Bravely battling on

I took Zoe to the Acomb woods this morning for an hour. I did not throw the ball for her until we were past the danger spot, so she had no opportunity to roll the ball down the steep hill!

She has very quickly learned to sit before I throw the ball. If she doesn't sit, I don't throw. She was managing it promptly about 8 out of 10 times.

There was the moment when the ball went into the river and started to float downstream..........

Zoe isn't swimming yet, but I managed to find a bit of bank near to the water and scoop the ball back!

The snowdrops are just poking through the old leaves and are beautiful.

Then Pauline came for lunch. We haven't seen each other for ages so it was lovely to catch up. She brought me two bunches of tulips because she knows I love them.

This evening the other Marjorie and I were at a remarkable concert in the Kings Hall, Newcastle. It was the opening night of the Brundibár Festival, which is an annual event dedicated to the Music and Arts of the Holocaust.

Tonight's concert was preceded by a talk by Hanni Begg who has an amazing story of survival. Her story was made more moving by the quiet, almost matter of fact way she talked. It turns out that her husband was Frank Begg, a GP in the next town to where I practised when I was in Skelton in Cleveland.

Hanni has spoken little about her experiences until she reached a very advanced age, but thinks she must now, "so that the same things can never happen again".

The music was totally compelling. We heard works we had never heard before, played with passion and to a very high level of musicianship. The composers were Weinberg, Schulhoff, Krása and Ullmann.

There are concerts all week, so if you are in the Newcastle/Gateshaed area do see if you can come to any.

We were moved beyond words by the whole evening.