#Hadley garden

[babylon-crashing]

Hobbits Only (Hadley Gardens, Ferndale)

[rkdaily]

Lily’s Eyes - Ramin, Hadley and Theo

- from the rehearsal room: asylum chapel

[eleancrvances]

so. that happened.

from the rehearsal room - trieste; 10/25/23 *please do not repost outside of tumblr.*

[fountainpenguin]

I feel like Angela and Hazel would really like desktop zen gardens...

Specifically, I'm imagining Angela browsing carefully to find the most perfect prim and proper little thing and meanwhile Hazel's just taking fistfuls of sand from the beach and filling a box with her favorite rocks so they can have a nice home.

I also saw a coffin-shaped one with gravestones for the rocks and it felt like something Hazel would get her dad.

[felacunti]

and colette's sidekick/love interest/pseudorivall, johanna vogler.

[dailymailsadface]

Landscape in Hertfordshire Ideas for a sizable, modern, fully-shaded backyard with a stone retaining wall.

[lady-stirling]

🩵🤍 Janessa (9), the eldest of the triplets and the tenth of the sisters. They are the couple's biological daughters who were born after they had given up hope of having children and a year after they had adopted the girls from the orphanage (It was a pleasant surprise!). Janessa is very interested in insects and tries to collect them (alive!), spending the day in the school gardens looking for new species.

Ashlyn | Blair | Courtney | Delia | Edeline | Fallon| Genevieve | Hadley | Isla | Janessa | Kathleen | Lacey

Extra: Derek | Rowena and Desmond

Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princess Modern!AU 🩷💃🏾 In this AU, most of them were adopted by the owners of the kingdom's ballet school after the orphanage they were in closed down. (As a reference for the drawings, I mixed elements from the film with the line of dolls 😉)

basic references under the cut:

[inky-writing]

Chapter 7: Cato's Return

Cato Hadley x reader

Warnings: sparing, weapons, blood, kills, violence, fear, dictatorship, it’s the Hunger Games lol

Word count: 1,628

Masterlist

<<< Previous part

Cato stepped out of the car and into the quiet stillness of the Victory Village.

It was early morning, the sun just starting to spill golden light over the rooftops of District 2. Birds chirped lazily in the pines lining the pristine cobbled paths. Everything here was perfect—too perfect. The Capitol’s idea of a reward was opulence drenched in silence. Luxury soaked in isolation.

The manor they gave him was enormous.

Larger than his family’s already-impressive home. Two floors taller. Twice the square footage. Marble stairs that gleamed like glass. A dining room that could seat thirty. A stone hearth in nearly every room. The kitchen looked like something out of a dream. Staff quarters—staff, for him. A training room. A private study. A library. A soaking tub that could easily fitting two persons. Polished floors, velvet curtains, a master suite with a four-poster bed too big for even two people.

It wasn’t a house. It was a cage padded in silk.

Cato didn’t speak as he walked through it. The only sound came from the clicking of his boots on tile. His mother and father trailed behind him. His mother touched everything like she didn’t believe it was real. His father said nothing at all, just observed it with a sharp, almost cold stare.

Brutus met him there, waiting in the front lounge like he’d always owned the place.

“Well,” Brutus said, looking around. “Fitting for a Victor.”

Cato didn’t respond.

“You have half an hour. Then we go to the Grand Square. The whole town will be there. And cameras.” His voice lowered as he stepped close. “And remember—keep the mask on. You’re not the boy who fought in the arena. You’re what the Capitol made. Never forget that.”

Cato’s jaw tensed, but he nodded.

Half an hour later, he was in another car, the manor shrinking behind him as the vehicle rolled toward the Square. People were already gathering in droves, the entire place decked in banners of crimson and black, the Victor’s colors. His colors. The Capitol anthem played loud over the speakers. Children waved flags. His name echoed in the air, loud and chanting. Flowers were thrown.

He stood on the stage, lights blinding, watching his district cheer for him like he hadn’t just murdered twenty-three teenagers. Like they didn’t care Clove had died. Like the blood meant nothing because it had bought them glory.

He smiled the way Brutus told him to.

He waved.

He gave a short, fierce speech written by someone else.

And then he left.

That night, the celebration carried on without him. Music drifted into the hills from the town square, the smell of roasted meat and smoke hanging in the air. He sat on the edge of his bed, the window cracked just slightly.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

The silence.

The way they all looked at him.

The emptiness of the house.

The mask was suffocating him, and there was only one person in the world who might make it bearable.

He changed into a dark hoodie and pants, pulled the hood low, and crept down the back hall of the manor. Past the prep room. Past the study. He unlocked the window with the quiet precision that burned into him and slipped outside, boots hitting the ground with a soft thud.

No one saw him.

At least, he hoped not.

The streets were mostly empty. Celebrations still raged in the center of town. He kept to the shadows, taking the long way around the main square, cutting through back gardens and alleys until he reached the neighborhood he knew like his own pulse.

Her house.

The lights were off in the front room, but there was a faint glow upstairs.

Cato stood there for a long time, under the shadow of the trees. His heart was thundering.

Did she watch the interview?

Did she see the truth?

Or did she hate him now?

Did she think he had become the monster he pretended to be?

He didn’t know if she would open the door. He didn’t know what he would even say if she did.

But he stepped forward anyway. He needed her to see the boy beneath the victor. Even if it was just once.

The night air was cool and damp against Cato’s skin as he stood beneath Y/N’s window, the soft yellow light glowing behind the curtain like a beacon.

It was the only warmth he’d felt in days.

He hesitated just a moment, his fingers flexing at his sides, then grabbed the edge of the trellis running along the side of her house. It wasn’t made for climbing, but he scaled it like he’d been born for it. He didn’t slip once.

His boots landed on the narrow ledge outside her window.

He raised a fist, hovered it over the glass for a moment that felt like forever… and knocked.

The curtain shifted.

And then there she was.

Her eyes wide. Lips parted in shock. Her expression unreadable.

For a second, neither of them moved.

Then she unlatched the window.

“Cato…” she breathed, her voice barely audible as she stepped aside and let him climb in.

His boots touched her carpet, and for a moment, he didn’t move. His chest rose and fell like he’d just finished a marathon. The hood still shadowed his face. He was dripping with the weight of everything he had carried since the Arena. Since the night he mourned Clove. Since the moment he raised the sword that made him a killer and a hero.

He looked up at her.

And cracked.

His shoulders shook first. Then a low sound escaped him—broken, raw. Not loud, not sobbing. Not the kind of grief that could fill a room.

The quiet kind.

The kind that buried itself under skin and stayed there for years.

The kind that no one in the Capitol could ever use against him.

Tears slipped down his face silently as he stood there, fists clenched at his sides. He couldn’t stop them. He didn’t want to anymore.

“I couldn’t do it anymore,” he whispered, voice rough. “I couldn’t—breathe in that house.”

Y/N stepped closer, barefoot, wearing an oversized sweater and shorts, like she’d just been curled up in bed. Her hand trembled as she reached out to him, unsure, scared maybe.

But the moment her fingers touched his wrist, he moved.

He moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder like he was desperate for something to hold onto.

And she held him back.

Without words. Without hesitation.

She curled her arms around his back, pressed her cheek into his chest. He was trembling. Hot tears soaked into her sweater.

“I killed them,” he said into her hair. “I watched them all die. I made it happen. And everyone cheered.”

Y/N’s throat tightened, her eyes burning.

“I wanted to tell you,” he whispered. “That night. When you kissed me. I wanted to tell you I was going to volunteer. But I was scared. I thought if I told you… you’d try to stop me. Or hate me.”

She shook her head, her arms tightening around him. “I wouldn’t have hated you.”

“I was so afraid they’d hurt you,” he said, voice cracking. “If they knew. If the Capitol knew how much I loved you… they’d use you. They’d ruin you just to control me.”

Her breath caught.

Loved.

He said it like it had always been there.

Like it wasn’t even a question.

“I kept thinking about you,” he whispered. “Every second in the arena. Every night. Every time I had to act like… like that thing they wanted me to be. I kept thinking about your eyes. Your voice. The way you fight like you were born with a sword in your hand.”

She was crying now too, quietly. No sobs. Just silent tears down her cheeks.

“I hated Selene,” he added, bitterly. “Every time I flirted back, I felt like I was betraying you. But Brutus said it would help. Sponsors. Safety. If I acted like I didn’t care about anything, they’d never see what mattered to me.”

“Cato…” she whispered.

“I didn’t want to survive if I had to become someone else. But then I remembered you. And I kept going. Because I thought… maybe if I survived, I’d come back. And you’d still see the real me. Even after everything.”

She leaned back just enough to cup his face in her hands. His cheeks were damp, eyes red-rimmed and puffy. Still beautiful. Still hers.

“I saw you,” she whispered. “I never stopped seeing you.”

He let out a breath like it was the first real one he’d taken in weeks. He leaned his forehead to hers, eyes closed, their noses almost touching.

“I love you,” he murmured again, just for her this time. “I always have.”

She didn’t answer with words. She just kissed him—soft and steady and sure.

Not like that kiss the night of the party. Not confused. Not impulsive. Not drunk.

But real.

The kind of kiss that says: I waited for you.

When they finally parted, he was breathing easier. The weight hadn’t vanished—but she was carrying it with him now. And that was everything.

She led him to her bed, quiet and small and warm, and he lay down beside her. Fully clothed. Nothing more than closeness. Her hand rested on his chest, right over the scar from the Games. His hand wrapped around hers.

And for the first time since he stepped into that arena...

Cato slept.

Tag list: @inky-bonnie @russianspy24 @whitlocklibrary @simpingcorner @mischivana @meiisamotherbitch

[withonelook]

So now I'm back in France, back to work, after a week-end (well, four days) spent in Como and Milan heading to The Reunion Concert premiering in Europe, and I need to talk about it more.

I've been a music fan for ever, I love to sing and I take singing lessons and musical theatre is a huge part of my life now (even though you could say it's quite "recent", in a way, at least the deep passion and connection that makes me want to listen to MT all day long every day and see 152 shows). I live in France, and even if we have a small community that enjoys musical theatre, it's not that easy to see your favorite performers. Unless of course you want to focus all your money on going to London, or, in that case, Milan.

That's what I did and I have no regret what so ever. Last november, I went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Palladium (Ramin & Hadley) and last monday, I was in Milan to see the Reunion, because I love this artists very much, the way they do and love music, musical, the way they share their love and talents on stage, the way you can jump in a huge theatre and find yourself laughing at jokes just the way you would do with a friend in a random coffee place or restaurant, the way you end up harmonising on a song or cheering to another. The emotions they give you by showing up and singing with their hearts, is something I'm immensely grateful for.

I must confess, of all of them, Hadley really is my favorite if I had to chose one. He's immensely talented, his voice is perfect and never underwhelming, his acting so powerful and emotional. A perfect technique serving an incredible interpretation on every song he ever sings. His voice can be soothing and then make you feel angry or powerless depending on the materiel he's defending. I discovered him in POTO 25th but honestly, every thing he does, I just love, including his album and original music. Add to that a very nice british humour and an ease to sit before an instrument, be it the guitar or the piano, and it's honestly all I wish I could hear.

That being said, Ramin is also an amazing performer and human being. Of course, Samantha is as perfect of a performer that you'd expect her to be, easing into a powerful belt and well fitted for both Elsa and Eponine. Also, their friendships are just a pleasure to witness, and the fact that they would so kindly let you in for a three hours show is just incredibly humbling and nice.

A moved and passionnate word for Holly, who I had the luck to see as Christine twice and OMG, and attended one of her mastercalsses once, she's an amazing human being and honestly took the songs as a great performer with an angelic but strong and deep high voice. She's very nice to listen too and never fails to deliver.

Earl was immensely funny, accepting to play the role of a guy who's left out but giving impressive and scary looks on Stars and finding his way into A bit of Earth (he was apparently Archibald in the Scottish Premiere of the show Secret Garden !).

And to finish on the performers, I have another confession to make -- I didn't know much about Natalie apart from her singing Heart of Stone from Six the Musical (love the song, never saw the musical cause I'm more into old and legit oups). On stage, she was amazing. Powerful, emotionnal, very cute and humble, looking radiant and happy, and her voice, omg, what a power house. She killed it singing Never Enough. I'll definitely try to see more of her in the future.

Regarding the songs, they were all very well chosen, of course, but here are a few comments that come to my mind :

Ramin & Holly duetted on "Never Love you Again" (Post Malone) and it was great!! loved every second of it

A Bit of Earth is one of my fav song ever (Hadley WAS Archibald Craven

Happy sad by Hadley and Ramin, omg??? the FEELS ?

We got the right to sing Just let go with Hadley, harmonising with him just like we did in FTRR and it's so nice

Never Enough sang by Natalie

Holly and Sam renditing of What is this feeling was SO GOOD and fun??? and Earl, Hadley and Natalie came along to do the backing vocals and it was SO FUNNY

Hadley played the piano for Holly to sing Another life from Bridges of Madison County

They skipped Feed the birds tho :(

Holly singing Love never dies

Last word of love for the Director and musicians, they were amazing.

Wish I could see it all again, honestly. Wish they would record it, and record an album of it for us to listen to and go back to. Maybe they'll go to London at some point, cause honestly, the entire world needs to witness those talented, humble and beautiful people. They filled my heart with joy and love for MT.

[babylon-crashing]

Snail. (Hadley Gardens, Ferndale)

[adreamshouldneverdie]

Does anybody know if there is a complete video recording out there? It is such a beautiful musical

Extract from Lily's Eyes, The Secret Garden The Musical. Perform by Hadley Fraser and Mark Feehily. London Palladium, 28 August 2022.

Source

[eleancrvances]

forgot this was sitting in in my drafts, enjoy everyone!

from the rehearsal room - trieste; 10/25/23 *please do not repost outside of tumblr.*

[obsessedwithlarkin]

ALL OCPAA DANCES 24-25 SZN

SOLOS:

• Elizabeth Leiter - A Thousand Years

• Hannah Wright - Zombies

• Kennedy Bush - Halo, Salute

• McKinleigh Beck - Young And Beautiful, Hound Dog

• Mila Garg - Yellow, Eye Sore

• Lennox Silva - Pretty Bird, See Me Now

• Hadley Berokoff- The Dance, Nobody Loves Me Like You Do

• Amaya Reyes - Countdown

• Gianna Salloum- Glam

• Evelyn Yao - Take Off

• Kimiko Evans - Future Husband

• Piper Brown - Weird People

• Kayla Turner- Gimmick

• Erin Thorton - Vienna

• Michele Lam - Complex

• Hope Edwards - Gospeed

• Jasmine Sison - United In Grief

• Emalene Heitz - Enough For You

• Emily Thorton - Let The Light In

• Gwendolyn Morrison - 1+1

• Shab Ghaffari- White Blank Page, Say My Name

• Adelynn Kim - Perfect

• Dani Parkin - Star Wars

• Hayden Peterson - Thousand Years

• London Dahlberg - Go The Distance

• Chloe Lapka - Over The Rainbow

• Melody Novin - Safe & Sound

• Emmalyn Dahlberg- Forget About The Boy

• Parker Seymour- Amayzing Mayzie

• Alexis Fogg - Whistle While You Work It

• Elise Tapia - Queen Of The Night

• Olivia Montano - Word Up

• Scarlett Sanderson - Off With Your Head

• Victoria Valdez - Sushi

• Ava Reyes - Kill The Lights

• Addison Berger - Legs

• Mocai Li - Who Do You Think You Are

• Kaia Huener - Bad Romance

• Remi Rodriguez- Faithfully

• Taylor Goldweski- Remembering You, We Clappin'

• Aria Reyes - Moon River

• Kaylee Kim - The Scientist

• Charlotte Delong - Elegance

• Kensington Beck - Remember Us, Push Da Button

• Charlotte Wolk - Goodbye, Too Darn Hot

• Kailee Lozano - Halleluiah

• Mya McCarty- Hot Note, Fix You

• Ella Strunz - Lola

• Kourtney Gampol- My Discarded Men, Eternal Mourning

• Sydney Jhonson- St Jude, Single Ladies

• Eden Roberts- Speaking, All That Jazz

• Charlotte Howerton- If This Is It Now, Hit The Road

• Claire Christensen - Carousel

• Peyton Kleveno - Lost, Hollaback Girl

• Dylan Reuss - The Waitress, Bang Bang

• Leighton Goldweski- Once Upon Another Time, Vertstand

• Harper Cruz - Waking Up Slow, Word Up

• Sofia Valdez - Joy

• Kyle Young- Still, Catch Me Now

• Avery Sison - Freddy

• Brooklyn Guerrero- Here I Come

• Julia Omana - Do What I Do

• Sasha Kokos - Run The World

• Sloane Schuster- How I Feel

• Avery Strutman - Manicure

• Zoe Vicencia- All These Boys

• June Khoury- Ain't No Other

• Kinsley Coleman - Man's World

• Sophia Lycett - Boots

• Demi Ascencio - Crazy In Love

• Avery Wilkinson - He's A Dream

• Jolee Omana - Mama Knows Best

• Malia Drown - Toxic

• Noelle Khoury - Swing

• Makena Dowlatshahi - Fever

• Imani Moss-Byas - Collapse

• Holland Cooper- Who I Am, Mein Herr

• Sofia Wierzucki - Sorry

• Raelyn Abesmier - May It Be

• Alyssa Mastroianni- Broken Vow, Hyperballad

• Lilliana Mastroianni- Open Hands

• Ashley Issa - Ocean In Gold

• Brooklyn Huber - Dynamite

• Cerys Gogswell- My Darling, Think Pink

• Ghandom Ghaffari - See Me In A Crown

• Makenzie Rowland - Elephants

• Olivia Lycett - Build It Up, Yummy

• Brinley Lowe - Eclipse, Extra Extra

• Alia Benavides- I Miss You

• Ariel Lantz Loza - I Love You

• Jillian Mahan- True Romance, Clumsy

• Maggie Zhou- Only, Bitter

• Grace Howerton- I'm Through

• Londyn Nevois - Islands

• Riley Stem - Gardens, Queen Bee

• Jayna Omana - Hot Like Wow

• Taylor Jhonson - End Of Time

• Aaliyah Ortiz- Fight Em Off

• Harlee Lozano - Make Me Feel

• Liana Sison - Pocketbook

• Morgan Turner- Eating The Runway

• Olive Tapia - Dangerous

• Natalya Kokos - Rosalia

• Fryad Ghaffari- Hotline Bling

• Milea Hill- Jet Black

• Allison Arteaga - Dream, Let It Roll

• Kalin Dowlatshahi - Everywhere I Go

• Savy Jean Witeck - Bird Once Free, Walk

• Keira Davis - Every Breath You Take

• Andrea Valdez - Dancing After Death, Alien Superstar

• Madison Clegg - A Little Less Conversation

• Gianna De Lancellotti - New York New York

• Wynter Williams - Rotten To The Core

• Nyla Burton - Spoonful Of Sugar

• Keira Simon - Silent Night

• Georgia Dahl - A Whole New World

• Ava Ricker - I Will Always Love You

• Koko Fletcher - Just Wanna Have Fun

• Reagan Gold - My Heart

• Bailey Chalmers - Tears In Heaven

• Chloe Christensen - True Colors

• Charlotte Dahlberg- Halo

• Everly BeSerra - Demons

• Harper Bridge - Sweet Child Of Mine

• Mila Chaandraga - This Is Me

• Sienna York - Dancing Queen

• Skylar Schuster- Butterfly Kisses

• Beaya To - Lollipop

• Shyla Zalishahr - Wind It Up

• Annabelle Bright - Ice Cream Freeze

• Camila Valdez - Rich Girl

• Ellie Dahl - Thriller

• Jordyn Omana - Can't Touch This

• Lyla Valencia - I'm A Lady

• Preslee Liberio - It's Britney Spears

• Madison Worth - Skinny Love

• Natalia Seffer - On My Own

• Kate Cooper - Shallow

• Melinda Tang - Keep Breathing

• Paige Witcomb - Vampire

• Fiona Pathack - Elephant In The Room, Don't Wanna Dance Alone

• Avery Waters - A World Of Your Own

• Lydia Tuttle - Six Feet Under

• Mia Gonzalez- Paint It Black

• Peyton Brown - Stay, Feeling Good

• Siena Jensen - Sirens

• Dakota Valentine - Covergirl

• Sadie Ransom - Breaking Dishes

• Sadie Ferguson- London Bridge, You Are So Beautiful

• Wednesday Krocock - Work Work

DUETS/TRIOS:

• Ava Reyes, Amaya Reyes - Janet

• Hayden Peterson, Olivia Montano, Parker Seymour - Holly Rock

• Dani Parkin, Melody Novin, Rowan Caputo - Tea Party

• Camille Christensen, Preston Whitcomb - Attention

• Kaia Hueners, Lyla Valencia, Peyton Bonachea - I Got A Crush

• Alexis Fogg, Kiera Simon, Mila Chandaragga - Girl Scouts

• Monroe Lundberg, Raelyn Chavarria - Tootsie Roll

• Raegen Gold, Skylar Schuster - California Girls

• Charlotte Dahlberg, Everly BeSerra, Sienna York - Candyman

• Mila Chandaragga, Soren Karpow - Itsy Bitsy Spider

• Bailey Chalmers, Kiera Simon - Itsy Bitsy Spider

• Chloe Christensen, Harper Bridge, Preslee Marie Liberio - Jailhouse Rock

• Brooke Petropulos, Charlotte Smith, Sage Payne - Shake The Room

GROUPS:

• Hot Line

• Amen

• Torture

• Tomorrow

• Call Me Mother

• Boogie

• Devil With A Blue Dress

• Heart Is Open

• Supermodel

• Push It

• Rock Your Soul

• I Love You

• Tears Of An Angel

• Fruit Salad

• Love Story

• Wish Upon A Star

• Betty Boop

• It's A Small World

• Dream On

• OC Outlaws

• Personality

• You Will Be Found

• ABC

• Hey Mickey

• Double Dutch Bus

• Home On The Range

• Applause

• Strawberry Shortcake

• Diamonds

• The Beach Girls

• Speaking French

• Fields Of Gold

• Not About Angels

• Barbie

• Wondeful World

• Seven Devils

• So Groovy

• Pink Friday

• A Little Party

• One Way

• Foolish Men

• Where's My Love

• Starstruck

• Heartburn

• Girl Like

• Hummed Low

• IT GIRL

• Don Juan

• Von Dutch

• And So It Is

• Bloom

• Hide And Seek

• Money

• The Show

• Raincatchers

• Mannequin

• The Chain

• Level Up

• Moving Blind

• In This Shirt

• Writer In The Dark

• Ode To Divorce

• Smack Down

• Caution

• Blowin' In The Wind

• OC Airlines

• Strict Machine

• Never Love Again

• Can't Catch Me Now

• Slither

[coreypalmersbike]

I went to see From The Rehearsal Room at the Savoy and I compiled notes. Keep in mind I wrote this on the tube on the way back from it so it might be a bit crazy but yk…

- Before the show we went on stage to look round and Hadley and Ramin were there to tune their guitars so they performed Hushabye mountain for us and then the group was taking a picture and Hadley snuck in and photobombed

⁃ They wore matching sockssss and it wasn’t even deliberate

⁃ I cant even remember why he brought it up but once Hadley had a bear on the roof of his apartment and they had to tranquillise it

⁃ He also performed once with a racoon staring at him

⁃ Ramin was singing this really beautiful song and Hadley was in the back with his legs crossed and one elbow resting on the piano and he was chugging water as everyone was crying

⁃ They bashed on people who watched I’m A Celebrity which was kind of funny tbh

⁃ Hadley is a Lord Of The Rings girlie which we love. He’s got that deluxe Lord Of The Rings trilogy swag

⁃ RAMIN SANG TIL I HEAR YOU SING AND THE AUDIENCE SCREAMED THE MINUTE THE CHORDS STARTED

⁃ THEY SANG LILY‘S EYES

⁃ HADLEY FORGOT HIS CHARACTER’S NAME (NEVILLE) AND THEY WENT ON FOR AGES TRYING TO NAME THIS CHARACTER AND THEN HADLEY JUST REFERRED TO THE CHARACTER AS NIGEL

⁃ Hearing Hadley talk about the Pirate Queen was very lovely

⁃ They were talking about the Secret Garden and they asked if it was ‘the’ Secret Garden or just ‘Secret Garden’ then they started using different words instead of ‘the’ and then Hadley started speaking in a northern accent and it was oddly good. I know he’s an actor but have you heard him in the Pirate Queen lmao

⁃ I don’t condone shipping irl people but once you see it live you can’t deny it. My mum literally thought they were husbands

⁃ Ramin sang a song and then afterwards Hadley said how the love just CAME OUT of him for Ramin

⁃ They held handsssss

⁃ After the interval Hadley sang Funny from City Of Angels and oh my golly goodness gracious it was absolutely brilliant. It’s one of my favourite songs ever and aaaaaaaaaa it was so good

⁃ Also Hadley got us to do three part harmony and he started speaking French??? It sounded angelic tho it was so beautiful. I love Just Let Go so so much it was so good with 1000 people singing it in beautiful harmony

⁃ Also the way he taught it: my choir teacher could never

⁃ He’s so patient and dad-like

⁃ Well he is a dad

⁃ A dad I’d like to-

⁃ He didn’t win the dilf awards I can’t finish that sentence

⁃ Just a reminder that I was there for the dilf awards 2022

⁃ Also it’s confirmed that Hadley’s mum calls him Robert which I always wondered about bc his name isn’t actually Hadley

⁃ Also right right right

⁃ Sheytoons turned into Gaytoons bc during the line “this time there’s no way of hiding the way you feel” Ramin got really tense and then he was properly reacting to the song but subtly and I don’t think it was deliberate

⁃ Babygirl this time there’s no way of hiding the way you feel for Hadley Fraser

⁃ RAMIN SINGING WHO ID BE

⁃ AND IT WAS SO GOOD

⁃ AND HADLEY SAID “PETITION FOR RAMIN TO BE THE NEXT SHREK” AND BABYGIRL YOURE SO RIGHT

⁃ Empty chairs at empty tables

⁃ Empty chairs at empty tables

⁃ I am not okie dokie

⁃ It was beautiful

⁃ So so beautiful

⁃ And then when they did the iconic harmonies I started sobbing

⁃ It was too much for my brain to handle

⁃ Then they said they couldn’t leave us on a sad note so they did YOULL BE BACK

⁃ I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW FUCKING BRILLIANT YOULL BE BACK WAS

⁃ So it started with Ramin, all bouncy and funky and stuff

⁃ But then oh my golly goodness gracious Hadley

⁃ He OWNED King George III so so hard

⁃ He did a very posh British accent and acted the living hell out of it

⁃ It was the best thing I’ve ever seen

⁃ And then he stuck one of his legs out in sort of a tango way and was very flamboyant and I’ve seen silly Hadley but I’ve never seen truly campy, flamboyant Hadley and it’s the best kind of Hadley

⁃ Then the whole audience did the da da da da das and it was so neat singing with Ramin and Hadley live

⁃ And they were doing a dancey dance and HADLEY AS KING GEORGE III I BEG, THATS ALL I ASK OF YOU, PLEASE ILL ACTUALLY ENJOY HAMILTON IF HADLEY IS KING GEORGE PLEASEEEEEE

⁃ Then it ended and we did a meet and greet and Hadley asked my name and I said it and Ramin and Hadley both shook my hand and then Hadley recognised me (it’s complicated to explain but basically he once saw a picture of me) and went “oh Maddie!!! It’s so good to see you!” Then he hugged me. Robert Hugh ‘Hadley’ Fraser hugged me. He didn’t do that for anyone else. He opened his arms and said “come here” in a nice way not a creepy way den

⁃ Overall such an insane experience, if you thought either of them were good in recording it’s just even better live. I’ve never heard them sing so well.

If any of you were there watching it please add anything I missed on

[hypnotherapy-blog-blog]

The Black Bag - Part 1.

The Black Bag.

Rob Hadley

Introduction.

When I wrote The Black Bag I had it in mind that many of the people likely to read it would already have a knowledge of Tarot. However, that’s proved to have been a miscalculation. I have been pleased to see many readers have a curiosity about Tarot, but not much familiarity with it.  As a result, I often suggest readers step into this journey with a Tarot deck at hand.  It will help you see the cards mentioned, and to participate in a manner that gives you a deeper connection to the story.  Each reader, does after all, have their own relationship to the cards. Indeed each card relates to each reader differently. As you make your way through these pages, perhaps you will have insights that will make the story unique for you.

My intent is for you to enjoy these pages, and maybe pick up a few ideas along the way. I don’t propose for an instant that any given card has set or established meanings. My own view is that context is everything. The cards tend to match up with your own particular situation and can have very different meanings at different times. I hope you’ll enjoy this journey. Feel free to reach out to me and let me know your own experiences.

My best wishes as you embark on this journey,

Rob Hadley

Vanbc1963@yahoo.com

The Black Bag

By Rob Hadley

C.2024

It is fair to say that the one person you least expect to see following your mother’s funeral is your mother. Yet, as Grahame Bickerton stepped out of the small chapel and into the daylight and looked across the well tended gardens he was shocked to find himself staring at a figure in the distance that bore an unmistakeable resemblance to the very person he had just witnessed being extended that last of human dignities.

The coffin had slid silently away behind the curtain in the funeral home, and he’d been shocked to find himself craning to see the final glimpse as it moved irresistibly into the cremation chamber. And yet here, across this beautifully laid out garden there seemed to be someone that could be his very own mother sitting in mournful contemplation by one of the gravestones, their back to him.

Grahame felt a hand on his sleeve and turned.  It was the only other person that had been at the service. An elderly woman with a cane, bent almost double, the result of some form of spinal deformity.  The woman spoke to him gently, her eyes moist with tears.

“I will miss you mother,” she said. “I feel your loss.”

“You’re very kind,” said Grahame trying not to be too dismissive but wanting to pull away and see the woman in the distance more clearly. She’d got up and was walking away.

“I used to work with her you know, at the college. Geography,” she said. “She spoke of you regularly.”

“Geography?” replied Grahame, completely lost.

“I teach Geography at the college. We used to have tea together often,” she continued.

Grahame didn’t wish to be rude and turned and tried to catch sight of the person in the garden, but she was hurrying away.

“If I can help,” she said, “you can find me at the college.”

Grahame pulled away and started walking across the gardens leaving the old woman staring after him as he strode away.

“Poor man,” she said to herself leaning on her cane. “He’s obviously terribly upset.”

Grahame hurried across the lawns in the direction of the woman he had seen. Soon he stopped. The crows were rising from some trees by the seat the woman had been sitting on but was gone from view now. It was almost as if she’d never been there. He walked on, but after a few moments realised it was no good. He couldn’t see which way she’d gone.

“Christ,” he muttered, then thinking more clearly calmed himself.

“I have to get a grip,” he said to himself. “This is ridiculous, I’m a bloody engineer, dammit.”

With that Grahame dismissed the notion that anything out of the norm had happened. He was obviously overreacting.

+++

It was mid morning several weeks later when Grahame received the call from the car dealership. The fall sunlight cast the city in a flat light that lacked the warmth of the summer so recently ended. He stood looking out of his meagre office at the glass towers of the downtown core and the cranes that perched beside every spare inch of buildable space.

How very different those offices were from his own. From the office beside his he could hear his boss shouting down the phone at one of the project planners. The congestion on the road today was holding things up for everybody. He was well aware that they were pouring concrete on several projects today, and with those cement trucks stranded in the unexpected traffic chaos caused by this morning’s power outage there was sure to be hell to pay. As luck would have it none of his teams were pumping today, so while the atmosphere in the office would be toxic, it didn’t directly affect any of his people.

He’d been lucky, pacing himself lately. The recent death of his mother had forced him to scale back some of his work commitments. As the executor of the will there were assets to be disposed of, taxes to pay, and all the administrative chaos that accompanies the end of life. And that brought him back to the phone call. It had been the dealership he’d taken his mother’s old Town Car to.  She’d loved that vehicle, but it had no business being on the road with gas prices the way they are today. Getting rid of it had been the only thing to do, and yet in spite of his having thoroughly cleaned the vehicle before leaving it at the second hand car lot, the manager had called and informed him that they’d found some old playing cards and some journals when the car was made ready for sale.

“We didn’t want to toss them out,” said the manager. “They may be something you want.”

The manager had sounded awkward. He was aware the car had been Grahame’s mother’s vehicle, being acquainted with old lady. He’d been servicing the car since he’d joined the dealership over a decade previously.

A phone slammed down in the cubicle beside his and Grahame winced. Did the workplace have to be so toxic, he wondered. Looking at his diary he could see he didn’t need to be here at present, and if he were to walk the dozen blocks to the car lot he could get away early and then slip home to work the rest of the day from there.

He placed a file into his brief case and made for the door. His boss was already on the phone to the next project manager, wringing his hands and looking intently at the screen of his laptop and chewing his lip, a nervous habit he’d nursed every day since Grahame had joined the company. He nodded as he made his way out of the building but went by unnoticed. As he walked out across the car park he felt the sun on his face and a sense of relief in his heart. It was good to be out of the cramped office space.

He loved the city, and being part of the construction trade he was enjoying the fruits of a building boom, but it wasn’t lost on him that he worked for a small consultancy firm, and the glass palaces of downtown were far from his reality. The firm he worked for may be part of the construction team, but he was under no illusions about the work. Twice in the last year his boss had been forced to ask his staff to wait a week for their wages, and if his suspicions were correct, it would happen again. In the hierarchy of the building trade, the company he was working for was not what anyone would describe as a highflyer.

He walked smartly across town, the sound of horns blaring a fitting backdrop to the stationary traffic. Another set of lights up ahead had blown out and a crew was struggling to get their vehicle to somewhere they could work on the switchgear.

Grahame tuned out the sound of the city. He thought of his mother, and that he’d only seen her three times in the year prior to her death. They’d had dinner back in April, and then he had driven out to the cottage in mid summer, and then Rose had told him she was going in for some tests. She seemed unworried about it at the time, and he hadn’t really thought much of it.

Deconstructing things later Grahame realised that Rose had suffered in silence for some time before having these tests run. Indeed by the time pancreatic cancer was diagnosed it was already far advanced. She had suffered briefly, and Grahame had visited, but soon after that last time she had succumbed, slid into a coma and within two weeks had died leaving a great chasm in Graham’s life. A chasm he promptly filled with his own guilt for not being a better son, and more available to his mother.

He was being too hard on himself, but that was nothing new.

+++

At the car dealership the manager had placed the collection of journals and other bits and pieces in a large envelope for Grahame to collect.  He walked into reception and the young lady on the desk reached beneath her desk and passed it to him, recognising him from previous visits. Grahame thanked her and took the package, then decided he’d walk home through the park.

There was little point returning to the office today. He didn’t feel up to working, and the traffic chaos of the morning would soon be merging with the afternoon rush hour, as people tried to leave work early to beat the rush.

Taking a moment to sit in the sunshine he stopped at a park bench and opened the package. It contained three journals, all closely handwritten in his mothers handwriting, and one small black bag. He drew this out and inspected it. Inside he found some cards, but not the playing cards you’d expect an old lady to have should she find herself compelled to get into a game of gin rummy. These were altogether more colorful, and well used.

He inspected them and realised that these were tarot cards. He had no idea his mother had an interest in tarot. While not something he had any knowledge of, Grahame recognised some of the symbols on the cards as he rifled through them. He found the cards strangely puzzling, feeling rather like he’d discovered something secret. He slid the blag bag back into the envelope continued his journey home. They were a mystery he would examine further at a later date.

As he walked he lamented the fact that he had few of his mothers belongings, even though he was her sole heir. The reality was that his small modern apartment was hardly a suitable venue for an ancient armoire, or dining table for eight people.

When he emerged out of the far side of the park he was only a couple of blocks from his apartment. Walking to work today had been a good choice, even here the traffic was log jammed.

+++

The loss of his sole surviving parent had forced something of a pause in Graham’s life.  It was a moment in which he was compelled to take stock and look at where he was.

He had recently ended a fruitless relationship of eighteen months. It had been a perfunctory affair, neither very passionate nor disastrous, but lacking in so many of the things he felt his life needed.

They’d found each other online, were both ‘self actualised professionals looking to share all life has to offer,’ according to their dating profiles, but were neither very self actualised (he still wasn’t sure what that meant) nor very willing to share very much. He’d decided he didn’t really trust the person he was dating, and realised she didn’t trust him either. They’d decided to ‘have a two week break’ two months ago and he hadn’t heard from her since.

Surprisingly he didn’t miss the woman either. It was as if the relationship had not really happened at all. And he felt no compulsion to reconnect.

If he were quite honest with himself it was much the same with his job.  He’d been working as a project manager for several years, and it paid reasonably well. While his job didn’t excite him, it provided security enough for him to live in the city, pay a disturbingly high proportion of his income in rent, and to own a car that he could drive at barely 20 miles an hour anywhere he chose. And then pay a fortune for parking. Like the relationship, his job didn’t fill him with passion either.

Grahame was gradually coming to the conclusion that there were patterns emerging in his life that didn’t fill him with joyful expectation. In his mid thirties he had expected something more of life. Was this really it?

These were Grahame’s thoughts as he walked alongside the stationary traffic and glanced at the frustrated drivers in their little tin boxes. Just a few blocks from home Grahame watched an episode play out before him.

A driver in a Jeep was blowing his horn at a car in front. The yellow haired woman sat in a little pale blue convertible, studiously ignoring the increasingly insistent honking. Judging by the body language the young lady had not had a good day, sitting arms crossed and lips pursed determined to ignore the blaring of the horn behind.

“Hey lady,” came the voice. A tee shirt clad young man, physically toned and cocksure, leaned from his car window and called to her.

Finally having had enough, the young woman, her hair tightly curled up in a bun, turned in her seat and shouted back at the man, “For god’s sake! I have a boyfriend!”

She then turned and sat, arms folded defiantly in the stationary traffic, red faced and flustered now with her eyes locked on the licence plate before her. At that instant a gap opened in the lane beside her and the jeep bucked forward and pulled alongside her for a moment as vehicles shifted in the Tetris game of traffic flow.

“Lady, I just wanted to tell you,” said the man, a little more gently now, “You have a flat tire.”

Taken aback, the young woman checked behind her to see that the traffic was not moving, and then stepped out of her car to take a closer look. She wore a smart pencil skirt and lemon blouse, the picture of propriety. She came back a moment later and sat behind the wheel looking perplexed.

She seemed nonplussed for a moment, and then composing herself turned and politely addressed the man in the jeep.

“Can you help me fix it?” she called across the traffic lane.

The young man lit up a cigarette in a slow languid style, and then said, “Like you said, lady. You’ve got a boyfriend.”

The traffic shifted and the Jeep advanced progressing up the line of cars.

Grahame, abreast of the little convertible looked at the woman, and saw the tears welling up in her eyes. He guessed she’d maybe not fixed a tire before. And with so many cars around she would be stuck blocking traffic before long as the tire deflated. He knew that on any other day he would have gone with his old habits and just not got involved, but today was just a little different.

“Would you like a hand?” he asked softly.

“That would be so kind,” said the woman, relief spreading across her face. Suddenly she didn’t seem quite so prickly.

“Just pull in to one of the spaces up here,” said Graham. “I live a block up the road, I’ll help you change the tire. Just let me go up to my apartment and change out of my office clothes. I won’t be more than five minutes.”

“That’s so kind of you,” said the young woman. “You’re like a real knight in shining armour.”

“Well, not really. But I can change a tire.  Give me five minutes and I’ll be back.”

With that he left her and hurried toward his apartment.

+++

Grahame hurried along the street, the sound of construction crowding in on him after the quiet of the park.  That poor woman, he thought. Some men really could be thoughtless.

He hurried into his apartment, tossed the envelope carelessly onto the coffee table, as if by reflex turned on the kettle to boil water for a cup of tea and went to his bedroom. A moment later he’d got out of his work suit and pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater.

He turned and was about to hurry down to the street to help the woman change her tire, when he noticed the envelope had spilled its contents across the surface of the coffee table.

Not wanting to keep the woman downstairs waiting, he casually glanced at the table. Cards were slewed across the flat surface in an arc. It looked almost artistic. One card lay face up.

Grahame glanced at it, and then retrieved his keys and made for the door. As he stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor, the front door of the building opened and his neighbour, old Mrs. Willoughby entered the vestibule.

At that moment there was a terrible crashing sound from outside. Mrs. Willoughby turned and looked out at the street, a startled look of shock on her face.

Grahame rushed to the door and stared out to see what on earth had happened. Cars were stopped now, honking and people climbing from them and rushing back down the road. It took only a moment for Grahame to realise the sound had come from the building site on the next block, just by where he could see the woman’s car pulled over.

He hurried toward the car, and as he got closer realised this was the centre of the commotion. The woman was standing back, leaning against the siding at the edge of the construction site. He hurried to her side.

The little blue convertible was wrecked. It lay smashed beneath a series of scaffolding poles, looking as though it had been speared in some ghastly hunt.

White faced and shocked the woman stood back, shocked but unharmed, against the siding.

“Good god, what happened?” he said to her after he’d pushed his way through the crowd.

People were looking up, staring at a crane’s hook and some chain suspended seventy feet above the road. A man with a hard hat came barrelling out of the building site and rushed to the car. By-standers were already photographing the wrecked car, and posting them to social media on their phones.

“Was anyone hurt?” the workman was asking in panic, looking around wildly.

“Are you ok?” Grahame said, steadying the woman with a kindly hand.

“I’m ok,” she said rapidly. “I’m ok!”

She was white faced and shaking. Grahame turned to the assembled crowd and said, “Does anyone have some water?”

A bottle was developed and passed to the woman.

Grahame turned to the crowd and asked, “Who saw what happened?”

Several voices piped up. Grahame looked at the man in the hardhat and said, “Are you the foreman?”

He nodded nervously.

“Thank god no one was hurt,” he replied. “You’d better get these people’s statements. The police will be along soon. It’s going to make things a lot better if people are able to describe it.”

The foreman nodded and corralled the witnesses while Grahame turned back to the woman.

“You’re going to need a cup of tea, aren’t you,” he said gently. “Let’s get you out of here and calm things down.”

Grahame handed his card to the foreman, and one of the witnesses.

“When the cops show up can you let them know she’s at my place up the road,” said Grahame.

There was sympathetic nod and Grahame and the woman pressed their way through the crowd and made their way down the block to his apartment building.

+++

Grahame made the tea as his frightened guest sat in the open plan living room.

“You didn’t tell me your name,” said Graham, wanting to keep the woman talking.

“I’m Sunshine,” she said. “And that’s my mother’s car.”

“Oh, dear,” he said. “It’s a very nice little car. Well, it was. How did you come to be unharmed? I mean, it looks like a hell of a mess.”

Grahame poured the tea and placed a cup and saucer before Sunshine.

“I stepped out of the car to look at the tire, and that’s when it happened,” she said. “There was just this rush of air, and a terrible sound. Like bells ringing, and then those scaffolding poles all around me.”

“What a thing to happen,” Grahame said.

“I guess,” she replied beginning to calm down. “I could have been killed.”

She sipped the tea, her hand still trembling. That was when Sunshine started sobbing.

+++

The statement to the police, a visit from the foreman and an exchange of documents all took time and Sunshine seemed to go through the process in a daze. She was glad to be somewhere quiet and safe, and Grahame remained largely quiet in the background as the questions were asked and answered. It was a terribly unfortunate accident, but as the police officer pointed out, no one was hurt. The insurance companies would sort out the wrecked car which was now safely off the road. The construction company manager said the company would be up to their necks in investigations, but seemed co-operative, almost as upset by the whole situation as Sunshine was herself.

“That could have been my own daughter,” said the manager as Grahame had shown him out. It happened that he knew Grahame from the local planning department meetings that he’d sometimes have to attend for his company.

“Terrible thing,” he’d said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Those clamps don’t just fail.”

“Thank heavens no one was hurt,” echoed Graham.

+++

At length the police officer left, and they found themselves alone in the quiet apartment. Noticing the journals and the tarot cards on the table, Sunshine asked, “What’s this?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.  Just some things of my mother’s,” replied Graham.

“Don’t you see it?” said Sunshine, looking at the upturned card.

“What do you mean,” said Graham.

“You don’t think it looks like all those scaffolding poles that fell on my car?” said Sunshine as she picked up the card.

Grahame stared at the card. The Eight of Wands.  He wondered what it meant.

“I suppose,” said Graham.  “It’s really not my thing,” he added and then as an afterthought said, “I’m an engineer.”

Sunshine looked at the card once more, and then at Grahame trying to find the link between not being able to see the visual connection and being an engineer. She failed.

“I wonder what made you turn over this particular card then,” she said. “Probably something subconscious.”

“I didn’t pick that card.  I mean, I just left some things on the table, they just fell like that, and then I came down to help you.”

“And that was before you heard the crash,” asked Sunshine with newly sparked curiosity.

“Yes,” replied Graham, noticing for the first time how the image in the card did look a little like the scaffolding poles.

“That’s quite the coincidence,” murmured Sunshine.

“Oh, I doubt it,” said Graham. “There’s probably no end of these cards look like falling scaffolding.”

His voice trailed off as he realised how he sounded. Sunshine picked up the cards and started shuffling them.

“So, your mother’s into tarot?” asked Sunshine.

“No. Well, yes,” stammered Graham.

“I see,” said Sunshine.

“I mean she died,” said Graham. “And these were among her things. I should sort them out.  I don’t really know anything about the cards.”

Sunshine looked at the journals, and then asked, “Were you close?”

“Not as close as I wish we had been,” replied Graham.

“So, you never knew she was interested in Tarot?”

“Never had a clue,” confessed Graham.

Sunshine turned the cards over in her hands and then said, “You’re lucky then.  This gives you a chance to get to know her through the cards.”

The words hung in the air. 

“What do you mean,” asked Graham.

“Look at these cards,” she said. “You can see they’ve been well used.  These are quite old. Well used. Your mother must have been adept at the cards. Can’t you see it? There’s a lot of her in these particular cards.”

An awkward silence fell between them as Grahame thought about this. It was true, the journals and these cards were like a voice reaching out across the abyss of death. They were a connection.

The silence was broken by the chirp of Sunshine’s cell phone.

She looked at the display and then said, “Mother. This might be a little awkward.”

___________________________________________

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Many Thanks

RH

[edisonbellrecordings]

Happy New Year!

As a little New Year treat, I though I'd share the finale from the Live From The Rehearsal Room concert at the Savoy! This encapsulates so much of the joy present in the room from the get-go for me, as well as being a fun and bouncy tune.

Also bonus gift under the cut: A complete track list for the concert! Full audio available for trade.

Mastered by @or-what-you-will

Title - Musical/Source (singer)

Act One

Butter Outta Cream – Catch Me If You Can (Hadley and Ramin)

Use What You Got – The Life (Hadley)

If I Could Ever Leave You – Camelot (Ramin)

If I Didn’t Believe in You – The Last 5 Years (Hadley)

Lily’s Eyes – The Secret Garden (Hadley and Ramin)

A Little Bit of Earth – The Secret Garden (Hadley)

It All Fades Away – The Bridges of Madison County (Ramin)

How Glory Goes – Floyd Collins (Hadley)

‘Til I Hear You Sing – Love Never Dies (Ramin)

Dirty Rotten Number – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Hadley and Ramin)

Act Two

Losing – Ramin (Hadley and Ramin)

Feed the Birds – Marry Poppins (Ramin)

Just Let Go – Hadley (Hadley and audience!)

Sunset Boulevard – Sunset Boulevard (Ramin)

Double Talk – City of Angels (Hadley)

Funny – City of Angels (Hadley)

Beautiful City – Godspell (Ramin)

Anyone Can Whistle – Anyone Can Whistle (Hadley)

Who I’d Be – Shrek (Ramin)

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables – Les Misérables (Hadley and Ramin)

You’ll Be Back – Hamilton (Hadley and Ramin)