’s Quintet in C, while chatting up the surgeon – apparently he’s a vegetarian, and learning classical guitar. she is truly remarkable…] So in theory she’s good to go to menorca on July 2nd, kenahorah… and in theory I leave on monday to go open the house, with Diana coming down on Wednesday to do a hand-off with Emily – wish us all luck…
Meanwhile, last weekend was the Cotherstone village fete, or “fun weekend” as it’s now known. The weather is almost invariably lousy, and this year was no exception: after a couple of lovely days earlier in the week, the heavens opened on friday afternoon, right on cue, and it poured steadily almost all weekend – the 1K run in the fields behind the pub was done in a total downpour, quoits and country dancing were cancelled… Saturday didn’t fare much better, altho’ at least the stalls, cream teas and raffle were in the Village Hall and therefore impervious to the weather (I picked up a portable cassette player for £2.50, to replace the one I’ve been borrowing from Mick all these months, and a beaded lampshade for £1.50 that Diana will make good use of – and Auntie Liz won a splendid Diamond Jubilee tin of biscuits in the raffle). Saturday evening was the Kids Bands, also in the Village Hall, but on Mick’s advice I opted to take mum to the Bowes Museum for a classical guitar concert – well worth the effort, Giulio Tampalini was great (altho’ the string quartet who played with him in the second half had intonation problems that made it somewhat less enjoyable) – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Capriccios based on Goya paintings were very cool…
Sunday was the all-denominational thanksgiving church service, which I would have happily gone to in the spirit of co-operation, except that it was at 10.30 and the Duck Race was at 11 – I mean to say…. bad planning…. , apparently it’s normally held from the Tees Bridge to the island, but there was so much water in the river that it was moved to the beck on the first green, which turned out to be absolutely perfect, as the kids could run along side the ducks and really be up close and personal… when they told me they threw the ducks off the bridge and then folks netted them down by the island, I was a little puzzled as to what would stop them just flying away, but when I saw them on the green I realized – aha, little rubber duckies… all 250 of them! (I bought 4, one for each of the family). They raced in heats of 40 or 50 at a time, with the first 5 from each heat going on into the final. It was absolutely splendid, and tho’ it threatened, it didn’t actually rain (not that the ducks would have cared).
I raced home to cook an early Sunday lunch for Mum and Liz, and then headed to the kids’ park up past the church to hear the Middleton Silver Band – oh yes… playing under a marquee while kids played on the swings, and everyone scarfed hamburgers and sausages from the barbecue… a multi-generational hang – really cool… the band sounded great, 15/20-odd brass players, mostly pretty young, a couple of older ringers – the last tune they played must have been the inspiration for the Monty Python theme song (I found out it was “Death & Glory” by R.B. Hall). Best of all, the sun came out – in fits and starts at first, graduating to a beautiful stretch of blue sky… oh sun, how I’ve missed you! As the band wrapped up and the games (races etc.) began, I took off to stretch my legs in the afternoon sunshine. I ended up following the old railway lines almost to Barney, coming back up the Teesdale Way – lovely… everything thick and green and flower-decked – an actual June afternoon…
Another great walk the evening before the solstice – I took a post-prandial stroll after supper that ended up being a 2-hour hike across the moors to the sound of curlews and lapwings – stunning. Home at 10 o’clock, with plenty of light left in the sky, feeling quite all right thank you…