As I've mentioned before, I LOVE Summer clothing! This week, thank goodness, I've reverted to wearing more of my Summer outfits as the weather decided to improve!!
This outfit, above, was one of my favourite Summer outfits. I wore it on an extremely hot day and felt pretty cool!
The skirt was a purchased from Zoe Del Mondo in Majorca last April. It has a shirred back and is really comfortable.
The top is cotton lace and was bought in a charity-shop. I think, I posted about how it reminded me of a shop called Uluwatu when I lived in Bali that I fantasized about buying something from. Their shops were airconditioned, soothing dark walls and contained beautiful Balinese cotton lace clothing in neutrals (not usually my bag). I felt so calm when I when I entered these serene boutiques. Of course, I was never able to buy anything from there as the cheapest garment cost my monthly rent. Finding this makes me feel nostalgic. It's very light and airy also!
The shoes are Huaraches made by philanthropic brand, Toms. I bought them in TK Maxx a good few years ago. They are leather and cotton cord and remarkably cool and airy. Are you detecting a theme in this outfit?
The necklace was made by Ladybird Likes who made my Clara Oswald moon collar clips!
This week has been tiring but ok. We started back at KCO, my regular orchestra, playing 2 pieces I am very familiar with, Haydn's final symphony- his London Symphony (number 104 out of his outfit! He wrote more symphonies than any other composer and did so much to develop that particular form and structure of music that he gained the nickname, "The father of the symphony!". I only discovered recently that he ONLY used clarinets in his 101st symphony onwards!
This orchestral piece has a few memories for me. The first being, we played it in my the Intermediate Orchestra at my local Music Service that was my life for so many years. As a viola player, I never got to play my flute in the senior Symphony orchestra, since the Viola had so many fewer players than played the flute. This meant my only time playing flute in an orchestra, as opposed to a windband, at this music centre, was when I was in the Intermediate orchestra for one year. This piece we played in my final concert and I had a little solo where we dropped down to just one player to a part as opposed to 2.My next memory of it was it is was one of my set works that we studied for A'level Music.
Coming back to it with Kensington Chamber Orchestra a good few years ago, as an adult was lovely, but to come back to it again with the same orchestra but with a flute player I actually like sitting next to me, was a delight! It felt SO familiar and easy! I joked to the first oboe player (who was covering for our regular oboe) that I could probably do an Aurora Orchestra on it and play it from memory! Take a listen.
The other piece we are playing is Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. It's also very familiar!
The third and final piece in the concert was really disappointing for me. It's by a music camp friend, Ian Stephens, who is a superb composer. It's a Double Bass concerto written as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ian talks about his piece below. Worth a listen!
But why is it a disappointment to me?
Well, because I didn't realise that the accompanying instruments are only string instruments and there are no flutes! So I don't get to play it! I think it will be very beautiful. If you would like to hear its very second performance, you can find details of our concert on the 5th October here.
School has been mostly ok this week apart from the interminable losing of my voice! The week goes from Young to Old for me, starting with Year 1's and moving up the school throughout the week. This is actually definitely the best way round for it to be!
I do hope everything is well with you!
xx
