Feeling like a zombie through lack of sleep may not be the best way to start your working week but that's the price you pay for an action packed weekend. And although today it has been agonizingly difficult to keep my head from hitting the desk every five minutes in fits of slumber, it was all worth it.
Saturday I went to a gathering at a friends house in the country, we barbequed in the rain, had a scalelectrics championship, drank thai cocktails out of a bucket and finished the evening off with the first night's camping of the year.
Sunday was a long battle with a hangover, luckily won in time to be picked up and taken to Nottingham for a gig at the Rescue Rooms. The Brian Jonestown Massacre were playing. My ability to review it at this time is somewhat impaired by my sleepy head, all I can say is that they fucking blew everybody away.
After spending half an hour looking at somebodies back (just as the gig starts the tallest person there is guaranteed to push in front of me, it happens every time) I decided to risk the chance of violence (BJM are renouned for starting arguments/fights with their audience) and slip to the front, where I had an excellent view and the sound was fantastic. I really should have got some good photos from here but as you can see they aren't great and I didn't manage to get Anton (the genius behind the BJM) in them at all. I did get a very blurry shot of Joel though who is their estranged but seemingly reunited tambourine player and resident joker. (See bottom photo.) Great night, great band, great venue what more can I say. Actually nothing because my brain has gone passed thinking and my fingers are too weak to type. I need sleep.

As above so below.

The Oak tree near my home, that I am extremely fond of has a brand new plummage of bright green leaves. This is my favourite time in the year of my Oak, it looks truely stunning.
I took the above photo yesterday with the purpose of posting it here but last night I had the idea of photoshopping it and using a photo I took last winter to try and express something I have been thinking about alot of late, symbolism in nature.
I believe that everything in nature holds a secret truth, it just takes a little digging.

Here we are, a short tour of the allotment. From top to bottom.
1.) The allotment, taken from near the shed, as you can see we have lots of land, and most of it is presently grass. We did clear more at the begining of the year but alot of it grew back up really quickly.
2.) Me preparing the soil. In the foreground you can see my friends clever thorny wood pigeon deterrent.
3.) The beds that have been prepared so far, we have the messiest plot on the whole allotment!
4.) I put this in the blossom tree when we first got the plot. My friend only noticed it yesterday and thought we'd been hexed by witches!
5.) Our shed. I actually put a wanted ad on freecycle yesterday for a new one as this just needs tearing down. It does have a certain charm though.
6.) Inside our shed. It hasn't got any charm on the inside at all. They're actually pulling down many of the old sheds soon, so Mick and I are going to go round and take photos. I love dilapidated old buildings, where nature has taken over.

Being driven crazy sat indoors watching people sunbathe on the grass in front of the window where I work. And true to form the weather is going to go downhill as of tommorow so we have yet another rainy weekend to look forward to. I hate it when the weather gets so completely out of sync with the weekends.
When I finish work I'm going to cycle as fast my legs can pedal down to the allotment. We have some potato planting to do, a little more clearing and I want to sow some more purple sprouting brocoli as today is a flower/air day according to my moon calendar, especially good because it's so close to the full moon. I'm also going to take some photos of the allotment as last time I went there it was looking beautiful with all the blossom on the trees. Still not much sign of life on our little plot but we're getting there. I better be getting my wellies, it takes a while. Ta ra!

The Chapel That Heard Music

I know the 'Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown is at heart a trashy thriller. But I have read it and although I'm a little reluctant to admit it, I enjoyed it. It touched on many subjects that I find capture my imagination about the world of the esoteric.
I've also watched a few of the documentaries, that have found it nessesary to disprove the ideas in the book and have generally agreed that Dan Brown has twisted many of the so called factual elements to fit into his story. However I have found the need of these documentary makers to tear down the book curious, as well as the abundance of these documentaries, after all it is only a trashy novel. Why all the fuss?
I also feel all the TV programmes, articles and books have missed a point that I find most interesting and that is the popular appeal of the book. People just love it. Personally I think the reason for this is that it touches on archetypal ideas like the Holy Grail and the Divine Feminine. Archetypes that resonate heavily with people and that have done so throughout history. I do believe the book has opened up peoples mind a bit to these ideas, which cannot really be a bad thing but I won't be going to see the film, I can wait until it is on TV . To be honest I think it looks awful, too cheesy for words, I had to laugh when I saw the billboard poster, scary monks indeed!
I just hope that all the hype surrounding the Da Vinci Code and all the constant attempts to invalidate the flimsy concepts doesn't turn people against all the elements Dan Brown has picked up on. I believe there are still many mysteries to be solved. One being the Rosslyn Chapel. I found this article about the chapel and I think this is fascinating.;

http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=627062006

Try to listen to the music available on the page too, it's really beautiful. Possibly it's just one more crazy idea that is cashing in on the DaVinci Code bandwagon but I'd like to find out the results of the experiment. Certainly got me thinking anyhow.
(I still can't get the hyperlink thingy to work, could someone please tell me the text I need to put around the link, I do have something written down but whenever I try it it always asks for opening tags and doesn't work. Ta.)
Whoops I need to get a move on and get to work quickly! Bye for now.

Okay, I know this is really sad but I'm so darn proud of my seedlings that I had to post a picture. Nuturing my seedlings (or as I've started calling them 'my little darlings' actually make that 'dwarlings') has opened up a motherly instinct in me that I never even knew existed. Short of giving them all names I have become very attached to say the least. At the moment they are all outside my flat so I'm not sure how I'll cope when it's time for them to move on to the allotment, fly the nest as it were.
I've been using a moon calendar to plan sowing and planting times and so far it seems to be very successful. They appear very healthy and strong but I am beggining to understand the gravity of all the potential threats, so many pests and diseases to guard them from. I've been warned of rot, blight, spot, scab and mould not to mention mites, flys, grubs, weevils, slugs and snails and I'm begining to wonder if I'm cut out for the heartbreak of organic gardening but using chemicals would defeat the whole object so I've got to rely on moon energy and a whole lot of love. Just hope I can bring myself to eat them when the time comes!

Low’s performance at the Carling Academy in Birmingham on Saturday was absolutely stunning. I’ve been a fan for about five years but their tours have always corresponded with times of hardship so seeing them live for the first time was such a treat.
Unfortunately we just missed the original line-up, their bassist Zak, left last summer, but it didn’t matter too much, the new bassist seemed to know his stuff and I was just grateful to have the opportunity to see them at all. Especially after a tour was cancelled last year, Alan had made an extremely moving announcement on the Low forum explaining that his poor mental health at the time would make touring too big a strain on everyone involved. At this point I really thought I’d missed my chance so I was delighted when they announced this tour, this time there was no messing around and a ticket was purchased immediately, and happily for only £8.00!
Anyway, finally Saturday arrived and Mick and I took our selves off to Birmingham booked into a cheap hotel, did a spot of shopping at The Custard Factory, ate some manky sandwiches, then sat impatiently waiting for 7o’clock to arrive.
The academy is a nice sized venue, the gig took place in the upstairs bar so it was quite intimate and the sound was great.
I spent the entire gig completely entranced, absolutely spellbound. Alan’s gentle manipulation of his guitar produces the most extraordinary sounds, moving from minimalist heart rendering drones and riffs to full on power chords in one quick step of a pedal. And he sings with such honesty in his voice. Meanwhile Mimi’s seemingly effortless harmonies are astoundingly beautiful and are accompanied by her sombre pounding on the drums. You can feel there music resonating deep, deep within and more than once my eyes filled with the astonishing beauty of it all.
After the gig, being a little fired-up as one gets after a truly inspired gig, I very nearly got into a fight with a bouncer . The moment the gig ended the staff practically pounced on the crowd with an eye to throwing everyone out quickly so they could start their club night. Usually in venues the crowd watching the band are allowed to stay on, but not here. When I wasn’t even allowed to wait inside the Venue while Mick was in the toilet and was turfed out onto the street, Mickless, by a very unreasonable and smug bouncer I very almost challenged him to fisty cuffs. Obviously, being 5ft and female, it wouldn’t have been a great idea but I was absolutely fuming. Luckily outside we met a very friendly couple who were looking for a club that I’d seen earlier in the day, so we decided to go along with them and this somewhat took my mind off things. We ended up in a bar called Bacchus that was themed in the vein of the Greek/Roman God, quite a pleasant establishment ( I was just impressed by the paganess and the lack of thugs.) We discovered our new found friends are also going to the Green Man Festival so we made some vague arrangements to meet up there for Gin and Bitter Lemon, then went back to the hotel.
Sunday was Beltane, and after arriving home, feeling a little depressed because it was all over we decided we had to cheer up somehow. I’ve made a pact with myself to celebrate or at least acknowledge all the pagan sabbats and Beltane is a very important one. So we decided to have a private quiet disco, quiet because we live in a flat with paper walls and private because it was just me and Mick. We had a great night dancing our socks off and neither of us could work out why we’d never done it before! I advise you all to try it.
Anyway, enough of this rambling. Happy Beltane to you and yours! (apologies for being a little late with it, yesterday we thought our internet was down all day only to find out last night that the lead had fallen out the back of the computer. Doh!)

Photos by Mick
top; Alan Sparhawk from Low at the Academy on Saturday
below; Me, having a psychedelic moment at the quiet disco on our living room.