Lockdown Tales

by Elizabeth Bryson

Since the lockdown, I’ve started telling stories to my 4 year old grandson Bobby via Messenger, WhatsApp, etc. He loves stories about Bobby the Brave, Sylvia the Fearless and Jenny the Reckless.

It inspired me to start drawing again.

Last week, they all built a rocket and travelled with their friends Dragon and Dragon’s baby to visit the Clangers, for Soupdragon’s baby’s birthday. Here they are, singing with the Clangers.

---

Editor's note.

As a bit of a bonus to Beth's Lockdown blog from Spain, I thought it might be appropriate to add a version of a popular traditional Spanish lullaby 'A La Nanita Nana' that Beth hadn't previously come across.

This arrangement is by Wendy Sergeant who composes and arranges songs for Community Choirs. This was recorded at a singing workshop she led, down in Shrewsbury back in November 2018.

If you go to the 'Choir Resources' tab you can find it there. Who knows, the choir may at some stage be able to serenade Beth with a rendition of it - no pressure, Sarah!!

Carrot & Red Onion Quiche (No-Roll Crust)

I made this one for last summer's choir's Glass Bee Workshop, led by Helen Grierson at her studio at The Old Bath House, North Broomhill. I don't think I got around to sharing the recipe after,

so here goes!

Ingredients

For the Crust

120g plain flour

60g wholemeal flour

1/2tsp salt

1tsp dried thyme/mixed herbs/tarragon

50g butter

50ml olive oil

50ml plain yogurt

Topping

2 tbsp olive oil

100 g finely sliced red onion

250 g grated carrot

2 tbsp dry sherry/rice vinegar

80 g grated cheddar cheese

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

100 ml plain yogurt

75 ml milk

2 large eggs

3/4 tsp dried thyme/mixed herbs/tarragon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Here's what you do:-

Pre-heat your oven to 180C and brush a little olive oil on your 9 or 10 inch quiche dish.

Prepare the base -

• Put the flour, herbs and salt in your food processor and pulse to combine.

• Add small lumps of butter one piece at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition, until all combined.

• Add the olive oil and yogurt and pulse until it all comes together.

• Transfer this dough to your quiche dish, using your fingers to spread it firmly and evenly across the base and all the way up the sides to form the crust.

• Bake the crust until set but not browned - about 15 mins. Let it cool on a wire rack.

Prepare the filling -

• Heat the olive oil in large frying pan/skillet over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, to soften for around 5 mins.

• Stir in the carrot and 1 tbsp of the sherry/rice vinegar and cook, stirring for 2 - 3 mins. Remove from the heat.

• Spread the mustard over the crust base (not up the sides).

• Sprinkle with 2/3rds of the cheese, then evenly spread the carrot mix over this.

• Whisk yogurt, milk, eggs, herbs, remaining 1 tbsp sherry/vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl and pour over the carrot mix.

• Add the remaining cheese and a sprinkling of smoked paprika and pine nuts (optional).

Bake the quiche until the filling is firm and the edges are brown - 40 to 45 mins. (You may need to cover with foil towards the end to prevent the top burning, depending on your oven).

Let it cool for 15 mins before slicing - can be served warm or cold.

Another option would be to include a couple of rashers of chopped smoked bacon, or 25g diced chorizo that you could fry in the pan with the onion.

Or of course, just what you fancy/have to hand! Let me know if you have any particular favourites.

Caraway seeds also go well with carrots - you could include 1/2 to 1 tsp, cooking with the carrots in the pan.

Happy, healthy eating!

Cheers!

Paul Stocks - July 2020

Art In Lockdown

by Larraine Duquemin

I was asked to write about my paintings and inspiration to put on the choir website. Since these have been such unusual times, I thought it might be appropriate to take you on a personal emotional journey.

I have been trying to make sense of Lockdown - along with many other people, and to share with you a few paintings which have come about as a result . They are not wonderful works of art but when I look back, they seem to relate to the phases I have been experiencing.

Phase 1 NUMBNESS

When Lockdown was first announced I was filled with shock and confusion. Barred from the beaches; freedoms taken away; worries about my children in London - one of whom works in a hospital. I couldn’t concentrate on reading a book or watching a film let alone painting. People suggested that I must be enjoying time to paint with no distractions. I felt guilty that I was not using this time creatively. I forced myself to paint a familiar view of the harbour.

I called it ’Aglow’ but felt it was a superficial piece without life. However, it had released me from my torpor. I had picked up my paints and was ready to express and experiment.

Phase 2 ANALYSIS

I was loosening up but feeling frustrated, playing with paint. I spread fluorescent green on a large canvas and suddenly the men, (mostly men) speaking from their lecterns at their daily feedback meetings emerged. It was at the stage of the pandemic when decisions were being reversed, actions not taken, leaders giving ambivalent messages that I found confusing.

The title ‘The Congregation of Wise Men’ came to me from nowhere. The painting, with its crowd of bodies (perhaps influenced by images of Parliament at the time) just expressed to me chaotic thinking, following the herd, politicians vying for attention. So now I was expressing my frustrations and alarm.

The Covid cake is an example. Called ‘Complicated Comfort’, it shows a lovely sweet cake which can bring solace and comfort, but all the evidence was showing that the overweight were among those most at risk. So I put a Covid virus cell where the cherry is. Think I’ll resist this time.

We wanted to reach out, to receive comfort from others, to touch. But we couldn’t go near. We were all living alone with this in some way.

Hence ‘Distanced’. The baby blue and pink denote the innocence of childhood or the vulnerable, reaching out but unable to touch. The thought of children being from their friends was much in my mind.

Time to move on.

Phase 3 BREAKOUT

I’d given myself some distance. I’d thought long and hard about recent events. I was ready to rebel, go wild in my mind at least. I was not going to be miserable. I was going to go back to colour and action and liveliness (blame Kate W for this, as she had shown me her lovely holiday photos of toucans which filled my mind with colour!). So, madly, joyously, I put colour to canvas, broke up the image of boats to release energy in the form of a kaleidoscope of colour, like jewels. I called it ‘In Spite of it All’.

That felt better…. but like after every party, I needed to come back to reality, to gain some equilibrium and serenity.

Phase 4 BALANCE

Gradually, I drew on the strength and comfort given by the beauty of the very many daily walks along the lanes and hedgerows that I followed during lockdown.

I looked at the details of things, literally at first under the microscope. I studied insect wings, drawing the markings which looked like vertebrae, tributaries, fractals.

I sketched wild flower fields, country lanes, even hedgehogs!

I thought of the cool and dampness of a mossy wood and started to experiment with Chinese paper and charcoal to feel my way into that experience.

Called 'The Cool of the Forest', I was recapturing some creativity from inspiration on my doorstep.

July 2020