Church photos

Festival of Light

The parish church in the town where I work is having a Festival of Light, each organisation in the town has decorated a Christmas tree. I visited today to get away from the crazyness that Christmas has become. I just needed to sit and be quiet. It was a beautiful sight.

Busy time

I have had no time to write due to getting ready for Christmas.

I have played in three Christmas concerts, been out playing Christmas carols several evenings, trying to fit in shopping for presents, making presents and working full time.

One of the scarves I have knitted:

Photography class

We have only two more weeks of photography classes before the end of term. Photography classes are now much more relaxed now that we more or less know what we are doing. We have handed in our first assignments and are working on our 2nd. We can all develop films, without too much help, print our contact sheets and make prints. The tutor is more available for help and advice. After those first frantic weeks of learning so much, it is now much more enjoyable. I am working on taking photos to demonstrate depth of field and shutter speeds. I wish I had more time; it is dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home so I only have the weekends at the present time for taking photos.

Concert

The concert went really well. We had a three hour rehearsal in a cold church in the afternoon, then the concert in the evening. The Karl Jenkins was very complex in places and the fact that the score didn’t match our parts didn’t help much, but I managed to play it all and have such a feeling of achievement. I enjoyed playing Haydn’s Nelson Mass, it was not too difficult and I was able to play my son’s D trumpet which is a lovely instrument to play. We did not have a lot of time to rehearse the Haydn but it was not difficult to play. I really enjoyed being in the world of the professional musician and feel privileged that I have been able to experience it.

New experiences

Tomorrow will be a big test for me. I am playing trumpet with a choral society. At first I volunteered to go along and play alongside the second trumpet just to gain some experience. I have now found out I AM the second trumpet! It will be a good experience for me but I am quite anxious as I have never done anything like this before. The music is playable for me but some parts are quite complex and fast. I just hope I will be able to play well.