I take a night off and work happens!

I spent tonight at a concert. I don't go to so many now, so they are even more of a treat when they do come up. I tend to only go to bands I know will put on a good show, I don;t have time to waste (let alone money) on those who are more variable in quality. Tonight was Motley Crue, who I love going to see. It is a very high energy show and I always leave feeling better, more alive and usually inspired.

Strangely it was the support band that provided most of the inspiration this time. I wasn't looking forward to them at all, Papa Roach didn't sound like my sort of band at all, but actually their newer material was pretty good. Their older songs really weren't to my tastes but they didn't play too much of that. They did give me an idea of a male nude. I have been thinking about it for some time now but I find men are harder to show in ways that speak to me. Sorry but most male nudes are somewhat untidy to my eye. I have nothing against the male form, it just isn't an neatly beautiful as women. The lead singer of Papa Roach mostly wasn't that exciting, but just sometimes the light on his arms was fantastic. I think I know what aspects of it made it work for me, and I think I have someone who could model for me. If I can make it work I will be thrilled.

They also sang a song dedicated to people from broken homes. After the song the singer said that believed that anything that doesn't kill us makes us stronger, and that he was proud of who he has become. It reminded me that I have a series and a one off that I need to make on that kind of theme, and I think I now have the skills I need to make them work. I think I will dig out the fabrics and bag up those projects next time I need a break.

It was good to see Motley Crue, I always wonder if the concert will be the last time I see Mick playing, and it seems that he plays each as if it were his last. He is still a great guitarist, and I do love watching him, even if I did need my binoculars to do it this time. Unfortunately Tommy Lee wasn't able to play, he has injured his shoulder. Whilst I felt sorry for him having to sit out the concert which he obviously wanted to be involved in, I felt even more sorry for his stand in. Can you imagine having to perform in place of someone with that big a personality, in front of their fans with them coaching you from the sidelines. Not my idea of fun, even if the idea of playing with the band is. It was a fantastic show, and they did a good job of the sound mixing. Sadly a lot of rock bands don't seem to be able to do that and it spoils a lot of concerts. I loved the flames, flares and pyrotechnics, just what you need on a hot day in a hot venue, we must be mad.

Having showered and changed, I've managed to get my Houston entry forms done, the photos are OK, they could be better but Decadence really didn't want to play ball having been rolled up for two weeks. Hopefully it will be good enough to show the concept to the jury. Then when I logged on to update my show spreadsheet I found that another of my secret projects is about to become a lot less secret. In the next day or so the pattern for 'By the Hearth' should appear on the Makower web site. It's obviously my week for publishing patterns. It is a pattern for a life size fireplace, complete with candles, Christmas cards, presents, stockings and of course a cat. It will also be published later this year in Popular Patchwork. It was a fun project to work on, I just wish I could have shared it at the time.

Mayday Pictures

Here is a view of Leeds Castle from the old fortified Mill. The mill itself if fascinating. It is made of stone and somewhat ruined. I have lots of pictures of stone that I hope will lead to a quilt at some point. I think this was the best view of the castle we saw. It is possible to walk round the lake which would provide more great views but as we had a deadline to work to we passed on that yesterday. It is one of the things on my list for next time.
This Ibis was taking full advantage of his pond and having a through bath. Take a good look at the black feathers on his wings. They are sodden and and flicking upwards. I didn't get any pictures that really captured how soggy this bird was but this was the closest. I have seen a lot of birds bath but none got as wet as this. It was fascinating to watch and the sprays of water he created where beautiful.
I would have liked to have got a picture of the whole of the maze but the central mound didn't get you high enough to do that. Taking any pictures was hazardous as it was full of French school children running and pushing. The building in the background is part of the breading center for the aviary. Among other things they have baby Eagle owls (who are huge). Unfortunately they are behind two fences slightly offset from each other so getting pictures was out of the question. The weather vane of a black swan which are also bred here.
I chose to show you this picture to give some idea of what is going on with these kite surfers. As you can see they jump well clear of the water (in fact this one is pretty low) and then do flips, spins and board grabs before landing. It is very impressive to watch but in most of my pictures you can't really see how impressive it is. We were standing on a spit that at low tide goes out about a mile. It is a lovely walk and gives you a very different perspective on the sea and the coast.
Here you can see a surfer with his kite. You can probably see why it isn't in most of the pictures. I mainly focused on the human, and the water. I didn't realise I had another picture of the windsurfer in the background.

Pictures

Here are the second batch of pictures from yesterday. If you are looking at this at just the wrong moment they may look like the first batch but give me a minute or two and it will all make sense.

First we have the Eagle Owl. Yes everybody else had a more interesting camera. Still you can see his amazing ear tufts (nothing to do with ears) and his wicked looking beak. He was very much driven by food, I just wish I had been close enough to see him eating.

Then came the falcon. Sorry but I was right, I didn't get any good pictures of him in flight he was just too fast and unpredictable. I suspect with practice I might manage it, but not on my first try. Here he is still wearing his hood, and it really was the only time to get a picture. Once the hood is off he is very lively and everything is interesting. Apparently as a hand reared bird he has only ever hunted one live animal. That was actually during a show when an magpie strayed into the arena. Don't look like dinner when he is around.

After these two great fliers we got to see something land based, though still pretty quick. Apparently it is related to ostrich and emu. It runs very much like an ostrich (and maybe an emu, I've never seen those run). It can jump remarkably high but is not keen on flying. It only flies to escape danger or to roost overnight. When it finds a snake it picks it up and slams it into the ground repeatedly. She is a keen hunter and as well as the more obvious prey she likes painted toenails. Yes, they do warn ladies not to let her see painted toes, strange huh.

After the falconry display we went and played in the Yew maze. It was interesting, and I will go back when I have more time. Having got to the center we went down into the underground grotto. In the first cavern there is this amazing face. It does look a bit bland in the picture, which I think is due to it being very dark down there and having to use a flash. This is one of the images I think will end up as a quilt. Maybe not entirely in this form, but it just has so much potential and has given me a lot of ideas.


Finally at the cost I took several pictures of the surfers with kites and this one of a 'proper' windsurfer. I am quite disappointed as on the camera I thought I had go the whole board in. On the other hand I still like it in general. I like that you can see how sunny it was and the wake of his board looks great. I know that shooting into the Sun is generally considered a fault but I wanted to get silhouettes of the men. this one is almost exactly what I was looking for. I am certain I will have quilts with elements of this picture in.