Lighted windows at Benmore

Tonight our choir, 8+1, provided the entertainment at the Christmas Party for the Friends of Benmore Gardens. It was a sell-out long before December, and the gallery was packed - we did wonder if they had realised how much room a choir (there are 10 of us; we started off with 8 women but grew) takes up, what with keyboard, amp and speakers for the iPod. But we had such a good evening - the food was great, the welcome enthusiastic, and the music louder than you might ever have expected. (Well - we were singing a set from Mamma Mia. With backing track ...)

We had to access the venue by a fairly hair-raising drive through Benmore Gardens, a tree having destroyed the usual perimeter road a couple of nights ago. We saw one fox in our headlamps, but at least we didn't encounter any deer as we edged along through the trees - an unfamiliar place in the blackness. Later, going to the loo was also an adventure, as we had to leave the gallery, negotiate the wet cobbles in the dark, avoid the cattle grid when finding the gate, and head up the ramp into the toilet that serves the formal garden. This photo was taken as we returned.

I took several photos inside the gallery, but apart from some of the candles the rest were a tad rushed. I was, I suppose, there for another purpose ...