Mountains and memories: Nanci Griffith and Tina Turner

 Hello!

 I am very sorry that I haven't blogged for a while, but I was away on a Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition at the weekend, and since then I have been completely exhausted.

 However, I had an amazing time! I was very homesick at first, as I often am on these things, but I soon got used to being away from home and I began to really appreciate the sheer beauty of some of the places we visited.

 We were up in the Lake District and we saw mountains, tarns, waterfalls, many sheep, some cows and all sorts of wildlife from rabbits and deer (I didn't personally see the deer, but other people in my group did) to swallows and spiders. 

 It was a brilliant and unforgettable experience. Not least because I was part of a wonderful group - we all really got to know each other over the weekend and became good friends. There are four of us, and we all worked together to achieve what we wanted to achieve. I will be doing another expedition next week with the same group, and I am really looking forward to it ♥ ☺

 A song which kept coming back into my head was These Days In An Open Book by Nanci Griffith.

 When I have more time and am less tired I will definitely do a long blog post all about this woman because I think she is amazing ♥ 

 I was brought up listening to her music because my parents are fans, and I came to really love her myself. It was my dream to see her live in concert, and that dream came true in March this year when I got to go and see her perform at Salford Quays as a treat for my eighteenth birthday. 

Needless to say, I was very, very happy. She was phenomenal. She sung as beautifully as ever, and she told little stories to introduce all of the songs. Some of these stories I hadn't heard before, and they really helped me to understand the songs better.

 I find These Days In An Open Book so upbeat and positive and this particular performance which I have embedded is brilliant; she just seems so happy and you can tell the song and its lyrics mean so much to her and she takes so much pleasure in singing them.

 Another song which stuck in my head over the weekend was We Don't Need Another Hero by Tina Turner. I can't really find a decent video to embed, but there are various versions on YouTube. I like it; not enormously, but I do like it. 

 I had listened to a lot of Eighties songs including this one on the way up to the Lake District; including many that I like more than this one. However, for some reason this song really stuck in my head when we were climbing one of the mountains and it was drizzling and I kept having to spur myself on to keep going, and I felt like crying out, "Is this all or nothing?!" like she shouts in the song. Silly, I know, but I couldn't get that bit out of my head!

 Anyway, we had an amazing time ☺ And all the long, hard climbs were worth the effort for the views we got from the top, and for the sense of achievement at the end ♥

 Today I went to see the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester with a group from my college. It was enjoyable, but not as good as As You Like It, which I saw at the Royal Exchange last year. 

 However, the Royal Exchange is a unique and fantastic theatre; it is theatre "in the round"; the performance space is round and everyone sits in circles watching the action unfold in the middle, which gives it a more three-dimensional feel, I think. 

 I hope you enjoyed this blog and maybe have been inspired to try a Duke of Edinburgh's Award, or go to a quirky theatre... or maybe just sit back and listen to some amazing music ☺

 Anyway, thanks for reading ♥

 Liz x

 If you enjoyed this post I recommend: My songs of the summer: Part 2, D of E and the Cranberries, D of E, birthdays and Lio and Jacky, Ireland, the Olympics, Snowdonia and Nanci Griffith and Amazing news and the Kennedys ♥.

Songs: These Days In An Open Book - Nanci Griffith - 1993 (from the album Flyer)

We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) - Tina Turner - 1985

D of E and the Cranberries

 Hello! 

 Well, today is the first of July, and I have had a very busy day training for my Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition which I will be going on this month. In training we learnt first aid, navigation techniques and how to pack a rucksack properly - although I did remember the rucksack bit from the last expedition I went on!

 I've been on many Duke of Edinburgh's Award (D of E) expeditions - I have achieved the Silver Award and am now working towards my Gold Award. For readers overseas who may not be familiar with this award, it involves doing, on a regular basis across a period of time: voluntary work, a sport or physical activity and a skill. 

 We also have to go on a series of camping expeditions in places like the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales (both very beautiful parts of the world). For the Gold Award we also have to go on a residential course in which we do some sort of volunteering. 

 I really enjoy working towards my D of E, because I get to learn new skills and I have made lots of great friends in the process. And if I achieve my Gold Award it will be presented to me at one of the royal Palaces by either the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip, the Queen's husband) or the Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward, the Queen's youngest son). Which would be absolutely amazing!

 There are many songs which I associate with D of E expeditions for various reasons; usually because I hear them on the minibus on the way there and they become stuck in my head for the whole trip! But sometimes, they are just songs that felt particularly relevant and which I just keep playing again and again in my head to keep me going on the harder days when it rains on us or I'm homesick or everyone's exhausted.

 Days like that can be so hard. But for every moment when you think you are going to give up, there is a moment of magic; reaching the top of a mountain and gazing down at the view below; seeing the sun break through the clouds after the rain; seeing gorgeous baby lambs frolicking; chatting and laughing as a group; wandering through long, waving grass with the wind in your hair; those moments that make it all worthwhile and make you say to yourself; "I am so happy I chose to do this."

 One D of E song for me was Linger by the Cranberries. 

I feel I should tell you that although the full video is worth watching properly when you have time; if you are in a rush you can skip to about thirty five seconds in, which is when the song actually begins.

 I had known this song before, but was reminded of it when it came on the radio in the minibus before what was, if I remember rightly, my very first Silver expedition to the Yorkshire Dales. I love this song - it was on a cassette tape that my family used to play in our car (yes, along with the Cure, for those who read my last blog entry!) when my brother and I were younger.

 The song on the cassette was a live version and Dolores O'Riordan did a lot of working the crowd, shouting, "I wanna hear you!" and whatnot towards the end of the song; something that always amused my brother and me.

 Hearing the song again on the minibus on the way to D of E put a smile on my face, and I was chuffed that I could remember it as it had been ages since I'd last heard it.

 It is a beautiful song, and Dolores O'Riordan has a unique and very lovely voice. This song is also quite unique, I think - unique and haunting and a pleasure to listen to. It is nearly twenty years old; something I cannot believe. It has not lost any of its beauty - I believe that it will always be perfect and precious and quite simply a stunning song.

 I will probably end up writing more about D of E songs over this month - as well as just about songs I love generally. For those of you who don't know, I have challenged myself to blog every day that it is possible to (ie whenever I am at home with Internet access) in July. 

 It will keep the blog full of new content for you to read, and will also be writing practice for me - I love writing and would love to be a full-time writer or author one day in the future.

 Thanks for reading,

 Have a great July,

 Liz x

Song: Linger - The Cranberries - 1993