Well, after the sun of June, July has been a damp squib. This picture sums it up:
So, in keeping with memories of summers in England and the place I usually spent them as a child, a small photo gallery of my ancestral home – Mousehole. These photos take us on a 100 + journey: 1896, 1926, 1932, 1934, 1037, 1940, 1964, 1952, 1970, 2023:
More internal photos another time.
For the moment, see the way it has changed from a living community to pretty much a holiday village.
I always felt it lost its soul when they removed the harbour crane – “for safety reasons”. It used to lower the baulk heads down to close the harbor mouth in the winter.
Mousehole became the focus for a child’s illustrated book and then cartoon – but its commercialization began long before that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlIC69CIJ00
Lots of Guitar Craft activity and then a work day. The Spanish translation of my brief Introduction to the practice of GC – with the famous and original musician/ composer Ugo Adam:
His home, with the La Plata team sheltering from Winter. Bambina the dog – feline love.
Back home and driving around Bath – notice those clouds!!
My article on William Blake, John Cowper Powys and Gnosticism finally was published in the Powys Journal. This is a version of a talk I gave to the Powys Society in August 2022. They said they had never heard anything like it. I took that as a compliment. Really, it is an expansive gloss on 40 years of study.
http://www.michaelgrenfell.co.uk/the-powys-review-2023-xxxiii/
Also some introspective reading.
Firstly, an original love of mine, Hermann Hesse and his three short stories of characters led by their hearts and the possible consequences.
Then a lovely book about the way composers have used Bird song on their compositions.
The most obvious example from another love, Delius:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdjK-k509XM
Lots of various music this month, but coming back again and again to the muse of Andy Salvanos. I met him in Adelaide High Street one day and we talked guitars and things. He is a devotee to ‘the Stick’ – a very demanding instrument. One thing I know, once anyone falls for this instrument, there is no way back!!
