FAMILY - Suffolk holiday 2011 - INDEX

< No earlier items | Index | Cornwall 2011 >

We had a great week with Debbie, Beth and their families. Ten of us all together again, what fun!

This index will take you to the individual daily posts.

• Saturday 13th August - A day in Aldeburgh
• Saturday 13th August - Schubert's 10th Symphony
• Sunday 14th August - At the beach
• Monday 15th August - Walking to Thorpeness
• Tuesday 16th August - An ancient ship
• Wednesday 17th August - A garden, a castle, a film
• Thursday 18th August - Catching crabs and time with friends
• Friday 19th August - Ickworth on the way home

These pages just record what Donna and I did and the places we visited. As usual, we did a lot as a group of ten together but we also did a lot independently as well.

< No earlier items | Index | Cornwall 2011 >

FAMILY - Walking to Thorpeness

< The beach | Index | Ancient ship >

The main event today was a long walk. We set off from the house and walked to Aldeburgh to see a lifeboat display. Then we headed on to Thorpeness for a picnic lunch and some boating. Then finally a walk back to Aldeburgh to see the carnival floats and visit the funfair. We walked home, ate our evening meal, and then Beth, Debbie and Donna set off again with the older children to see the fireworks.

Paz set off early for a walk north up the coast, Beth and the family followed later. The rest of us headed for Aldeburgh.

We're quite familiar with the walk to town now, every twist and turn, the houses and shops we pass, the trees and gardens and green, open spaces. Today was a little different as some of the roads were closed for the carnival, there were police directing traffic, and there were hordes of people milling about.

On the shingle beach a large crowd was waiting expectantly for the scheduled lifeboat display. Some men in the water lit a smoke generating flare and waved for help, then two lifeboats were launched and rescued them. A rescue helicopter appeared overhead and gave a bit of a display as the boats hurtled along parallel to the beach. The waves they created crashed into the pebble beach and made the children near the water leap back to avoid a drenching.

Walking to Thorpeness along the beach path we watched 'The House in the Clouds' growing closer and eventually turned into the village to settle beside the pond for our sandwich lunch. The Meare looked inviting so we hired a rowing boat; Steve rowed and Aidan did his best to steer, sometimes taking us in rather unexpected directions! Later, Steve and I shared the rowing until we got back to the bank for the return walk to Aldeburgh.

Back in town we saw the carnival procession start off and spent some time in the fairground at the other end of town. Aidan chose the Crazy House and then went on a faster ride with Debbie - and loved it.

Back at home we met up again with Beth, Paz and family and shared a salad with cold meats and cheeses and some excellent sourdough bread.

As the sun was setting Donna, Debbie and Beth set out to walk back to town again with Meredith and Aidan for the evening's firework display. But I stayed in the house with Steve, Paz and the two younger ones. I've had enough of crowds for one day, I feel the need for some contemplation and quiet space to recharge my batteries.

< The beach | Index | Ancient ship >

FAMILY - At the beach

< Schubert's 10th | Index | Thorpeness walk >

Donna and I headed for Snape Maltings again to visit the shops while the rest of the family headed to Framlingham Castle. After lunch we met up in Southwold for an afternoon at the beach.

Snape Maltings, where we went for last night's concert, is also home to some very nice shops selling food, books, antiques, toys, garden plants, gifts and more. We drove over mid-morning and explored, then visited the cafe and sat outside until driven back indoors by wasps!

After lunch we continued to Southwold and met up on the beach beside the pier. The afternoon weather was warm and sunny and we had a lot of fun digging a pond in the sand, splashing in the water, and generally doing seaside things.

It was lovely to watch the four grandchildren enjoying themselves. For Sara and little Verity it was an opportunity to explore an unusual environment. Isn't it astonishing how children take non-routine experiences and circumstances in their stride? They quickly work out how to make the most of what's on offer - in this case sand, pebbles, surging waves, and running in and out of the shallow water.

After that it was back to 'Curlew House' where we're staying, Paz and Donna cooked up pasta and salad for tea and Paz produced two magnificent plum crumbles made with 'Victoria' plums from the tree in their garden at home.

Beth and Donna had tickets for another performance at Snape, 'Jazz Jamaica'. They headed off for the music after the meal and the rest of us chatted, read or watched TV after the children were all tucked up in bed.

< Schubert's 10th | Index | Thorpeness walk >

ARTS - Schubert's 10th Symphony

< Aldeburgh | Index | The beach >

This evening, Paz, Donna and I visited Snape Maltings for an evening of classical music. Schubert's unfinished 10th Symphony gave me unexpected food for thought.

The programme at Snape included pieces by Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski as well, however Schubert's 10th Symphony was never completed and what we heard tonight was a reworking by Berio from the existing manuscript fragments.

Rather than fill the gaps in the style of Schubert, Berio chose instead to link the fragments using a very different and much more modern style. He incorporated the celeste in the additions, which lends an airy, ethereal quality and makes it very clear to the listener that these sections are not by Schubert.

This reminded me of the way ancient Greek or Roman pottery is restored for display in a museum. Usually, instead of trying to reconstruct the original in every detail, the restoration uses a slightly different colour and reduces or eliminates any attempt to recreate the details of texture, pattern and finish. In this way the overall shape and size of the article is clear, but the original sections and the restored parts are easily distinguished. Exactly the same approach is used for tessellated pavements and painted wall plaster.

Another example is the presentation of images from the Hubble Space Telescope where gaps are filled in using lower resolution sections from other telescopes.

So why did this give me food for thought?

We find much the same principle at work when we try to understand the nature of the Almighty and of the things he is doing in our universe. We have clear fragments - for example we know that his nature is to love - but we also have to fill some gaps.

Why is this? It has nothing to do with him withholding information. It has everything to do with our inability to grasp the fullness of the truth. His nature is beyond our capabilities to fathom. We have the overall 'shape' of his nature, a flavour if you will. And we have some of the detail, aspects that we can understand despite our limitations. So our picture is partly the full truth and partly an approximation.

The danger we face is often in thinking our filled-in approximations are the real thing. They are not! Always, always it's necessary to remind ourselves that we don't know as we are known. And the assumptions we make are frequently the causes of our disagreements.

< Aldeburgh | Index | The beach >