The first cake for my birthday party tomorrow is in the oven. As good a time as any to put up a new blog post 🙂
Yesterday I went to the Oosterpoort for my birthday present to myself. I saw, well, listened really, to the Sinfonia Rotterdam and the Laurens Cantorij performing the Requiem of Fauré.
I’ve heard the Requiem performed before by a local amateur choir and I really liked it then. However, that time the accoustics weren’t great, and the musical accompaniment was a solo piano. When I saw this performance on the list with a full symphonic orchestra and a professional choir, I knew I wanted to go.
Before the show I attended the introduction. There, the choir conductor told us about some key pieces of the Requiem. He had brought along a part of the choir. They performed small sections, a few lines at most, to show what the conductor meant when he discussed the pieces.
When the actual concert began, they started with the Ouverture from Cosi fan tutte by Mozart. This was followed by the Suite from Midsummernightsdream by Mendelssohn. After the break it was the Requiem’s turn.
As I had hoped, it was spectacularly beautiful. The accoustics in the Oosterpoort are very well suited to classical music.
Earlier this week, I also bought myself another early birthday present. I’d been thrift store shopping a few weeks ago and spotted there a spinning wheel. I looked at it, but decided to leave it. I was tempted, especially considering I want to do more traditional crafting, and more re-enactment. But it wasn’t priced and that usually means expensive and I just wasn’t sure.
T
hen Elfia happened. There, watching Margreet work her spinning wheel, I realised I really did want it. So Wednesday I went back to the thrift store and got lucky, it was still there. I got one of the sales associates to price it. She barely knew what it was, had to ask me if it was complete.
I don’t know much about spinning wheels either, but as far as I could tell, it was complete. I said so, and she priced it at € 12,50. I immediately agreed, cause that was a steal. The wood is in great condition, and once I figure out how all the loose bits attach, I’m sure it will be a working machine.