Warsaw: The Hydrozagadka Rabbit/Hare and Frog

Have seen quite a few good gigs at the Hydrozagadka over the last few years.

Love the drawings of the rabbit/hare and guzzling frog that I saw near the cloakrooms last Saturday night.
  

The Paper Kites at Warsaw Hydrozagadka 23rd November 2019

Saw Australian band The Paper Kites at Warsaw Hydrozagadka last night. Only know the band through Youtube videos but really enjoyed the gig:

Was brilliant listening to 'Revelator Eyes' and 'Electric Indigo' live.

Overall, the gig was a very nice balance of jangly/melodic and slower/therapeutic-type tunes.

Glad I arrived in time to catch Axel Flóvent too:

Finishing The Lord of the Rings

Finally got round to finishing The Lord of the Rings about a month ago.

Lost my first copy of Part 3, The Return of the King, through leaving it on a coach while travelling round Donegal during the summer, so I had to buy it again.

While reading Tolkien's masterpiece over about 8-9 months, mainly while travelling on public transport between places in Warsaw, I was constantly scribbling comments in the margins about possible Catholic symbolism in the work. Some of my ideas, I was convinced of, for example, Aragorn being a Christ the King figure, while with other ideas, I was not sure if I was just engaging in speculation (e.g. interpreting a red fire in an elf hall as the tabernacle/real presence in a Catholic church).

Moreover, a friend from Bolton has introduced me to Joseph Pearce's work on Tolkien which has positively added to my interpretation of Catholic symbolism in The Lord of the Rings:

Think that Joseph Pearce is a really engaging speaker and inspiring Catholic convert.

Lamb at Warsaw Stodoła 21st November 2019

Really enjoyed seeing Lamb again in Warsaw last night:

Great set containing old and new material.

Really liked the new stuff, it's really fresh, especially beautifully understated tunes like 'Phosphorous'; 'Imperial Measures'; and 'The Silence in Between', and the instrumental 'Deep Delirium'.

From the older material, I've never quite known what to make of 'Transfatty Acid', but last night it worked a treat, a great final encore tune.

First saw Lamb at Manchester Academy in the early 2000s (my hometown is Bury), and have enjoyed seeing them a few times in Warsaw since.

Walking Back to Crolly

Having spent a few hours in the hills, the roadside walk back to Crolly was still beautiful, as, hopefully, these two pictures testify:

How I miss the landscapes of Gweedore, Donegal. Hope I can return there one day.

The Crocus Planters

Gentle hands moved over the soil, gently ploughing it, they were human hands, a young woman’s hands, the bulbs placed in the soil. 

I joined in the tilling and tolling, my infant eyes were beginning to colour, seeing fresh light. Two years old, I saw my mother for the first time: short brown hair, impish smile, loving face.

This was spring time, the land was being renewed. After a few months, the bulbs would colour,  sprout purple, yellow, cream. New life would begin.

The dog next door sniffed at the fence, Sam was my first friend, a border collie cross. I still remember Sam. 

As a teenager, I saw a black-and-white picture, an infant patting Sam on the back. Broad Oak Terrace number five. 

An old New Zealand couple, the Mulrooneys, had helped take my mother to hospital in labour. 

January 12^th 1966, I entered the world. I still remember my infant days.

Gweedore, Donegal: Two Fishermen

Passed the two fishermen below as I was coming towards the end of my walk up in the hills in Gweedore, Donegal:

Loved the walk up in the hills, it was full of stunning scenery:

The sheep were happily munching away: