Harp in the Museum

During the medieval festival in town, the museum offered a special guided tour in the evening, fitting the event. And during the afternoon visitors could listen to, watch and ask questions about my harp and harps in general. As the weather was wonderful and there was sooo much to see outside, only a few people came into the museum, but those were truly interested in my harp and our playing.

In the evening all 28 members of the guided tour were first send into the room where I sat and had to listen. Never before did I play to that many people, listening without a single noise and watching my fingers closely. It made me feel almost naked, but I gave my best and got no bad critics.

Planxty Kelly played at the museum

An Irish tune I played at the museum 

Medieval Festival in town

The last weekend was a huge success for the town. The weather was wonderful springlike and thousands came to look back into medieval times.

There were about 100 stalls with goods, food and drink, some like those times long ago, others useful in our days. I spent hours on Friday to take pictures of most of the stalls. Then I had to go to work to take place at a wine tasting. Everyone got envious for this job. I only took 2 sips of each wine, so I could go back into town and enjoy the evening concerts and story telling.

Saturday afternoon I spent in the museum with my harp - that's another story. Afterwards I watched the evening performance with most artists showing their skills on the main stage and then went to a concert in the huge church. Unfortunately some madman made constant artifical fog until the whole building was full of it and my asthma played up. I was not the only one fleeing. As my friends were still inside, I waited outside, watching the black-smith and the fire-show.

On sunday the town was packed and it got very difficult to meet at a special time at a fixed place, so I let myself float with the crowd, enjoyed the sunshine and made new aquaintances. In the evening the story teller, the musician of the band Triskilian and the wonderful artist Beatritsche met at the crypt of the church for a joint venture.

Have a look

After a final show on the main stage the wonderful weekend ended. 

Watch all my photos

Just to wet your appetite:

Mystical Weekend

From today until Sunday I'll disappear into the past. In town a huge medieval fantasy festival is taking place. More than 100 stalls with medieval crafts, food & drink, medieval camps, people dressed in medieval clothes, medieval music, knights, shows with birds of prey and horses, story telling - well, I wonder if 3 days will be enough to see and hear it all.

Many friends from further away will come and tomorrow I'll take part of the festival by playing my harp in the museum. It's going to be a very special weekend!

Here are a few glimpses from last year:

Comforting harp sounds...

Last week I took my harp outside for playing in the sunshine - I just couldn't concentrate inside. It was such fun and I played until the sun disappeared behind the houses.

 

The next day the daughter of a neighbour visited me and told me that the sound of my harp has been wonderful comforting while she and her Dad sat with her dying Mum who had passed away that evening.

Because of this she wondered if I could also play at the funeral? I didn't hesitate to say yes. There's only one church song in my play list and that's a cheerful one. So we chose traditional melodies, played very slow. 

There were not many people at the service - but they all found the harp sounds soothing. It was a nice way to say good bye.

 

Best neighbours ever

When I was a teenager I was diagnosed with hayfever and over the years I became allergic against almost everything. I didn't believe the doctors until I cuddled a cute kitten and got a serious asthma attack. 

When we gave shelter to a homeless cat, he wasn't allowed into the house, but had to live in the entrance hall. Not that he minded it very much - he loved to be outside most of the time anyway.

Now our neighbours have a dog that takes us as part of his pack and a cat, that lives as much in our garden than in her own. It's fantastic to have such fantastic neighbours on 4 paws.

Great concert - appreciated by few

When I cecked the highlights of the upcoming week in our paper last sunday I found a name I remembered from 2 famous festivals: #Ally-the-fiddle. This violin player has long hair - down to her knees - and plays at a really mad speed on her instrument. She has played on huges stages all over Europe - and was now giving a concert with her own band in our youth centre! Well, the only times I visited the youth center was collecting our daughters, but this time had to go on my own.

It was a very wise decicion as it was a fantastic concert with real musicians, not just playing instruments, but having a rock show on stage. Unfortunately this concert was far from sold out, but the band played as if the place was packed. During the concert we learned, that Ally plays a new, special violin - this one has 5 instead of 4 strings. That means, she had to learn all songs new to play on it!

Visiting a castle

Not far from us are two castles on a hill. Well, they don't look like castles in medieval times. The Paschenburg, on top of the hill, rather looks like an ordinary hotel and has a very good restaurant inside with a breathtaking view. Later it spring we'll walk up there.

This past sunday we visited the Schaumburg. Parts of it are destroyed and you can see some ruins. But some buildings are still kept, including the watch tower. During the warmer months the kiosk is open to sell coffee, cakes and ice-cream, but although the weather is very spring like at the moment, there was only the indoor café for a rest.

It was lovely up there with the wonderful view far over the country side, even further than in summer as the trees have no leaves yet. It would be great to play harp up there, but first I have to build up muscles to carry it up the steep hill.

 Two castles on a hill.

 Climbing up to the Schaumburg

 Medieval prison

 Kiosk

 View

 Stable

Gatehouse