80 and 100

Bobby Furber was my principal when I was articled as a solicitor in 1966. He may not have taught me much law, but he infected me with his enthusiasm for film and particularly music. "You must," he urged me, "buy Janet Baker's Saga records, Schumann and English Songs: only 12/6d each!" She was little known then, but even on my salary of £450 a year, I felt I could afford a gamble of that level: it paid off, and I still have the two 12" vinyls.

Now Dame Janet Baker, Happy 80th Birthday! I used to keep a record of singers and when/where/in what I had heard them. There can't be many in my book with more than the 33 entries I have for "Baker, Janet (m-s)". Over the period of more than a decade, she was a constant star in my progress to acquiring some sort of musical education, seen and heard mainly in London, but also in Birmingham, in Edinburgh, at Glyndebourne... and then (after her premature retirement) at the opening of the Elgar Birthplace Museum, where she made a pretty speech.

Another milestone: I have just added the 100th photograph of a Gloucestershire church to my website: still 400 or more to go though. The 99th was added yesterday, when I tracked down St John's, Pauntley. This must be one of the remotest churches in the county, but is well worth seeking out for its position. I was on my way to a GOGG garden visit: I had hoped Caroline would be able to come too, as the visit was to Schofields, near Newent. I had been there without her last year, and wanted to show her the amazing cacti, but she was ministering to our current Japanese student, Daisuke from Kanagawa.

"Looking, just looking, is all we have to do to see the essential truth," wrote the late lamented Roger Deakin: I am much enjoying reading his Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, lent to me by Chris Hoggett.

Teenage virtuosity

An hour's music at Dean Close School this afternoon showcased two precocious talents: my photograph shows Emily Hoggett, 15, who played Scarlatti, Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Copeland and Gershwin with aplomb and something more.

Giving her a midway breather was 14-year-old Laurence Kilsby, BBC Chorister of the year 2009, singing 18th Century music still (three years later) in his treble voice, but at times with the sonority of a counter-tenor.

Emily's grandfather, Chris presided informally over a gathering of family and friends: afterwards, we met up in the foyer of the adjacent Bacon Theatre, and marvelled at the performers' composure.

"Through a glass, darkly"

This is the title of a show just opened at our local Parabola Arts Centre - "a mixed-media exhibition of soulful work that speaks of mystery and struggle, peace, hope and love." Curated by Niki Whitfield, it brings together a handful of artists of contrasting styles, and runs in collaboration with a more overtly Christian art show at the nearby Christ Church Hub Gallery. I visited the Hub on Thursday evening: despite some interesting work, I found the juxtaposition of styles there unsatisfactory. At the Parabola however, a very different mood is created: in one room, Chris Hoggett's marvellous dream pictures opposite the burnished gold of Jake Lever's meditative hand works, and in the other Pam Crook's enigmatic reliefs alongside Claire Watson's very physical pottery - Niki has conjured up a degree of synergy that I haven't felt in a mixed exhibition for some long while.

Art presents itself as a gift for the photographer: less easy is it to find illustrations for experiences such as hearing, late at night, Angela Hewitt play Couperin, Rameau, Fauré - and Bach. I missed the live relay, but Listening Again I was mesmerised by the pieces Hewitt selected from this mainly - to me - unfamiliar genre. Catherine Bott's advocacy (as presenter) undoubtedly helped. You have four days left to catch it!