Morris dancing

Etruria Canal festival. Doomsday Morris dancing by the side of the junction of the Trent and Mersey canal and the Cauldon canal. I love watching them. They have a small group of musicians playing and clash sticks together as they dance. You can hear their boots stomp and the bells they wear jangle loudly. They dance in intricate patterns and whirl and twirl in convoluted ways. A brilliant display of ancient terpsichory.

“In Greek mythology, Terpsichore is one of the nine Muses and goddess of dance and chorus. She lends her name to the word “terpsichorean”, which means “of or relating to dance”. Terpsichore is usually depicted sitting down, holding a lyre, accompanying the dancers’ choirs with her music. Her name comes from the Greek words τέρπω and χoρός.Wikipedia

A proper seaside holiday

What are your future travel plans?

It doesn’t have to be hot

It doesn’t have to be sandy.

I’d like there to be a pier

That is still working this year.

Maybe a promenade

Brass band playing a tango

Or Waltzers spinning and twirling

Horses galloping on the Carousel.

That would suit me very well..

Gulls stealing chips

Waves rolling in

My head in a spin

From the loud wind blowing…

And of course a stick of rock

Peppermint flavoured

The resorts name written

right through it.

Flaming torches

When I dropped my hubby off at Penkhull it was amazing to see three or four hundred people crowded on either side of the road getting ready to set off on the Wassail. There were people carrying lit flaming torches which Sent sparks up into the windy air. I let hubby out of the car next to the Domesday Morris dancers, they were dressed in their costumes with fairy lights wrapped around their hats. The sun was about to set and I wished I was going with them down the hill to the ancient apple tree to beat its boughs so that it will be fruitful in autumn. They would be walking around some of the boundaries of the village and stopping off to dance on the church green then calling in at the local pubs and the choir I am with would be singing Wassail songs outside them. Unfortunately I missed all of that. But I went home and had a rest instead.

Dancing at Bishton

Watching my friends dance along to the Boat band. There were lots more people there but they were all behind me! I think they were dancing to a polka. Lovely surroundings and a great place to visit. Now I know where it is (down a little lane off the A51 near Rugeley in Staffordshire) I think we will go back. Even if its only to watch people dancing. It’s also close to the river and the Worsley garden centre and Nature reserve, a pub by the river and an antiques centre, so there is lots to see if you want to visit them. x

Apple a day

Apple found in our garden in December. I wrote about it in a blog about Wassails. We joined in a virtual Wassail at the weekend and drank too much cider. People posted photos of previous years Wassails when they walked about with flaming torches around the boundaries of the parish. No threats were made but there were so many of us we had to have a police escort and cars were stopped as we wandered down the road to the Penkhull apple tree. A few jolly hours to beat back the cold and the dark. In some places in the past they used to shoot shotguns at the trees to make them flower and bear fruit. There are other traditions where they beat the trunks of Walnut trees to get them to bear fruit. We’ve never had that problem with ours. The squirrels always find enough nuts and then we have to find places far away to plant the saplings, we’ve already got too many!

Remembering Barndances!

They were a hoot! Loads of people trying to dance square dances, making arches with their arms, swirling in circles round the room. Passing behind a line of people (casting) then dancing up the middle with your partner holding hands and twirling round and round. Crowded round tables around the sides of the room. Alcohol was for sale and they sometimes ran out of drink! I loved trying to capture people’s positions as they danced. In aid of Penkhull Mystery plays. I miss them.