Get well soon!

[french frank]

My little contribution, saly - a snapshot [sic] of primroses in my back yard struggling through the dead dogwood leaves which I ought to have removed by now - and hoping you'll soon be out enjoying what looks like a gentle spring already/so far:

[Serial_Apologist]

Hi saly! I hope all is well. I Thought, instead of Delius's "On Hearing the First Ooo Cook of Spring" I'd post you Ella Fitzgerald singing this song, which, although warmth is already detectable in the sunshine today, seems more appropriate somehow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhxTUMXrywg

[antongould]

Dearest Salymap - I won't call you Lady Sidcup as I've had enough tellings off for that over past months.

From the pit heaps I cannot, of course bring you any pictures of Spring as we are just coming out of our weeks of endless nights and in February we will get the annual repeat of the 1947 storm.

I do send, of course my best wishes for a full and speedy recovery this old place just isn't the same without you - we do indeed crave a list ......any list will do

[hmvman]

Dear salymap,

I'd like to join with the others in hoping you'll be feeling better very soon. As others have said, the winter has been relatively kind to us this year although in York today it's cold and we've had some violent showers. However, snowdrops are appearing in our garden and the daffodils are starting to shoot so spring is on the way!

It's the RSPB garden birdwatch weekend and I've filled up our feeders ready to do my watch tomorrow morning. For the last week or so a pair of Black Caps (male and female) have been coming to feed so that's been a real pleasure to see something different, although our usual visitors of various tits, gold and green finches, robins and sparrows are always welcome!

Our neighbours daughters are all very musical. The eldest is an oboist and lately I've been able to hear her through the wall practising RVW's concerto. It's one of my favourites of his works and I think it's very spring-like piece.

Get well soon.

[Stanley Stewart]

Greetings, saly! You are particularly on my mind at present as - wait for it - it is only a few days before our ages equalise. The particular year of our birth remains a matter for you and I to know, of course, but I shall have to bow to your seniority as usual later in April.

In the meantime, my birthday indulgences include a substantial Bernard Haitink Symphony Edition - it includes six symphonic cycles, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Schumann & Tchaikovsky, performed by Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and timely reminders of so many performances conducted by the Maestro at the Proms. Incidentally 27 weeks, yesterday (Fri) to the first night of the 2014 season so...

And, as no one was looking, I've added an extra birthday treat: the complete Colin Davis RCA Legacy, 51 CDs, due for release on February 24 and I'm aware that we both share a great affection for his work. We'll have a real treasure trove to discuss and it will be even better if you are back at home by then.

All good wishes, together with a gentle hug of support. Stanley

[Roehre]

All the best, Saly.
My musical wishes to you (and slightly crippled as I am myself at the moment I do promise that I might do some dancing to make you laugh):

Rossini - one of the sonatas for strings, e.g. no.3
J.Strauss- Frühlingsstimmen/Voices of Spring
Mozart- Balletmusic Les petits riens
Delius- On hearing the first cuckoo in spring
Vivaldi- Spring (from the 4 Seasons concertos)
Glasunov- Spring (from the 4 seasons-ballet)
RVW- The Lark ascending
chopin- raindrop prelude, and finally again
Rossini - one of the sonatas for strings, e.g. no.4

Best wishes

[Petrushka]

Best wishes, Saly. It's my least favourite time of year again but we must consider ourselves lucky to have (so far) got away without any snow and ice. I leave work at 5.15 and although it's still dark at that time the first welcome signs of the evening drawing out are in evidence. Many years ago I spotted that the key date, when it is fully daylight when I leave work, is February 19 and it's not so far away. Looking especially forward to Spring and Summer this year as I celebrate my 60th birthday in early June. A trip to the Epsom Derby perhaps...?

Wishing you a speedy recovery and hope to see you back on here very soon.

[Nick Armstrong]

Lots of talk of Spring here and no wonder, here in the metrollopes, the last few days have been notable for birdsong - the dove cooing in the back garden which I associate with Summer, and lots of nocturnal chirruping out front in the trees in the gardens in my square... If you shut your eyes and try and forget the rain, it could be May....

Lots of thoughts, saly, and lookings-forward to your return to these pages to keep certain elements in check (we need all the help we can get! ) and to give us those precious first-hand insights into a golden age of British performance (Malcolm Sargent needs all the help he can get, too ... )

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I so hope you're feeling a lot better than you did before Christmas, sals - there's an enormous absence on the Boards without your contributions.

Idled away an hour today taking part in the "Great British Garden Birdwatch"-thing for the RSPB. In between the raindrops I managed to see 1 Dunnock, 1 Sparrow, 1 Blue Tit and a courting pair of Blackbirds. Two hours later (after I'd filled in the form and sealed it in the envelope) a family of six starlings pounced on the mealworm feeder, and a Robin preened itself in the birdbath! I'm sure they know!

All Best Wishes.

[Flay]

Sorry to hear that your recovery is taking longer than expected, saly.

I hope you have access to a radio so you can listen to our beloved Radio 3. For all its faults (and we do moan rather a lot about it), we have been able to listen to some stonkingly good music recently.

Please tell those doctors and nurses to put in some overtime and get you fit and well again as soon as they can. You are very much missed - the wise old grandmother of the board!

[Tony Halstead]

Sorry to hear that your recovery is taking longer than expected, saly.

I hope you have access to a radio so you can listen to our beloved Radio 3. For all its faults (and we do moan rather a lot about it), we have been able to listen to some stonkingly good music recently.

Please tell those doctors and nurses to put in some overtime and get you fit and well again as soon as they can. You are very much missed - the wise old grandmother of the board!

May I add my earnest wishes and hopes that salymap is recovering her good health day by day.
As Spring approaches maybe she could find a way of listening to Haydn's glorious 'The Seasons' - a life-affirming work if ever there was one.

[marthe]

saly, thinking of you this Monday AM and hoping that recovery is around the corner...or at least that the nurses are peeling grapes for you. As others have said, your presence is missed here. Today, spring feels around the corner. The temps are up above freezing and the snow is melting. Soon it will be February and the first Snowdrops will poke their heads above ground. Though it really doesn't have to do with spring, Ruddier than the Cherry from Handel's Acis and Galataea has popped into my head. I'm sending it through the airwaves to you as a cheery bit of music.

[gamba]

& I thought the correct version was ' ruddier than the clergy' !

[doversoul1]

Dear salymap
It’s now light at five in the evening and the catkins are all flowering (not much to look at as flowers but still). We still have not had any proper frost down this side in Kent but we had some nasty weather at the end of February last year, so I shan’t be too complaisant. All the same, spring is definitely near if not quite here yet.

Time you started thinking seriously about getting back to join us.

[ed.] The latest news: salymap has been moved to Queen Mary’s hospital in Sidcup for rehabilitation, and our messages were very much appreciated.

[gamba]

Great News . Thank you, Doversoul. Just what we need to hear. No one wants to be ill in Woolwich. - now Sidcup, that's a different matter, almost as civilised as Eltham Park !

Sorry I moved house to Scotland salymap otherwise could have visited you.

I think it's time we thought of how shall we celebrate when the great day appears.


Meanwhile, with fondest wishes,

Gamba