Dancing the night away with Sophie

We went to see Sophie Ellis Bextor at Holmfirth Picturedrome.

You can see from the photograph just how close you can get to the stage.... almost touching distance.  We queued up to get in early, but not for the front row, no we headed for the seats on the balcony. 

I was sat on an office style chair, husband was sat on a wedding reception style chair and there were at least a couple of dining chairs up there.  Brilliant.

Now not only is Sophie beautiful to look at that girl can sing.... and dance...... in sparkly high heel shoes.  They played songs from Wanderlust, her new album, which were beautiful as well as a special rendition of True Faith by New Order. Gobsmackingly good.

The band's encore was a selection of disco.  I danced and danced and then right at the end Sophie sang a song from just below us on the lower balcony.  As she sang she turned and looked right at us and waved.

I had to stop myself from bursting into tears.  It was a wonderful night in a great venue.

And they serve Timothy Taylors - result!

A Weekend in London

I can't remember the last time I went to London, well I can but it was ages ago.

This weekend I went with friends on the train and stayed over so that we could visit the Handmade Fair.

The best bits...

Getting an Oyster card - made me a proper London person

 Liberty - even though someone was wandering round with a dog.....just a dog not even a Guide Dog.  And it had a swishy tail that was perilously close to the Christmas ornaments....

Savile Row, peering into the basement workshops and this Porsche parked there (nice)

Sitting in our hotel room in pyjamas discussing the day with a bottle of wine and crochet in hand (obviously no picture of this bit).
Hampton Court grounds and the sun shining on us at the Handmade Fair on Sunday

Making a memory wire bracelet (although not enough time to get the colours right, it's too dark)

The stations in London - Kings Cross and St Pancras are sooooo different from the last time I visited, just look at this amazing structure..

 
The slightly weird bit.......

 

Yes that is the Very hungry Caterpillar.  And the apple.

 

So all in all a good weekend and I managed to crochet an entire scarf... it was going to be called my Hampton ...... but then something clicked in my head....... arghhh ....no, we'll go with it as my London scarf.

 

The thing is, it was remarkably easy. So having done this once and enjoyed it so much, I might just want to do it again...... quite soon.

 

Sicily - The Land of Montalbano

Earlier this year we visited Sicily.  This was prompted by watching the programme Montalbano on BBC4 on Saturday nights. It is mainly set in and around the Ragusa district of Sicily. The programme is brilliant but the setting is something else, so we headed there earlier this year at May half term.  If you are also a fan (or even if you have never seen the series) and would like to visit I can recommend:

The castle Donnafugata, the home of the Mafia in the series and utterly beautiful (this balcony was the setting for a meeting between Montalbano and the head of the mafia family)

Scicli (this is the town Hall used as the police station in the series).  Photo taken from beneath the shade of an umbrella in the café opposite

Ragusa Ibla, the location of several scenes

Heading down the back alleyways to secluded squares and gardens (Ragusa Ibla & Scicli)



A trip to Syracuse to the Teatro Grecoa and the Ear of Dionysius, a man made cave. 

Looking up at the balconies overhead.  There are plenty of stunning balconies to be seen

A quiet moment in one of the many churches on the island - beautiful interiors, cool and calm

Watching out for large men unfolding themselves from tiny little cars.......

(how did all that luggage fit in there.......?)

Not wishing to break the law your honour (or the start of my blog)

I have thought for ages about the title for my blog and it has not been easy.

Firstly I should state that I have been inspired to blog by the talented Alice of The Sight of  Morning who can be found here www.thesightofmorning.blogspot.com. It followed a comment made about pebbles and as I have pebbles in most rooms and on my desk it seemed appropriate to continue the theme.

However, having chosen the name I find that pebble collecting is technically illegal.  Now I am not shovelling mountains of pebbles into the boot of my car at the beach, but I may collect one or two to hold onto in my pocket on holiday.  I try to find pebbles that look like faces.

Can you see the brown one sort of has a face?

So I just want to say that I don't plan to break the law, and it is a small scale and holiday based obsession, but it is one of the things you will find here.  As well as a bit of crochet and knitting, tales of my family, holiday snaps, possibly a bit of rugby league (the fortunes of Castleford Tigers), just the stuff of life really. 

So, if you are also a pebble collector, or even if you are not, please feel free to come along for the ride. You never know we may end up sharing a prison cell.