Working in the garden pt 2

With help from friends and the theatre people, and working with a pick axe and spades, we finally had enough earth to plant our tomatoes and peas. The earth seemed to be filled with plenty of objects which might be of interest to an archeologist. I think the roots of the tomatoes may well be growing round gold ducats or maybe the Bishop's long lost ring since there is a grand church building next door.

Thanks to Olga for the tomato plants. Here is a link to the theatre: www.zahradacnk.sk

Saying Goodbye to the Final Year Students

Each school has its own version of traditions. In our school the oldest students had their last day on Friday. They dressed up in smart clothes and visited each class singing songs and handing out flowers to the teachers. Each class prepares a special board with their pictures that will later be put on display in the school. Then the younger students decorated the courtyard and gathered to clap and cheer as the older students made their way out of the school. As each student left they rang a bell hanging over the doorway to say goodbye.

The Thirty-Nine Steps Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The Adventure of the Literary Innkeeper

1. What does Richard Hannay think is written in Scudder’s notebook?
2. Where does he stay on his first night?
3. Richard Hannay takes another train. What does he read about in the newspaper?
4. Richard tries to quietly jump out of the train. What alerts the other passengers?
5. Why does Richard Hannay need to get off the moor? How are they searching for him?
6. What does the young innkeeper look like and what does he want to be?
7. Richard tells the innkeeper a version of the truth. How does the innkeeper help Richard escape?

Try to crack this code:

19, 7, 13,13,7,6 // 12, 11,1,21,12,11,25//18,14//1,14,13,18,21,13,26,11//25,1,26,12,12,11,4,25//17,14,4,8//15,26,18//19,11//13,11,11,12,25//18,14//4,26,13//7,17,7,6//18,14//25,1,14,18,23,7,13,12//18,14//11,25,1,7,9,11//18,19,11//2,11,4,3,7,13//25,9,21,11,25

Update: there were two mistakes in the code, but I have corrected them now so it should be 'easy peasy lemon squeezy' :).

Thanks Dad for pointing out the mistakes.

Composing the soundtrack to 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows'

Composer Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, Gladiator, The Da Vinci Code) travelled to Slovakia to work with Roma musicians when creating music for the Hollywood blockbuster film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Here is a short video of his experiences and his admiration for the Roma musicians' virtuosity.

And here is a brief clip of the music as it was used in the film.

Working in the garden

I have had the chance to take a small allotment nearby. It is an offer from the local theatre to people living in the neighbourhood. Today I went to dig the soil which is next to a wall that is quite probably about 400 years old. Someone told me it is better to just cover the weeds with cardboard and put down new soil. I then built up the wall around my plot. I need to add more soil though. Mañana.

This is the wall that I built

Make your own bacon

Finally I got my bacon. We prepared it ourselves. We bought cuts of fatty pork called 'bocik', salted them and left them on the balcony for a few days, took them to a smokehouse to be smoked, then hung them up in a garage to dry out and now they are ready to eat. Who knew you could prepare your own?

United Europe Jazz Festival

Yesterday was the first day of the jazz festival. We went to see the Lukas Oravec quartet with the young Hungarian saxophone wizard Gabor Bolla. It was fast and exciting and made me think of being on Times Square at midnight. Then the final band of the evening - Eleven Big Band Budapest all crammed on the lower stage so that the band leader was just balancing on the edge. They played classics like Mac the Knife and Tom Jones Sex Bomb and people started dancing and we all sang the mysterious line, 'the swing is the boogie' and too soon it was all over.

La Dolce Vita po slovensky

A cottage in the mountains, good weather, good people, the sound of a babbling brook and the wind in the pine trees, a fire, steaks and sausages, potatoes in the ashes, someone who can play a guitar - this is the good life Slovak style.
What does the Biblical story of Adam and Eve mean?
Today it means to me that sometimes we are living the good life right now, but we are too focused on an unreachable apple to recognise it.