More money than sense

So, I'm reading Daily Candy today, and what's the featured hip new fashionable item du jour? Ooh - a stunning necklace, each one individually crafted, and all the more covetable because of its ephemeral nature. And more than being simply beautiful, the necklace is a wearable piece of social commentary -- rather than purchase something momentarily trendy, which you then tire of after wearing it twice and it gets old and faded and then you send it to the charity shop but no one wants it there either and then it adds to our ever growing mountains of rubbish threatening to swamp the earth -- rather than that, it just melts away in a few weeks. Ah, beautiful and eco-friendly. And only from £120. What a triumph of jewellery making.

Er, no. It's ROCK CANDY people! As the designer herself says - sugar, water, and string. Get a do-it-yourself kit here. Or go to the grocery store - I think you may be able to find the rare ingredients there...

[BTW, I realise this rant may make me sound like either a philistine or a grumpy old woman -- but really! Rock Candy necklaces 'from £120'??? What happened to the recession?]

NPR puzzle - about TV, so how can I miss?

To enter this week's NPR puzzle:

"If you take the title "Candid Camera." and write down the first appearance of each letter, in the order they appear, ignoring any repeated letters, you get C, A, N, D, I, M, E, R. Or "LA Law" would be L, A, W.

By doing the same thing to the title of what other well-known TV program do you get the letters S, E, A, M, T, R?"

If you can get the answer by 3pm Eastern time (about 11 hours from now as I write), be sure to submit it to NPR, and maybe you too can play the Sunday Puzzle on the air with Will Shortz. Not sure he calls London, but have my phone ready if he does!

On the road to domestic goddessness

I took one more step closer last night, courtesy of the London College of Fashion, with the first night of my... (drum roll) SEWING CLASSES!! Yes, I've finally enrolled in a basic machine sewing course after talking about it for ages and eons and even years.

No faffing about, we got straight on the machines, industrial ones at that (ooh, scary. Very fast, and very powerful). I learned that in some beginner courses you start on paper, with no thread (huh?) just to get the feel of the machine - but not us. Nope, right into bobbin winding, needle threading, and line after line on squares of calico. (which, by the way, is not the printed floral cotton I knew it as in the US, but rather a plain unbleached material -- like thicker muslin. Thanks, Wikipedia, for clearing up my confusion!). By the end of the first class I was feeling quite in control of my machine, ooh miss, look at me and my straight seams.

Until it was, erm, miss - I seem to have broken my needle... The industrial machines may be powerful, but clearly no match for me. Stay tuned for next week's installment: what can she break next!?

Where did the week go?

How did it get to be Saturday already, with only a few minutes until we head off on our lovely (we hope!) long weekend in Lugano??

My week off playing hometown tourist disappeared far too quickly -- however I did manage to do more than just sit around watching Rockford*. To wit:

*finally taking in Ice Station Antarctica at the Natural History Museum -- great exhibit... if I were about 30 years younger. Impressive for kids, would've been better if they had more things to keep the parents amused
*didn't take in the Russians at the Royal Academy -- lesson: book in advance for popular shows in their final week!
*took lesson to heart - and successfully booked in advance for Vanity Fair Portraits at National Portrait Gallery. Fab. Will get the book, definitely.
*window shopped -- including the new Banana Republic, first in Europe. Great dresses, I wanted most of them - however disappointingly, either they believe all Londoners are between size 0 - 4, or the larger sizes had sold out.

And now, off to Adventures in Switzerland!

*the fact I'd seen them all before may have helped

Rhythm-tastic at the Kenton

Why were we in Stoke Row at all to experience the great April snow of aught eight? The now annual appearance of the Roy Bailey Band at Henley's Kenton Theatre (featuring Ed Hall on drums -- aka Ashley's Dad). This year's theme was Fascinating Rhythm, which allowed them to pull together quite an eclectic mix of differently-timed (but all toe-tapping) tunes. From the title track to Abba, from Oye Como Va to West Side Story and In The Mood, it was a well rounded musical evening to say the least - and once again, it was all I could do not to jump up and start dancing (or worse - start singing along!)

Speaking of singing, in addition to keeping the fascinating beat throughout, Ed led vocals on one number... take it away, Ed Hall, with his take on The Lady is a Tramp:

If April showers bring May flowers...

...what do April snows bring?

I guess we'll find out, as this past weekend saw temperatures across the UK dive from a lovely spring-like 68 degrees on Friday, to below freezing by Saturday evening. And *this* is what I saw out the bedroom window when I woke up in Stoke Row (at the in-laws) Sunday morning:

I think this is more snow than I've seen in the UK in the 10+ years I've been here. Granted, I was outside London, but still --it's not like I was in the wild Scottish north! Stoke Row still counts as the South East. (at least I think so - my English geography is still pretty poor...)

Poor daffodils in the back garden...

Taking Millie for a walk by the sports field (she didn't fancy too much walking or ball chasing -- preferring instead to lie in the snow...)

All I can say is, pretty as the snow may be, the flowers and I hope spring returns soon...

A-a-a-and STRETCH

So, last night was the last of my 6-week beginners Pilates class (for you Pilatophiles out there - it was floor- not machine-based). I think I liked it less and then more than I thought I would -- which just about evens itself out. On the positive side -- the class was small (6 - 8), and we were all starting out from the same super novice beginner state. And the instructor was great -- very hands on, physically moving us each into the correct position if we didn't quite get it from just watching her movements. And we went over the basics, quite thoroughly. So I do think I learned a lot.

And yet. I'm not sure I really felt like I was DOING anything. I did start to feel the exercises properly after the first few lessons -- but still. We'd do one exercise about 5 times, and then she'd say 'ooh, that's enough, don't over do it'. So at the end of the hour class, I felt quite relaxed, but not sure I felt that, um, exercised. I think the only way pilates works to 'sculpt your body', a la every magazine cover, is to do it more than once a week.

Hmm... will have to think about that one...

What will they think of next??

Thanks, Kris, for pointing me to this fab new application from Google. Why review the past when you can search the future!? I wonder if it only works Down Under, however...