Not bloody Vivaldi...!!!! FP's unashamedly jazzy spring playlist

I actually feel sorry for Vivaldi. He wrote a number of very competent, pretty pieces for chamber orchestra, using the rather nifty idea of illustrating the four seasons. The music cleverly describes "walking on thin ice" or the alarmed call of a cuckoo just before a summer storm. And you really can hear those things when he describes them via his orchestration. Little was the poor guy to know that airlines, lift manufacturers and even telephone answering services would turn his work into some of the most over-used and therefore irritating music to plague our century. Good job he didn't stick around to see that happen...

I've followed Nilpferd's inestimable lead this week and bunged a lot of very nice jazz in the playlist. Now I have a theory as to why a lot of jazz themes are seemingly preoccupied with spring and/or the month of April. Jazz musicians spend the winter in the dark cellers of jazz clubs and when the weather turns clement, they emerge, blinking into the sunlight, say "Aaaaaaaaaaaah" and are so inspired that they shoot off and write a very memorable melody...That would make sense, wouldn't it? I couldn't resist two classical pieces also - much mentioned and donded on the Mother ship. And I'm putting ALL this week's pocket money on the last track being in Maddy's list. I mean, how can she not????

This is a wee film of the gardens - allotments - round the back of our place. These are small plots of land which the local council rents out so that people can grow flowers and veg to their hearts' content. I used to see one old guy who would take a bottle of red wine into his garden and sit sipping it all day every Sunday. Not an awful lot of gardening being done but he looked blissfully happy and greeted me with a most courteous "Bonjour Mademoiselle" whenever I passed. With the spring weather, the locals are are hoeing, tilling and ploughing like mad. And yes, that is "bloody Vivaldi".....