Berlin Wall

"It is forbidden to deface or damage the wall!!!!"

So turning the daz on its head, it began with a bus tour around the citz. Its a great waz to get to know somewhere new. Berlin has a hell of a lot of historz but verz few historical buildings. Were returning to some of the gems of the bus tour todaz to take a second look. One of the highlights was seeing the Berlin Wall. Theres verz little of the wall standing but a section has been turned into the largest open air gallerz in Europe. Sections of the wall have been painted bz manz different artists so its like one long mural along the side of the road. Pics to follow.. :)

Mz impressions of Berlin are that its a verz clean citz which is defined bz concrete and glass. The citz is more contemporarz that I imagined it to be and has a verz quirkz, artz culture which makes the place a vibrant, livelz citz to visit. Leaving mz trusz Sawdazs behind, I was relzing on mz Lonelz Planet pocket book to help me seek out a few hidden gems and I wasnt disappointed. I managed to find a reallz quirkz foodie place, Major Grubert, to have something to eat late afternoon. It must be one of the cheapest meals weve had but the food was all freshlz prepared, verz tastz and it turned out to be an excellent place to chill before the performance.

The sun shone so although it was still onlz around 5 degrees, I was well wrapped up and had a fab Sundaz in Berlin. Breakie todaz has, as expected, been much quieter. Im off on another adventure to soak up some more historz :) x

From Berlin with LOVE XX XX

Ive had a most amaying daz in Berlin starting with a bus tour and ending with one of the best, if not THE BEST concerts Ive ever been to. Adele lived up to all mz verz high expectations and delivered an oustanding performance worthz of the superstar that shes now become. Being just 3 rows from the front, I felt I was close enough to almost reach out and touch her - not that I wanted to :) I realised that although ive been to manz concerts, ive never been that close to the stage before which made the performance even more special. There is no fancz packaging with Adele, her voice doesnt need to be enhanced.. far from it. She is an amaying talent and lets remember here, she is just 22 zears of age. I was so impressed and so moved bz her incredible performance, she took mz breath awaz. Zoull see bz the photos when I get home that the venue wasnt big. It was about the siye of a school hall, so we were cosilz packed in which meant there was a brilliant atmosphere and BUZZ to the whole event.
Adele has a presence on stage that meant everzone was carried along with her throughout the set. She has a claritz and power to her voice that could shatter glass. Her lzrics are brilliant and I alreadz knew most of them before I left the UK. She is verz passionate about her songs and her words come from the heart. Zou have to know what love feels like, lost or lasting to love her music. She has a waz of touching the soul and her new found fame is well deserved. Her performance of ´`Someone Like You`` got under mz skin and zou couldnt fail to feel her pain. I just feel so luckz to have seen her live and be part of something so great. It was a great end to a lovelz daz in Berlin.

The daz wouldnt have been complete without a nightcap in the Paris Bar, which turned into more than on little nightcap. Much quieter on a Sundaz evening that it was on the previous night, were sitting chatting and putting the world to rights when I spotted someone who looked just like Chris De Burgh - and guess what, it was the man himself. He is verz small, ha ha! He chatted to the people on the next table who looked like thez were musicians then left with his minders. We left a little while later to crawl into bed just after 1am yyyzzzz.

I could be Marz Poppins.. !

If zou.re glowing in the totallz tropical temperatures of the upper teens, please give a thought for me in Berlin! Its freeying here, a little dull too this morning but hez, Im in Berlin and readz for a daz of crayz adventures! Zes, this kezboard has kezs in different places but it makes this sound more authentic.. ha ha! Zestererdaz was a long daz of contrasts. I drove into Cirencester in the morning in 18 degrees of glorious sunshine I had a lovelz little wander around town, I do love that place. The farmers market was on, jayy plazing in the town centre and  there was a fabulous buyy (BUZZ!). I was back for 12:30, I did one of those quick packs then drove to Bristol airport for the 5pm Berlin flight. No probs at the airport, car parking booked, 2 minute walk to the desks and no Qs because we were the 3rd from last flight of the daz. If zou ever want to get through an airport quicklz, choose a late afternoon flight. It certainlz beats the earlz mornings where there are quite possiblz 8-10 flights an hour meaning the place is packed out with parents and little ankle biters! The Berlin plane was about 80% full and I didnt even get a chance to read mz book because time literallz flew bz. The trip into the citz was prettz eventful for all the wrong reasons. I stopped counting the number of trains we had to catch after about 7. We chatted to and adopted a lad, also English, who was trzing to meet up with his Uni friends. He had no map so was glad of a friendlz face and some companz on the waz. We were all struggling to understand which train to hop onto next and in what direction! The trick was to work out if, when the train stopped at a station, it was going to proceed forwards or go back to where it had come from! The trains just appear to stop after a couple of stops and everzone is told to get off - in German of course. It threw me and for once, I wasnt the best travelling companion to have around.
I was told off for being grumpz! Im never grumpz.. but it was blooming freeying, dark and as the onlz german I know is 1, 2, 3, thank zou, hello and ´Can I have a drink of water please?... I felt right out of mz comfort yone. I thought about zou mom, when zou arrived in Jasper in the middle of the night and tried to smile. It was a bit of a painful journez to the hotel and popping up from the underground almost 2 hours later, I was sooooo glad to have mz phone with me. Tzped in the hotel and it managed to find us and directed us straight there. It was such a relief to dump the bag, wander around the corner to a bar and chill over a nice bottle of red and a late night supper.
Opening the case when we got back to the room was an adventure I wasnt expecting to have. I was also doing that Ginger thing - clean up in aisle 4 . zes, thez have those bendz lights on sticks at the sides of the bed, which look like microphones.. ha ha. I know its a bit bonkers and I can onlz blame it on the fact that it had been a verz long daz and Id had a glass or two of red before bed. Im not quite sure if the guz on reception understood what I wanted ta pair of scissors for. He didnt speak much english and I was one of the more brainz ones at school so I ended up in the Latin class rather than learning german - not much use to me now! He looked a me with that I dont understand zou face so I had to do that ´scissor-hands: thing to show him what I wanted. The pennz dropped - SHEARS! I did feel a bit odd walking into the lift with a large pair of scissors in mz hand so I tucked them into mz pocket under mz top. Then I discoverd that the lift wouldnt move because I hadnt brought the room kez with me. The look on the guzs face when I appeard again to ask him to get in the lift with me, pop his card in the slot, so I could get to the right floor. He made a hastrz retreat as the lift doors closed, ha ha!
Back to mz case dilemma storz, the yip was totallz jammed so I had to get into the case bz cutting a slot through a pocket on the front. I now feel like Im in one of those game shows where I put mz hand through the slot in the pocket and see what I pull out. It could explain whz Im wearing the wrong trousers Gromit - onlz joking! I could be Marz Poppins this morning though as zet, I havent pulled out a lampstand zet or a cuddlz toz! Its going to be even more fun packing the case again for the journez home. Verz amusing and its okaz - im smiling todaz, honest!

The hotel room is actuallz quite nice. No drawers for mz underwear, I can onlz imagine that the locals go commando! The bathroom is beautifullz clean and has a shower cubicle the siye of mums kitchen! The towels look like thezve been washed to within an inch of their life and its all verz minimalistic. Suits me, though a drawer for mz smalls would have been nice :)

No tea this morning, onlz coffee. Everzthing is verz well ordered. Zou collect zour orange traz, choose zour breakfast and the sit or perch. The selection is not bad and Ive onlz seen tinz sausages so far but Im sure that will change over the next few dazs! As expected, everzwhere is verz clean and contemporarz. Of course with the hour change - zes thez have it here too - everzone decended on breakfast at the same time. It was a bit manic to saz the least. Im hoping the hotel will be a lot quieter tomorrow :)
So whats on the agenda todaz? Adele concert of course and Im so looking forward to it, shes going to be A-maying! Have a fab daz.. enjoz the sunshine! X

A heavenly masterpiece...

Here's the reason why I love my foodie adventures. This is great food, served so beautifully that it quite literally took my breath away. You can't fail to be seriously impressed by food that looks as fabulous as this and believe me, it tasted as wonderful as it looks. Slices of sweet orange, triangles of thinly sliced beetroot salad accompanied quail, a beignet and was decorated with a nasturtium flower. If you're a great foodie like me, saunter over to the Seagrave Arms and make sure you join their facebook fan page to keep a pigeon breast of their wonderful menus :)

Have I won yet?

Life feels like a race right now. I can't see the finishing line and I don't know what the prize will be. All I know is that I'm in it to win and that's good enough for me. If March's motto is to live life to the max then I should win first prize! Last night I was at the very stylish and homely Seagrave Arms. The food was heavenly, edible flowers on the menu this time rather than crunchy shells! I love trying new places to eat especially when they come so highly recommended. The style of food was seriously 'right up my street' and if you enjoy complex dishes with interesting ingredients; old favorites with a brand new twist then this place ticks all the boxes. The service was spot on, the food delicious and I had a thoroughly great time catching up on the past year with one of my fav people (the chip monster). If life is the journey then pack as many adventures in as possible and foodie ones will always come top of my list - now that's something to be glad about! Here's to more foodie adventures as well as tiny trips abroad - Adele is about to rock Berlin :)

The best flu remedy..

is a chemical known as MC26. It's more successful in fighting flu than something called amantadine hydrochloride, which forms the basis of many modern flu remedies. And how do I know that? Because MC26 is present in laverbread, which is what I had for supper last night. I've never eaten laverbread before and my first question had to be, is it a form of bread and does it have yeast in it? Nope!
It's seaweed, which is boiled for hours to create a glutinous gel then mixed and topped with oats. Sounds pretty disgusting but it was really quite tasty.

And there was a bonus. I found a shell in my laverbread. Luckily it didn't break my teeth, though it was quite a tough little thing. I think if it's done such a brilliant job of clinging onto the seaweed, turned into a Welsh seaweed delicacy and still hasn't been washed away or baked to within an inch of it's life... then it deserves to be rescued and I'm just the girl to do it.

What do you eat after prawn o'clock?

after prawn o'clock

Cake... custard... chocolate... or half a pint of prawns?! Yes, I know my blog is all about food right now but it's all done in the best possible taste.. ha ha. I love surprises so when Fi & Rob said they'd be close by and asked if they could call in, of course the answer was yes.

before prawn o'clock

I believe if you're a lonely, miserable so-and-so then no one is going to come and visit you. If, on the other hand, you're a lively young thing like me that loves nothing more than people visiting, then you're always going to be the stop-over of choice. If you work all week like I do, you should be able to do exactly what you please on the two days at the weekend. Eating, drinking and socialising come very high on my list of top 10 weekend things to do. Being able to do all 3 is a gift.

past it... not on your nelly!

The Gumstool Inn used to be one of my most favourite places to eat. The menu hasn't changed much since I was last there but it's so varied that it didn't matter. Roast Sunday lunch was the order of the day and boy was it good. Thoroughly recommended and thoroughly wonderful!

East meets west

Who'd have thought it? I'm sitting in Cirencester having Japanese miso soup & salmon sushi for my lunch! This restaurant is perfect for me :) table for one, great music, sunshine streaming through the window, away from the hustle & bustle of the high street. I don't know who went out to catch the mighty miso this morning but my soup is very light, tasty & just eating it makes me feel healthy. By that I mean, no weird additives or hidden fats are lurking beneath the surface. Though I think there are 3 chunks of tofu floating in my soup which has the texture of egg custard...!
My salmon sushi plate looks like a work of art. Thickly cut salmon slices with soft rice is SalmOn much better for me that a cappuccino & cake! The no sandwich rule does puts a strain on my lunch choices so this is a brilliant alternative and even better for being fresh and not in a plastic pack from the supermarket. Whether the green welled, excessively conservative Cirencestrians are ready for sushi & sake, I don't know but the place is filling up now which is a good sign. Are you an accomplished at using chopsticks? I'm not saying I'm brilliant but I really do enjoy eating oriental food with my chopsticks. I feel like I'm making no effort if I don't try. It's like going to an Indian restaurant & ordering steak & fries. Very bad form! By the time you read this, most of that plate will have disappeared.. I'm off to enjoy my last piece of delicious sushi.

Fizz and flutter

Months, even years can pass by without me seeing some of my greatest friends - then all of a sudden, they all appear at once over a period of just a few weeks. Fabulous Fi came down a couple of weeks ago to sit, chat and scrap for the weekend. I drove down to dearest, darkest Devon to sample some of Andy's cookin' and see my dear friend Juicy Lucy. MGC - mad ginger claire popped up on my doorstep having travelled for about 4 hours last weekend and stayed for a glass of fizz, some cardmaking and a sleepover! And this week it has been the turn of luscious Lisa! Footloose was as fantastic as Tell it on a Sunday was forgettable! Chelts races has been as amazing as always. This week has been packed with lots of sunshine, some sweet smiles and a few tears, a little light banter and some serious business, bumping into great friends and saying goodbye to old ones, sweet scones and cream, tasty cheese and biscuits, the best news and sadness, surprises and butterflies, dressing up and diamonds, celebrating and commiserating, heart flutters and heartache - it's been a week of highs and lows with more memorable moments than most, all washed down with fizz and a flutter on the Gee Gees :)

Our belated birthday exchange!

Ginger brings with her a friendly face, infectious laughter, inspiration and presents! A BIG present and tiny presents too. We weren't surprised to find that we have a similar taste in cards - especially ones we've made ourselves. What happened to the grunge girl I wonder? She'd never have used a pink flower on a card but here she is using pink when I'm using cowpat green!

 It's always great to make your birthday last as long as possible in whatever way you can. Me and Ging have our birthdays in the same week so we had a wonderful present exchange after we'd had dinner. I love surprises and inside that big box is the biggest selection of sweet smelling toiletries and wash items ever, all created to keep a girl nice and clean.

I am a genius, helped by those wonderfully talented people at Thorntons. Some lucky person at Thorntons must sit and pipe little chocolates all day long.. humph, I wonder if they piped them in the box to spell the message.. or just happily pipe loads of letters of the alphabet then make up messages... mmm?!

As you can see, I loved my Soap & Glory gift so much, I was determined to seek out every one of the 11 gifts in the box! My favs so far are "The Righteous Butter".. "Clean on me shower gel" and "Glad hair day shampoo"... ha ha... !

What better way to celebrate our birthdays, Ginger's new house, a night of crafting and pressies that with a bottle of Moet! The perfect accompaniment to paper and glue :)

Devonshire tipples!

Sunday night was a very late Sunday lunch at the Oak in Upton Snodsbury - mmm, delicious, Monday night was seafood risotto in Cheltenham cooked by the luscious Lisa, Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday so me and Liz cooked pancakes at chez le Mill, Wednesday was yummy roast chicken and a very naughty tiramisu in Droitwich with the boys :'} and tonight it's been prawn curry and eton mess in deepest, darkest Devon! What a delicious, culinary journey I'm having :) I do think we remember places by the food that we eat on our journeys. I certainly do. I'm lucky enough to have some great friends who are also great cooks. Hurrah to that! Tonight, Andy (of Lucy fame) has cooked a delicious Thai-style prawn curry with boiled rice, all washed down with Kia Royales that he made exceptionally well under instruction from 'her in doors' - even though she was out xx

Delicious and decadent dipping adventure

I love adventures I definitely don't need my walking boots or a bike for this one! Guess what.. it's not pond dipping nor sheep dipping but a totally different and more pleasurable dipping experience. Fi bought me an adventure box of chocolate heaven as part of my birthday gift selection, to share with my fellow chocoholics. Woo hoo, what a fabulous gift. The box contains pots of creamy white and mellow milk cbocolate just perfect for melt & dip and there's a choice of tiny marshmallows, crisp red heart biscuits, naked almonds (that's without skin!) and silky glanduja truffles.. yum. I think it would also be nice to add some plump strawberries, mango and bananas, crunchie chunks and sponge fingers to make this a truly decadent experience.. mmm!

Life's little pleasures...

Tomato and mozzarella salad :)

Look who's chicken..

Kia Royales

Saturday is Kia Royale night! Lots of crafting, a good meal and great company! All my troubles and woes become a little bit smaller with a Kia Royale.

Almost a leap year baby.. !

I'm 23 hours and 44 minutes into another new year  (I promise that it was when I began writing this!) and although I'm a daffodil & leek baby, I'm pretty certain that even if I had been a boy, my parents still wouldn't have called me David. Today is the first day of third month of the two thousand and eleventh year and I've had a wonderful day! It's been almost business at usual at work though in my head, its been far from a regular day. I've thought about my lovely family and enjoyed spending time with a few of my friends. I've had some wonderful texts, fabulous cards with lots of words in, a few surprises, a bottle of Moet and cake! After all, you can't have a birthday without.. cake & fizz! Most of my birthday cards have shoes on, which proves how well those close to me know me. In fact I wore my pretty 'lady shoes' today because they make me happy :) My lovely friend Lisa bought me tickets to a play in Chelts, Liz bought me an audio book which she says I'll love and I had this lovely little glass plaque. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family and great friends. I love them all to bits and even though we don't speak to each other every day, not even every month in some cases, we know we're going to be friends forever. They remember the days which are special to me and I know that we share something very special. We're 'friends for life'.

My birthday treat

I don't think I've ever had as much 'iron' in my diet as I did yesterday. My starter was black pudding with celeriac puree and sliced, glazed apples - yum. I was enjoying my meal so much that I missed photographing my main dish but I'm sure you can imagine my tasty plate of liver with lightly braised cabbage, mash and a red wine jus. I couldn't resist dessert for my birthday treat, which was rhubarb panna cotta, rhubarb sorbet and poached rhubarb - a must for rhubarb-a-holics!

Leading up to the meal, I also had a plate of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, another iron rich dish, so I think I've had my quota for the month in one single day! It was a lovely day even though the weather was pretty rotten. The Crown & Sandys at Ombersley is a well run, reasonably quiet hotel which serves delicious food. The atmosphere is very relaxed which makes this hotel the perfect place for a Sunday night out. I felt like a little Princess and bonus... I opened my birthday pressies and there was not a frying pan in sight.. ha ha.. ! Just a whole lot of love xx xx

My beautiful bakewell puds

Saturday night is cocktail night... !

 What tastes totally tropical and turns your tongue blue? The answer is, one of my friend's very alcoholic cocktails! Saturday night was the rerun of our Christmas cocktail evening - the one that was cancelled due to the snow. We dined on chicken casserole, ate my bakewell tarts, drank some very interesting and unusual cocktails and had fun with friends. Cheryl bought a fabulous raspberry, almond and white chocolate dessert which looked suspiciously like one baked my Mr Waitrose!

Derek and Jan announced their engagement and I managed to wake up on Sunday morning without the least sign of a hangover. A top night!

Cool stuff, white stuff and tarts!

There's nothing hot or cross about this bunny. With soft chocolate fondant in one half and golden caramel in the other, it's a double bunny treat from the lovely people at M&S. Saturday is a 'me' day. I was up bright and early with a cup of tea and my laptop in bed doing some work. Around 10am, I wandered into Nailsworth, bought a couple of White Stuff shirts from the newly, expanded clothes emporium in town and had a delicious chicken jacket potato and cappuccino at Hobbs for my lunch.
And now I'm baking Bakewell tarts. Shortcrust pastry, made by me of course, a thick layer of raspberry jam, some chopped peel and topped with a mix of fluffy whisked eggs, caster sugar, vanilla essence, melted butter and ground almonds - yum! Well, I hope they turn out to be as delicious as they look. If they don't, as my grandma would say "You can always put custard on it!"

I'm living in a nonstop world..

Where life runs on rails and the game is to fit in as much as you can until you fall over.. ! I've been at the Trade Show all day, attended the awards ceremony in the evening, dashed over to B'rum by train and all to catch a glimpse of and listen to Maroon 5. Supported by the lovely and most talented Sarah Bareilles it was a concert not to be missed. Yes, my feet were burning after standing on them all day and someone could have told me about the guitar solos.. (a pet hate of mine!) but I had heard over 80% of the tracks and could sing along to many of them, so I was pretty happy.

'Dinner' was a quick call at the convenience store to buy a pack consisting of 4 crackers, 4 small squares of cheese and a small pot of pickle - and a Freddo, of course. I was too tired to think about anything else after the show. All I wanted was my bed.. not theirs, not anybody's but mine :)

Today's Creative Genius

Have you heard of a sculptor named Brancusi? I hadn't until today. I opened my laptop, opened a new page and there he was. I love the fact that random bits of information are thrown at us every day on the internet. We can choose to pick them up or ignore them. Google is a amazingly strong brand and the fact that they can change the letters of their logo into images and we can still identify the word, is pretty amazing. I'd love to do that job!
Back to my "Man of the Day" Constantin Brancusi. As I've just discovered, he was a Romanian sculptor, born 1876 and lived into his 80's. I feel I should have heard his name before because his works are right up my street.
He is quoted as saying:

"My life has been a succession of marvellous events"

What a great epitaph that is! He had the gift of seeing the marvellous in everything, a gift which he used to transform even the most mundane objects into works that he hoped would inspire and leave us with a sense of awe. Of course art is subjective and one person's pleasure is another's confusion. Take a look for yourself and see whether you feel inspired or just nothing at all..

Friday's Question...

Will drinking Mommy Bear’s Special Blend turn my nose into a little brown button? Ha Ha.. after completely submerging myself in chilling, chicken and chilled vino last night, I'm bouncing around today and it's as if my brain has rubber legs. Quite honestly, I had to get up at 6am because I just couldn't stay in bed any longer. Every time I closed my eyes I found I was thinking about getting up to do some work. I am awarding myself 'Employee of the month' on my little team of one! Ah, nuts you might think but I'm so relieved to be full of beans today. I started the day with a lovely mug of Mummy Bear's Special Blend. On the tin it says:

A bright and lively infusion with a generous good nature and slightly nutty character that's kind on the senses and always supportive to those in need. Enjoying creative elements, with warm and open features, this lovely combination is the perfect accompaniment to a girly natter!

It's just one of those wonderfully, brilliant and very thoughtful ideas from www.blendsforfriends.com Time for another cuppa :)

On a day like today...

The best bit has to be...  COMING HOME! A bottle of Orvieto, I'm cooking my Oakland chicken listening to Madeleine Peyroux and hey, I'm multi-tasking.. just peeling a butternut squash to within an inch of its life - life has just got a whole lot better.

What do you do to chill out?

You could call it a PIG of a day! I've felt grumpy and even though I've apologised for not being myself, no else has really noticed my change of mood. I drove home tonight and had one of those epiphanies.. ! Of course, it's a full blooming moon.. I should have guessed! Did you notice everyone around you becoming a little more tense today? It's 17th February and the 'pleine lune' magnifies every tiny emotional moment into something much larger than normal. It means it's been much harder to get things done today. I've had a bucket full of stuff thrown at me and usually I'm brilliant at coping with stuff. But not today. I've felt like a creature, captured in a flytrap struggling to get free. When I escaped late this afternoon all I want to do was shout louder, drive faster and just shake off the stickiness of the day and be free again. It's like walking over that bridge in the jungle and realising that I'm free again! I think I'll pour another glass and celebrate with Madeleine.. out with the 'Weary blues' and in with 'This is heaven to me' and as long as freedom grows, I want to seek it.. :)

Smile and the world smiles with you.. :)

Second day back at work and I've already been reminded of 'radiator's and 'drains'. Radiators are the positive influences. You know the people who always smile, enjoy every day and get others to smile with them. Drains, on the other hand are negative people who can suck the life out of you (just like Henry the hoover!) if you let them. They rarely benefit from my positive vibes. On the contrary, they insist on being difficult and every situation is turned into a problem. Drains tend to be less perceptive people. They don't or won't notice the effect they're having on you. It only takes one  leaky drain in an enormous pool of people to eventually dehydrate your workforce. It's a drip-drip effect and the only way out is either to plug your ears (works like plugging the hole!) or clamber out of the pool.
My first line of defence when I come across a 'drain' is to be continually chirpy. That's very annoying, I know! My second line of defence is to treat their irritating ways like a game and just ignore them. Not easy to do but it works most of the time. After all.. I'm an ex person.. extremely, exceptionally, extra special :) perhaps that's why I enjoy my own company - there's no negativity there!

Back home

I was just thinking how good it is to be home. I think the term "an environment offering affection and security" is how I'd describe my home. It's so lovely to be back! "Back" now that's a strange word. In this context I don't mean behind, rear or second, I just mean returning and in a good way. I've had a good holibob but one of the best bits about a holiday is the 'back' bit. I love coming home as much as I love going away. I'm sure I've mentioned my thoughts on holidays before. That thing that's packed full of high expectations which if not managed properly, can end up being an enormous bin of disappointment (I'm not referring to my btw). Planning.. that's the key to a successful sweet holiday. And a positive temperament so when something doesn't go according to plan, you can still smile and be glad about it :) hello mom xx ps mmm, a change of font.. it appears that my blog has missed me too!

What did you do on Sunday night?

I was in the Marrs Bar and before you giggling smarty pants ask, no.. it's not an edible snack covered in chocolate! It's a bar in Worcester where I was enjoying young Brit singer songwriters, Ben Montague and Leddra Chapman who are just starting out on another UK tour.

Both have managed to get onto the coveted radio 2 playlists and 100% deserve to be there. They have tremendous voices, brilliant lyrics and personalities to match. Not shy of the audience, which in this case was definitely intimate, the two young stars separately sang through their amazing reportoire of songs dropping in a few cover versions to give a thoroughly enjoyable night. From an X-factor fan, this kind of talent is way off the scale in terms of what the tv programme can produce. Both Ben and Leddra write and perform their own songs.
Leddra is 21, Ben is 28 and both are exceptionally gifted and have worked hard to be where they are today. Ever appreciative of the audience, they were entertaining and I didn't want the evening to end. That's not something I can say about every gig I go to!
Leddra wins hands down for beauty and uniqueness. Ben gets my vote for having such a brilliant personality, being fun and that's why I bought his album, which I got him to sign for me along with a photo, of course.

A day at the Palace

Today I've been to visit the Palace here in Scicli which is owned by a very influencial Italian family. The grandmother, who is 78, is passionate about people and embroidery! Her daughter showed us, Francesca and Pepe who live in Venice but have a holiday home here in Scicli, around their magnificent home. The building itself is unassuming from the front, you'd hardly notice it was there. Yet when they opened the doors, the sheer scale of the magnificent entrance hits you. Housing a Harley Davidson and a Mini estate, this set the scene for what was to come. The family have lived in the house for over 40 years and have renovated the building during that time. From the ceilings with beautiful fresco scenes, chandeliers, statues, it was hard to take it all in particuarly trying to understand the significance of every piece described in their broken english. We were there for almost two hours by which time I was ready for my plate of antipasto and a glass of vino blanco!
It's unusual for people with wealth to be so open and friendly, usually they are closed. This family are taking the restoration of this palace very seriously and it's lovely to meet such interesting and genuine people. They seemed more than happy to share their lovely home with us. The palace is filled with memories of family members with some wonderful old black and white photographs from years ago. There's a photo of the grandfather, I think it was, with the Pope. Old wedding photographs, family scenes from the past 40 years which just made me want to know more about this great family. The grandmother encourages the local embroiderers to create table linen to help them make a little money and which she sells to families all over Italy. She's a great collector and had some magnificent pieces to show us. I can appreciate the time taken to create such amazingly intricate pieces.In fact, Francesca was smitten and had to buy some for her home here in Scicli.I have photos to share once I am back in the UK. Until then.. love xxx

Thursday adventures

Today has been a day of contrasts. I began the day in sunshine and spent the afternoon up in the snowy forest with a magnificent view of Mount Etna. It's a fair drive from where we're staying along the coast past Syracuse but the roads are pretty good, loads of tunnels - they build their roads quite differently to us in England. Lunch was gnocci with mozzerella, pomodoro and parmesan in a chalet-style restaurant on the side of the mountain. I'd been teased since yesterday about my observation of snow on the top of Mount Etna. "It can't be snow, ha ha" so I conceded and suggested that perhaps it was volcanic ash. Driving up the mountain it soon became clear that it was snow on the sides of the road and the road signs for putting chains on our tyres were actually real. It's not possible to get that close to the summit without hiking boots and having my "red lady shoes" on meant we could drive so far but to be honest, I wasn't happy about going any further in our little Nissan Micra!

Mount Etna was spewing out smoke and I have pics which I'll add once I return back to the UK. Big warm Sicily hugs xxx