The Night I Met Kilwillie (AKA Julian Fellowes) (AKA Mr. Downton Abbey)

I don't know how I get so lucky, but sometimes opportunity just shows up on my doorstep. Take for example, the night I met Oscar and Emmy winner, Julian Fellowes.

My friend Regine used to be neighbors with a couple who own a catering company. That catering company often works at Markenfield Hall, a 13th Century moated manor home just outside of Ripon. The couple heard that Markenfield Hall was hosting an un-publicized Julian Fellowes talk, so they purchased 20 of the 75 tickets lickity-split. They asked Regine if she wanted two of the tickets, she took them and asked if I wanted to go with her. Duh! 

Markenfield Hall

For a little over an hour Julian talked about his time at a York boarding school, graduating University and deciding to become an actor, working on various shows, including Monarch of the Glen, working with Robert Altman on Gosford Park and then winning an Oscar for his first movie, writing romance books under a female pen name, and finally the creation and success of Downton Abbey. He was charming, witty, and self-deprecating; everything you want in a posh, crusty British Lord! 

Lord and Lady Fellowes

His wife was also a character. She wore a Christmas-y dress in the Spring and had her short, brown hair clipped willy-nilly back in three hair claws and then had a big, white scarf wrapped around her head a few times and tied at the back. It was quite a look. She and Julian clearly have been together for a long time (they have an adult son together) and she helped him fill in bits of the stories when he couldn't remember who said what, etc. 

Regine with Lord and Lady Fellowes

At the end of the evening, Julian signed countless books while seated in a nice, cushioned chair. Having no chair, Lady Fellowes kneeled beside him, stocking'd knees on the hard, stone floor, and held each book open for him as he signed them. (Julian had a fairly obvious hand tremor - perhaps it influenced DA's butler Carson's final few scenes?) I looked around for a chair for her, but there wasn't any. She didn't waver or complain at all, but man! her knees had to have been killing her! 

Julian Fellowes

In the end I walked out with a lot of respect for both Lord and Lady Fellowes… and a signed book that I hesitate to read for fear I'll crack the spine or some such thing! 

My signed book! 

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Spring and Early Summer Music Concerts

Bill and I have been trying to get out and see more live music these last few months. We have found a few locations that showcase traditional Scottish / Irish / Folk music and have really enjoyed several of the concerts. Sadly, the best concerts we attended were enjoyed so much I forgot to record a sampling of their music. 

With that said, I give you a very short clip of John McCusker. He is the middle fiddler below, and aside from two jigs, the rest of the music was fairly sleep inducing. The day after we attended this concert Bill told his buddy, who had wanted to go with us but couldn't, that he had dodged a bullet by missing this one.

And then a few weeks later we attended a concert by the Peatbog Faeries. We were there with three other couples, one of which has seen the band four times and absolutely loves them. We don't know if it was the venue or if the sound was just mixed very badly, but all you could hear (for the most part) was the synthesized club beat. Perhaps it was that, or perhaps it was just that this band is not a very traditional folk band, but neither Bill nor I liked the show very much. 

I recorded two short clips and as you can see, this is a band that should be playing in a disco somewhere. It just wasn't our cup of tea and it was really, really loud. How old am I again? 

Last, but not least, a short clip of my friend (also named Jennifer, wearing the blue scarf) at a lunch time classical music recital in Leeds. 

Before I go I thought I'd add clips of the two awesome Scottish bands we've seen but that I failed to capture on video. First up is Skerryvore, a Scottish rock band that was a lot of boot-stomping fun. 

And finally, one of the absolutely best concerts I have ever seen in my whole life was a four-woman band called Fara. They've only put out an EP to date, but their first full length album comes out later this Summer. There is only one official video on YouTube, so here it is. These gals absolutely killed it live! 

If you are looking to pick up some traditional folk or folk rock music, go find yourselves a Skerryvore CD or the Fara EP. I hope you like them as much as we do! 

Another BBC Good Food Show

It seems annual conventions come through the smallish, local convention like clockwork. For example, I've just walked by the 3rd "Tip-Ex" I've seen in my three years living in the UK. 

(For readers unfamiliar, a 'tip' in the UK refers to a dump; where you go to 'tip' your rubbish that's too big or too much for your weekly rubbish collection. The Tip-Ex was an exposition of all the new and fabulous items for the community dump. Therefore, the Expo had diggers and bulldozers, large trash compactors, and the like.)

But I digress...

This Spring I attended my second BBC Good Food Show at our local convention center, and it was a ton of fun! 

Outside the Conference Center

Sadly, Mary Berry didn't attend this year's show, so my friends and I had tickets to see a Michelin-starred, television chef (whose name escapes me) prepare beer soup and a cheese soufflé. The finished food looked good, but the show wasn't nearly as fun as last year's cooking demo with Mary and Paul Hollywood. Oh, well! 

Watching the celebrity chef work his magic

After we watched the chef demo, we walked all around the food stalls, where, among other items, I found lots of yummy charcuterie for Bill to enjoy (he was on a guy's trip to Aberdeen) when he returned home. 

Cured meat bonanza!

The most interesting thing we noticed was the copious small-batch gin distillery stands; each stall was staffed by men with beards and man-buns - I kid you not! I think gin must be the new cool thing now that the craft beer movement has been done to death. Anyway, there were at least 30 different types of gin you could sample and purchase. (Multiply that by at least 3 and you'll know how many carefully coiffed beards and man-buns I had to put up with navigate.)

I purchased a bottle of Daffy's as I had tried that gin once before but didn't want to lug around the heavy bottle for the rest of the day. I bought the bottle on my out of the conference center to go home, now I'm all set for this summer's G and Ts! 

Fancy-pants gin

Thankfully, the bottle image is that of the distiller's wife, and not of a hipster distiller in all his beard and man-bun glory.

Springtime in York / York Minster Facelift

Summer is almost in full force, so I thought I'd better finish the blog posts from Spring! 

There is a pretty obvious progression of flowers in England. When Winter is just about half-way through the little white snowdrops poke through the frozen ground as a promise that Spring will eventually arrive. Several weeks later the crocuses emerge, a purple and yellow carpet polka-dotting the grass. 

Harbinger of Spring: crocuses

Once it's officially Spring, daffodils in the thousands - hundreds of thousands - pop up along hillsides, roadsides, riversides; if it's a side, there will be daffies! 

Daffodils and the York city wall

Daffodils and the York city wall

This particular Spring also marked the end of the York Minster's 5-year renovation plan. I happened to be on shift in the undercroft the day the official 'closing' party was hosted for all of the York patrons. Inside the minster they displayed the old statue of St. Peter (left, below) and the true-to-size model (the final, stone version is now in situ high up on the Mister's exterior stone wall) created as proof of concept. The old one looks a little creepy, no? 

St. Peter, old and new

The unveiling also took place for the Great East Window, the single largest in-tact expanse of medieval stained glass window in the world. The window is larger than a tennis court! Sadly, the penultimate top section is still undergoing some TLC, but it will be replaced as soon as it is ready.

Great east window

The next great feat for the Minster is hosting the Mystery Plays. It is a play consisting of all the old testament bible stories and has been preformed in York since the middle ages. Way back then each guild used to produce a story and the actors would preform the play on carts that rode through the York streets. The plays are put on every four years (I think) and in recent history it has been preformed in one of the nearby gardens. This year it will be preformed inside the Mister for only the second time in 700 years. Yes, 700 years!