Wild Flowers of Mongolia Summer 2016

Mongolia is an incredibly beautiful country.                               

                                                     

Mountains and Hills

 

 Rivers

 

 Vast grassy plains

                And then, there are the wild flowers 

I was astounded at the quantity and also that they seemed so familiar.  Not so surprising though.  Where we were riding - near Tsetserleg, the latitude is almost the same as Buffalo, NY.  

 
Birds call, the wind blows through the trees and grass and in the background there is a constant, soft, buzz from a great variety of insects.  Hundreds of them including bees and butterflies. 

No pesticides, no mowing on these hills.  This is how meadows used to be.   

 

 I chose not to name the flowers.

 Enjoy them as I did.

Sometimes I took pictures up close and sometimes further back to show the thick mass of underlying growth.

 Well, I did name one:  Edelweiss
 

And they don't just grow in the parks and open land.  These found a home in the ruins of a destroyed temple.  Forget-me-nots - how apt.



Copywright Jennifer Gold 2016

Blackpool, England: The Ballroom and the Wurlitzer

The Blackpool Tower Ballroom is exquisite and famous for three things.  Its floor, the Wurlitzer organ and organist Reginald Dixon. 

Dixon started playing this "Mighty Wurlitzer" in the 1930's and the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) broadcast the performances sometimes as many as five times a week.  He had what many referred to as a "bouncy" style.  

After associating organs with church music people were surprised at first, then they loved it.  

Dixon and the Wurlitzer became known the world over particularly during the many years when Come Dancing was broadcast from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ccKonjwYE


The day I was there Chris Hopkins was playing.

T

Every now and then after a particularly delicious ending swirl of a tune he turned to the dancers and in his north country burl said, "Any requests?"  

There was some bantering back and forth and then agreement suddenly everyone surged off into a waltz or a quickstep and their private world of intricate steps.  Some smiling, some serious, heads up, arms positioned embracing each other to the swelling, waves of Over the Sea to Skye.

Thus the Wurlitzer, made in Tonawanda, NY, USA, continues to work it sonorous magic on listeners and dancers.  

And the wonderful thing is that for a small fee anyone can go and enjoy the afternoon tea dances.   

The original Wurlitzer at Blackpool was made in 1929 but was later replaced in 1935 by one designed by Reginald Dixon.  

When I was there I chatted with Gaye Walin, considered to be a "top class amateur," who has been dancing with her partner for fifty years.  Today she is fast-footing it around the floor wearing black tights and gold shoes.

Walin told me that dancing in this fabulous ballroom with it's 120 sq ft sprung floor made from over thirty thousand blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut is "like dancing on clouds." 

She also said that the good organists don't just play the organ, "they make it talk."


Above the stage is the inscription. "Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear," ( Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis).  
The Wurlitzer does not let anyone down.   All ears are enchanted.

Various images of this gorgeous room can be seen at

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/blackpool-tower-ballroom.html

And one of mine of the ceiling.

It's hard to believe that in 1956 a causually thrown cigarette sent the whole thing up in flames.  Pictures of the black and burnt ballroom and Wurlitzer can be found at: http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk
(Put 1956 Tower Ballroom Fire images in the search box).
 
Chris Hopkins was really sweet.  For a variety of reason they alternate the organs and the Wurlitzer had been put away for the night. I was disappointed but Chris, after hearing that I now lived in Buffalo, NY - twelve miles from where the organ was originally built - had a surprise for me.  

When almost everyone had left the ballroom the stage floor opened up from the pit below rose the Wurlitzer with Chris blasting out Dixon's signature tune, the very popular British Music Hall song, "Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside!" 
 (John A. Glover-Kind,1907).    

And then he invited me to sit down.  How anyone works out what to press and when is beyond me.  

The Wurlitzer has a fascinating history and the organs have been sent all over the world.  
 

For more information about the Wurlitzer and the factory go to: http://nthistorymuseum.org/Collections/wurbuilding.html

Copyright Jennifer Gold 2016

Codgering

Waiting for a train at York station (UK) and having a lovely coffee at Ugot, the platform coffee stand with a little "attitude" sporting bar stools and fake grass, I started talking to Stuart (left), John (middle) and Neil (right).  They were "codgering" - and they "codger" pretty much on a weekly basis. 
 
Three retirees, two Head Teachers, one banker.  One of them explained the guidelines to me in his lovely Lancashire accent. 

"You got to be old and you got to be daft and you've got to have a wide range interests, history, politics, soccer." 

Neil said the key to the origin of the group was that, "we love trains and we love transport."

That said, they meet at the station every Friday and, "either we get on any train that comes in or we have a plan."   

Today's plan is York and the Transport Museum.   
 
Neil referred to John as, "the other guy (who) came on board with us year ago."  They let him join for all of the above reasons and "because he bought a round - immediately!"   

But he needed a hat.  He couldn't really be a codger without a hat and not just any hat, the right sort of hat.   

So one day they walked across Manchester from Victoria to Piccadilly "which is all of five minutes but took two half an hours because we were getting on and off tram looking for hat for him."  Sadly, after all that effort John is not allowed to wear his hat when he is out with his wife. 




John is an avid train spotter but they all know a lot about trains and made sure I was fully informed about the difference between a locomotive (the engine) and a train, (locomotive and carriages with passengers).  

Then they filled me in with the history of Manchester train station (the oldest in the world) and some juicy bits which the history books don't tell you about Stephenson and his "rocket" (the first train in the world).

After that we went our separate ways.

I had so much fun listening to these three friends.   

Humorous, interesting and quick witted.   

This blog just cannot do justice to their repartee, jokes and general bantering.

Soon they are off on part two of a major codger-trip.

Lands End to John o'Groats (from one end of the Britsh Isles to another) by first class rail.

Part one was Manchester, London, Penzance, York.

Part two is to be York, Edinburgh, Inverness, Thurso, Kyke of Localsh, taxi across skye, ferry to Mallaig, train to Fort William, Glasgow and back to Manchester.  

In the event of their escapades becoming a film they will hold all rights.

The world would be a better place if more of us cogdered!



Copyright Jennifer Gold 2016