Summer outdoor pose

One advantage of sorts around this time of year is so much is out when you're in the countryside and it is so pleasant with the heat and sunshine falling upon you.

While hardly hiking attire she looks beautiful in that dress and the dog is just so cute which normally would be on a lead.
One thing you'll need to be on the watch for is biting insects that seem very prevalent this very hot year having had some recent issues with them as a person who has strong reactions to bites.
Some of you may recall a few years back I could easily of died from blood poisoning following a really bad bite that quickly took hold and required prompt medical treatment and even covering up doesn't mean you're guaranteed to be bite free either.
If you do camp, please be very careful with anything involving flames as much of grass and woodland areas are tinder dry and every easy to flare up in to hard to control fires.     

The Summer break

This week things will be a bit busier as I sort out things out for end of term here so I'm packing things away for that tradition of spending some time as a guest of a grown up sharing what I have learnt and not just the academic stuff but how I've grown more as a person able to take on personal responsibility .
That means cases to pack not just the stuff to be checked through, washed or replaced for next term but what I'm to wear because they have me in uniform so it's not like I get a break from that but as I benefit from routines maybe that's not a bad thing.
Finishing off a bit from last weeks entry, we had President Trump come visit our Country with the expected protests some of which like the parachute stunt were out of line as apart from anything else getting that close to any leader is often likely to lead to arrests or even being fired on.
He appears to have enjoyed his time and perhaps upon learning more about things first hand might be a little less inclined to shoot off on Twitter first on topics he doesn't actually know focusing more on what he needs from us rather than getting distracted with ill thought out comments.

Climbing a summit to fall

One thing you simply cannot get away from in this country is leaving the EU which we voted for in 2016, that god awful contracted word for it "Brexit" and everything that has happened since of which some indication was the "B" word has in a good many place been put on the do not discuss at the dinner party list because otherwise civil people get within inches of being at blows over it.
Yes for those fortunate not to live here, is just how things are and indeed I've had pot shots taken to me at a certain music forum from Anti-Brexiteers who read politics into anything in the mutually antagonistic atmosphere.
Friday saw the announcement of a meeting at the Prime Ministers country residence, Chequers, for the whole cabinet discuss progress to date on talks about leaving with the EU Commissioners and to put together some mutually agreed ideas  to the next meeting with them.
Let's say some of the language used was very colourful before it was agreed by all present as Cabinet policy that members whatever misgivings privately all are expect to endorse.
You may of thought this would leader to greater unity within the cabinet of late but it has lead to the resignations of the Brexit secretary himself and the Foreign Secretary plus vice leaders of the Conservative Party.
The problem is what has been suggested looks more like staying in much of the EU on different terms including having no say on measures that would continue to affect us afterward than anything that would imply independence such as being able to have your  own trade terms, tariffs, be able to pass measures independently regarding goods and services in the House of Parliament and being subject to the rulings of the European Council of Justice.
In theory we are told we could diverge from this but in accepting a common rule book legislators would be loathe to contradict the author of that book-the EU.
We know the EU rightly or from my own point of view wrongly sees the free movement of all goods and services as one indivisible entry and yet this Cabinet policy sees being able to persuade the EU to allow us to just choice goods.
This frankly is ridiculous given politics is at the core the art of the possible, what it is  two sides may give way on to reach an agreement and they see this as non-negotiable.
It seems as I said earlier in the year it would be impossible to avoid friction on the Island of Ireland between the Irish Republic and The UK and between both the Republic and Northern Ireland AND have economic and financial sovereignty which are one the main constituents of a independent sovereign state.
You cannot as far I can see it actually have a Brexit - a leaving of the EU law, rules and regulation - unless you are prepared for that which is what a good many of the leave side  accepted at the start because it was never about foreigners living here being more it about taking full control and responsibility of our destiny as one fully  independent state co-operating as an equal with others as needed and not being a part of Euro political state.
That is why here at the heart of that movement in the Midlands feelings are running very high on what is being proposed because to them it is nothing less than the rejection of what was voted for and to which opinion if anything is hardening on.

Reintroducing Angela Bofill and Bill Withers

From time to time I feature the odd bit about recordings I like or have recently bought  on here as they are what I relax to.
One female artist who made waves in the late 70's and 80's was Angela Bofill born to Cuban and Puerto Rican parents and educated in New York came to the attention of Dave Grusin, a well know writer of scores for films who'd set up a record label GRP.

 This resulted in a string of albums being issued until her retirement from the music industry in 2006 of which this release captures here first two which are in the then in vogue Soul/Jazz "Fusion" style that lays lush arrangements on to more jazz styled vocalization from 1978 and 1979 respectively that garnered a number of hit R&B charts singles.
People such as the Crusaders and Earth Wind & Fire  were amongst the artists I had a lot of respect for during this period which operate with a similar style so I was interested in revisiting these albums freshly mastered for Super Audio cd (also playable in regular cd) by the enterprising British company Dutton Vocalian this month.
An example of talent lies in her composition Children Of The World Unite where she not only wrote the song but produced the arrangement that equals that of many more famous female vocalists with rich instrumentation.
This two on one sacd in just stereo is a great find for fans of female jazz/soul music. 

 In 2016 the specialty label Mobile Fidelity the all time compilation Bill Withers' Greatest Hits which itself was partly expanded in the 1980's by CBS/Columbia  hence the awkward "Featuring..." tag line in the title.
Featuring the original recordings of Ain't No Sunshine, Just The Two of Us and Soul Shadows its a timeless short selection of some of the finest soul music of the seventies and in this remaster for Super audio cd (also playable in regular) he very much sounds as if he is in your room so well mastered this disc is over it's regular edition.
I didn't get around to buying this immediately upon release but was able to pick up a mint used copy to remedy that.