The excitement is killing me......

I may even have to squeeze a trip to here in too.

Holy Smoke

Last week was smokey in more than one way, as you might have read in a previous post, I went to see Smokey Robinson at the Royal Albert Hall. He was great, his voice was still fantastic, and he sang all the the favourites - Tears of a Clown, Tracks of My Tears, Ooh Baby Baby, I Second That Emotion, Being With You, You Really Got a Hold on Me, and also the songs he wrote for other Motown bands such as 'Get Ready' & 'My Girl' sung by Temptations. He was also really funny and didn't take him self to seriously, funnier than the warm up comedian in fact! But Libby and I had to laugh, after the last wardrobe change, he wore a white polyester satin shirt and trousers with with diamante belt and shirt cuffs, a bling cross around his neck and two diamond stud earrings - Classy!

I have tried to see if anyone has posted a video of the concert on YouTube yet, but I only found this one which is a very poor video phone clip with some old boy singing out of tune over the top of it - quite comical really!

We also had a lovely dinner before hand at our family favourite Carluccio's courtesy of Mum and Dad. Thank you x

For those of you who live in the UK, you will know about the other smokiness I refer to, as on Sunday 1st July the UK has banned smoking in public buildings.... Hip Hip Hooray!! I can now go down the pub, and not come home smelling like an ashtray (says a reformed smoker of 5 years). And on friday I think all the smokers in all the offices, schools, etc. had a farewell party for their smoking rooms, (my mother-in-law even had a cigarette cake made - Yuk! Although I don't think it was actually made of cigarettes) and on saturday my NON-smoking husband, Danny, joined in, with his friend and had a cigar in our local - The Angel.

So commiserations to all you smokers out there who will now have to stand outside for a smoke during the lovely british summer that we are having, and celebrations for me and the rest of you non-smokers, Hurrah!

Picnic at Southwold

Last wednesday, there seemed to be a gap in the copious amounts of rain we have been having, so Ella, Liberty (my sister) and I decided to visit Mum and Dad, who were staying at the Swan Hotel in Southwold, for a picnic on the beach.

Which meant I got to use my lovely pincic set that I got for my birthday, as well as my blue polka-dot wind-break that I made last winter (I think I was pining for summer hols!) that has been patiently sitting in my workroom, waiting for it's first outing.

The weather held out, the sun shone, and Ella paddled in the sea with mum, we browsed the lovely shops, and walked the Pier, and it was a relatively stress-free picnic. I say relatively stress free, the only incident was when we arrived ready to set up camp.

Dad and Libs had gone to get some more food from the deli, and the wind had picked up, Ella was wingeing because she was 'hungry', it was 'too windy' and the sand and her hair was in her face, so we gave her a packet of crisps, tied her her up in a ponytail and I managed to produce a menage of hairclips to hold down the rogue ringlets that refused to stay out of the way, simultaneously Mum and I where stuggling to get the wind-break up in the sudden blustery weather (mum holding, and me banging into the sand with a rock, mum saying she didn't think it would stay up because the sand was too dry and it was too windy, and me gritting my teeth not giving up- it will bloody stay up!) but eventually persistance paid off and the wind-break went up, stayed up, and worked, it was lovely and snuggly behind it and Ella stopped wingeing and Libby and Dad arrived with food and wine...........................and relax! (does any of this sound familar?)

This wednesday evening I'm am going to the Royal Albert Hall with Libs, and M+D - courtesy of Dad - to see Smokey Robinson live, I didn't know he was still alive, let's hope he gets through the concert! I will let you know how it goes :) Meanwhile see here for some funky dancing from the Miracles.

Yesterday evening was beautiful.....

and after collecting Ella from nursery and picking up so milk from the village shop, it was still warm, so we went for a lovely walk with Lily through a field near by, the grass was nearly as tall as me, and Lily thundered through the long grass which sent the pollen flying visibly through the air like little puffs of dust, I seemed to be holding up well, given that I suffer from hayfever, but I should have really taken some tablets, cause as soon as we turned to make our way home for dinner, it all caught up with me, and I sneezed non-stop all the way back, which is really not easy to cope with when you have a dog in one hand and a 3yr-old in the other trying to make your way along a narrow pavment on a B road!

Anyway, shortly after the sneezing subsided, I had managed to sort out dinner, and was just sitting down to a nice cold glass of sparkling wine, when there was a surge in the electricity and then an almighty roll of thunder. I dashed out in the garden, collected all the chair cushions, managed to pull the day-bed into the out-house, and ripped off the washing from the line just before the heavens opened, and it pelted it down.

This morning I went out to survey the damage (I say damage, cause this time last year I came home from work after we'd had a thunder storm and gallons of rain, to discover that my window box full of red ivy geraniums, that had been in full bloom when I had left them that morning, had got so top heavy with rain, that they had flipped off the window sill and on to the ground, and all the stems had boken, and that my one peonie bloom [one, because some child, that shall remain nameless, had broken off several buds previously] that had only open two days ago, had been massacared, its mass of apple blossom petals in a pile on the ground!) but to my delight everything had survived, and looked beautiful with little droplets of rain sitting prettily on everything. So lovely that I decided to take some pictures to show you.....

Now today I have to decide what to cook for dinner on sunday, has I have invited Mum, Dad, sister Libby, and my Brother William (doubt he'll turn up though) for Father's Day/Mum's Birthday lunch. Any Idea's for a summery menu? I'll have a look in CL and Sainsburys magazine for inspiration.