Belly Dancing

I cannot tell you how much fun it was to go to this class last Tuesday and I am really looking forward to next Tuesday.

The people in the class were really welcoming and although it was run by age concern there seemed to be all ages there so no worries about fitting in.

The class really suited me as it was mostly on the spot without much movement of feet so it didn't make it too painful for me and I could sit out any time without anyone fussing. I still managed to do a good bit of it and felt so good afterwards. I would recommend it to anyone for fun and exercise and also a great feel good factor that is hard to describe.
All the ladies were wearing belts with coins that made a lovely rattly noise when they wiggled so am looking forward to getting one of those. hope to be able to take a picture next week.
The teacher is really good and even to warm up and cool down exercises are belly dancing moves if that is the right word.
Anyway if you get a chance to go to a lesson then defintely do.

Holidaying with Kids and other things

Have just spent a lovely week in Cornwall Geri and Catrina came but the rest of the kids didn't for various reasons. Geri beat David at go-karting which has always been on her wish list a bonus to beat him as well lol. Before I went I had a go at dying my eyelashes myself made a bit of a boob in not putting enough mixture in but it was noticable enough for a friend and Geri to comment so will do this again. Wore makeup when we went out so am putting this in as once for this task.
There was a lovely spa at the hotel so this counts as a spa visit and it was so lovely and warm that I was able to continue my swimming challenge and have now completed 24700 metres which is actually 16.5 miles out of 21 whoopee do.
For August and September I set myself a challenge not to buy any clothes and amazed myself by being able to do it for two months instead of one. I also find myself shopping in a different more thoughtful way not just mindlessly buying yet another top or skirt. May think about having one month of being allowed to buy and then one month not, it was cetainly very interesting to note how I felt differntly about shopping after not doing it for a fairly short space of time. Am also looking at ways of looking at my own wardrobe as a "shop" by putting some away or in a different wardrobe, just out of interest. We all need to be a bit more frugal these days so no harm to buy less, Am looking forward to the belly dancing class tomorrow, shoud be fun.

September update- mostly swimming and auction

Have been to Turkey on holiday so was lucky enough to be able to carry on with my swimming challenge. Was glad to find it wasn't as far as I thought and have gone from swimming 15.000 metres to a grand total now of 24,000 metres so am well over half way there as it is only 33,880 metres or 21 miles. Am hoping to join a swimming club in October so may even get to complete it by the end of this year.

While in Turkey we went to a charity dinner and at the dinner there was an auction. David bid on a dinner for two in the Istanbul Restaurant on second beach and we won the bid so am cheekily counting this as going to an auction and bidding but if I get to go to a real auction will do so.

We had a lovely meal in the restaurant and if you are ever in altinkum would highly recommend it.

Go On A Picnic

Without realising it Michelle helped me achieve this with very little effort. Michelle organised a picnic for this weekend and we all went to the park near her and Pierces -Norbury Lake which is very pretty. Michelle had made lots of sandwiches and brought drinks and fruit. Ellen made cakes, Tom bought a limited supply of crisps- his words and some yum, yums and I had made some cornish pasties and brought hot chocolate which everyone thought was funny and no-one drunk except me when I got home.

We had seats and blankets and it was lvoely that everyone came children, partners and grandchild.

David had a walk around the lake and then David, Ellen, Pierce and Geri played "frisbee" with the lid of Ellen's caketin.

A lovely time was had by all and I hope it can be repeated again soon.

Outdoor Cinema

I remember once when we were in Greece somewhere we saw some people sitting out in the sun watching a film. It looked like such a nice thing to do I decided to add it to my list.
So... I saw an advert for Wimbledon film club short film festival at Merton Abbey Mills so myself and David duly attended.

Unfortunately it was not a bit like my rosy idea of a warm summers evening watching a lovely film.

The people running it were all a bit- how can I say this politely- dozy. "Now you want 2 tickets and they are £3 each so thats..." Didn't feel like helping out a grown man with 3 plus 3.
A few other organisers were fiddling with the projector trying to get it to line up with the screen for about half an hour. In retrospect this was the best bit of the evening.

Once the films started they were just in the main unintelligable to us any rate. A man sitting in front of us was laughing madly at a film about Virginia Woolfe but maybe it was just over our heads. Another film was a line drawing of two conjoined people dancing and I'm sure was very meaningful to someone but not to us. I didn't even understand the notes about another film about a Russian which seemed to consist of lots of people standing around wearing scary and scarier make-up.
We decided to leave after this point in case I got nightmares so although it is an experience I can cross off my list I am hoping to repeat it at Dulwich picture gallery where they are showing Mamma Mia- sounds like it will be a much better night for it couldn't have been worse but at least it was an experience.

Blackberrying

Had a very successful and enjoyable time blackberrying with David, Geri, Emma and Catrina.
Pierce and Michelle were on their way to come but as there were 4 of us we had finished picking before they got as far as Morden. David showed us where there was an apple tree and David and Geri climbed the tree to pick some apples. Then Emma got on Geri's shoulders to get to some hard to reach ones.

When we got back I made lots of jam after a quick call to David's Mum to ask her how to make it and she had a great suggestion for the lack of jam jars. So in the end I made 8 "mugs" of jam and 2 blackberry and apple pies. Will add Peggy's recipe for jam to the family recipe book although this is going a bit slow owing to the lack of response so will have to chivvy a few people along

August- Update

Have not had a very good month this month having had sinusitus and generally feeling a bit blah.
However am going blackberrying tomorrow hopefully with a few helpers and maybe to outdoor cinema. Am having bit of problem to finding enough jam jars but will improvise with tupperware or something - who cares-lol
Not done soap making but have done a lot of cooking as we are trying to eat a bit healthier and have a bit more variety.