Culture Cafe at the Music Hall & a poem about Darwin's wife

Today, Tekara and I went with my neighbor Margaret and her two friends, Mable and Sheila, to an event called Culture Cafe (Visit Website) at the Music Hall. They host this event once a month during lunch on a Wednesday. You pay £12 and get lunch and admittance into the show. Margaret joked that they should call it "Soup and Culture" because you have soup and sandwiches before the show.

 There were about 500 people there today because they had two very popular guests:

Carol Ann Duffy 

"In 2009, she accepted the post of Poet Laureate, making her the first female, Scottish Poet Laureate in the role's 400 year history."
- From: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/carol-ann-duffy

Here is a poem she wrote that is supposed to be from the point of view Charles Darwin's wife. My biologist/science friends will love this:

Mrs Darwin

7 April 1852.

Went to the Zoo.
I said to Him –
Something about that Chimpanzee over there reminds me of you.
– Carol Ann Duffy

John A Sampson

John Sampson was very talented and entertaining. He plays all kinds of flutes, and his performance is very comedic. I wish I could have seen more from him. Here is a short video of what he does. I found it on his website.

After the show, we had coffee in the Mary Garden room, which is open from 9AM-4PM, so you should pop in one day! The room was lovely. They had soup and sandwiches for lunch. They also had various baked goods including donuts! Yum! We all enjoyed the show very much. The next one will be in February, I think. Hope to see some of you there. :o)

Mary Garden Room. Mary Garden was a famous opera singer from Aberdeen.

This is Mary Webb's piano, which can be found in the Mary Garden Room. In 1952, Mary Webb wrote the Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen (can listen to in video below).

 

Just for fun:

Crumpets cut in half make great little pizzas! It's easy and fast. Also cheaper than ordering pizza! Oh, what are crumpets? They are sort of like English muffins, but different (hehe). They are flat and smooth on the bottom like a pancake but have lots of holes on the top. They are sort of spongy. They are cooked on a griddle and typically topped with butter. They are also not usually split in half when eaten, but I did that for the pizzas or the "pizza crust" would have been very thick!