The Barefoot Goddess Festival

Another image from Barefoot

Summer Holidays

Seems a million years ago since the beginning of the summer holidays and also seems like 5 minutes.
First week went by in a whizz getting ready for Barefoot Camp.
My first time and I was really looking forward to it.
I was not disappointed.
I picked my friend Ruth up and with all our camping stuff piled in my little polo we set off to Wendy's to meet up with our fellow festival goers.
We managed the journey in convoy pretty well but due to traffic issues we took longer than planned and missed the first workshop I had earmarked to go to.
Car park was a bit of a way from camp-site so I hired a wheelbarrow to transfer all of our stuff.
After some negotiation we did manage to set up all together. Our Friday night meal was to be a veggie curry with all of us contributing different dishes. My dish was bombay potato. This worked really well. I think we fed a few extras too.
Friday night was freezing. Nobody slept well. But the two days that followed were truly magical.
I enjoyed the Bollywood/Bangra class the most .
I loved getting a henna tattoo.
The cabaret on Saturday night was awesome.
Everything was so relaxed and the people were all friendly and fantastic.
There were all sorts there all enjoying themselves and getting on.
I can't wait for next year.
PS
The shopping was good too

 Part of our camp with my little tepee

The other side of camp with bottom of flagpole

Was going to post some more pictures but blogger seems to be playing up

The Barefoot Goddess Festival

Some friends came over for lunch today to make some plans for the weekend as we are all going to The Barefoot Goddess Festival. Some have been before but it is the first time for me. I need to get my head round what I need to get ready but I am really starting to look forward to it.
I have bought a flag pole and a pirate flag to fly at our camp as there will be a few of us and I think that a flag is vital. I shall probably forget other important stuff like a kettle etc.
There are so many activities to choose from and I am not sure that I have the stamina for all those I have planned but I will try. I also plan on taking loads of photos but will probably be so involved in stuff that I will forget.
Have been a bit distracted over the last couple of days as we are having a few 'traveller' issues locally.

And finally a new Tattoo

After manning a stall selling Tattoos Only magazine at the Essex Tattoo Expo in March Marc promised me a tattoo. Finally Tanya, his gorgeous wife , booked me in. So I had to make a decision about what to have done. I knew that I wanted something with Celtic links as I have a Celtic dog on my right arm and I do find myself drawn to all things Celtic. After a lot of research I decided on a Triskele .
One of my tribal dance teachers, Deana,has one on the back of her neck and mine is based on hers with a little added by Marc.

                          It represents the three ages of women maiden, mother and crone.
I know which phase I am in !!

Linda Miller

Went on an Embroiderers Guild workshop with Linda Miller.
It was on machine embroidery and while I am a fairly confident beginner I struggled a bit on this one. Some people had obviously done a lot more than I had.
I wanted to do a bee as a gift for a work colleague as her name is Mrs Bee 
Lots more practise needed I think.I am always frustrated if I don't pick up a technique quickly and also make the mistake of comparing my work with the tutor who is of course an expert .

Old Friends

After seeing Keith at Brands we met up with him and some of his family for a drink. Old school chum Dawn and her partner Mark came too, Keith and Dawn had not seem each other since school .Thats a long time ago!

                                     Dawn is far right and Keith is between her and I

Bikes

Been to a couple of bike meetings recently. Hubby was in need ! Have started to look for the next bike purchase but it won't be easy. The bike that hubby wants is not common and some are going for silly money.
Went to Cadwell to watch British Historic Racing (VMCC) a long drive but probably our favourite track so worth the drive
Met up with Gary from the IOM. Sadly no Manx Nortons with For Sale signs on them
Couple of weeks later went to Brands for CRMC meeting. I knew that my old schoolmate Keith Higgs was over from Australia and was racing. He was actually the first person we bumped into on arrival. Also saw Dave Frost another old friend.Some glorious bikes including the Dunnell bikes .Our Triton is a Tony Dunnell bike.

                                                    Us at Cadwell

                                            Dunnell Matchless

Dunnell Manx

Had a laugh over the fact that Keith had been banned on the Saturday of the meeting for using tyre warmers. What is he like ?

                                   

Anniversary

Son and daughter in law had their first wedding anniversary and as they were going away to Bath for a couple of days we went out for a meal. Just so happened that the Harvester that we went to was where hubby and I had our wedding reception 36 years before almost to the day. It's changed a bit since then.

            Son and DIL him in his amusing T shirt. Something to do with The Only Way Is Essex

                                               

                                                Daughter and SIL

                                                 Hubby and I

                                                             






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Holidays

Bad me no posts since before half term.
Have had Ofsted at work. Boo

Camping trip went well even if the campsite was more populous than an African refugee camp
Think we gave Jen a good birthday!

Time flies

My how time flies!

After a couple of short weeks at work it was hard to go back to a full 5 days. But now only another 2 till half term, There is a camping trip being planned for the last weekend of half term and camping equipment has been purchased by DD and SIL.
Finding him a sleeping bag was interesting. He's a big guy.
This Saturday I went to a Tribal Belly Dance evening organised by http://karmicevents.co.uk/ The evening started with a performance by Deana and Helen of http://www.tribalunity.co.uk/  I go to Deana's class on Thursdays.
This was followed by a master-class with Deana. Great fun! After this we had some amazing food.
Sunday saw us at Hadleigh Country Park at the The Pagan Lion & Ancient Mother Circle Beltane Picnic. Watching Tribal Unity dance and of course joining in at the first opportunity. Also some great Morris dancing. Good food good company what more could you ask for?
Happy to report that courtesy of OH's new phone we were able to watch a bit of MotoGP and confirm the result which saw the great Valentino Rossi on the podium for the first time this season. Thought Simoncelli was a trifle harshly dealt with getting a ride through penalty. The governing powers are not being very consistant with their punishments this season.
So another weekend disappears in a few minutes and a weeks work beckons.
Heigh ho such is life

TT3D Closer to the Edge

Back to work with a bang on Tuesday. Hit the ground running and busy busy. Nice to start with 2 short weeks. First one 3 days and then 4 days.Had our first Tuesday night dancing club which was good. Wednesday night pub quiz didn't go so well but I got minor tiddly and was good entertainment according to hubby.
Thursday night is Tribal night. Few more there this week which is great. More shimmy practise and turning with shimmy. Went straight from there to cinema to see TT3D. Boys went Tuesday to Lakeside to see it and all enjoyed it. I was going on my own but DD got her shift covered and came with me. Wasn't sure that she would enjoy it but the film is actually more about the characters than the race itself. Some wonderfully funny and some very poignant moments. Guy Martin has been a hero for some time and although not perfect (who is ?) I still think he is great and just the kind of character that you need in the sport. Few bits of stomach churning action. Conor Cummins accident being one. Don't know how he survived that one. Makes it all the more amazing to see him back on a bike again at Brands last weekend. Also didn't realise that Hutchinson had been so badly injured just a short while after being the first man to win 5 TT's in a week. Made me all the more determined to get over to the island. Not for the TT as work prevents that but could go for the Manx this year as dates line up. Phil is seeing if he can get the time off and if he can I may be booking the flight and grovelling to Gary for a bed.
Extra day off as it appears that there is a wedding on. Not that interested but happy to take the day.
Planning breakfast out over the weekend and hopefully a new computer courtesy of DS. Phils help may be required as SIL has taking up remote control car banger racing and since DS was a world champion remote control car racer a few years back (not bangers) he does have a little expertise in this area.

Brands Hatch Weekend

Our friend from the Isle of Man, Gary, had got us free passes for the BSB at Brands this weekend. We had decided to only go for Sunday and Monday. Yesterday we parked ourselves near the exit to Clearways but got so hot that we moved round to the entry side which had some shade. Today we got there early to be able to park our chairs on the fence for the best view. Certainly got that but the breeze didn't let up all day and we were actually quite cold. However the racing was excellent with wins in the BSB class to Shane Byrne and Tommy Hill. We were very pleased to have a local winner with Danny Buchan taking a hard fought win in the Superstock 1000. He was listed as living in Basildon but the commentator said he was from Maldon. He is only 17 and beat the likes of John McGuinness and Connor  Cummins, both road race legends.
Face is feeling a little tight so may have got a bit burned or could just be wind damage!
Queued for about an hour to get out of the car park today so not too bad.Waved Gary on his way.
Must seriously do something about going over to visit him. Maybe when the Manx GP is on ??

Thursday Making Bras

So today was Tribal bra making day. Three dancing friends Wendy Ruth and Mel plus baby Emily came round and we all made a really good start on our bra's.Tribal bras are heavily embellished with coins, shells and various trimmings. I bought a large piece of jewellery, to put in the middle of mine, when the kids took me to Camden for mothers day. Everyone bought something yummy to eat so a good day all round.
 Beginners tribal tonight with the lovely Deana and we did a fair bit of shimmy work so my legs are aching now.
Have started to look at cameras to replace my broken one. Find it hard to know what I am looking at.

Tollesbury

Have been meaning for some time to take a trip down to Tollesbury. Ever since it featured on the TV Restoration programme. Since one of our current favourite things to do is to have breakfast out we decided to call in at the Heybridge Basin for breakfast at the Lock.

Went there recently with the kids and breakfast was good. Well they say that it is waitress service which would have been good if we had got it but people were coming in from outside and ordering at the counter and we got ignored ,so we left.

Tootled on down to Tollesbury and parked near the industrial estate. You have to go through the estate to get to the Marina. There was a little cafe there and by this time we were ravenous. Those of you that know my husband will realise that this is a dangerous state to be in. He had a full English I just had toast. He said the breakfast was one of the best he had ever had and it was all excellent value for money. We were watching the chef there and he was taking great care over everything. So we recommend this little cafe if ever in Tollesbury.There is also a cracking little bakery in the village too.

After a little light food shopping we ( we meaning mainly Phil) tackled weeding the patio. Then pub quiz time. Didn't do very well this week. Looking forward to tomorrow as I have some friends coming over to make tribal bras.

I  think I lead a healthily varied life

So Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March and some of April

Big event in October was daughters wedding. Had a great time from the party bus til the end. She looked amazing he looked amazing the bridesmaids looked amazing. Was a great day.And what about that cake. Spectacular and so them I loved it.
Sadly Phil's Mum was taken ill  during the day and have to thank Laura and Donna for all their help

 Sad news was that just a few weeks later our old neighbour Gary (pictured above with his partner Sue) passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly.

Jen and Jake flew off on their Egyptian honeymoon and 2 days later Peter and Jess flew back from their (delayed) honeymoon in the Maldives.

So to November, went  to see Armstrong and Miller at Southend. Had my birthday.  Our gift from Jen and Jake  at their wedding was tickets to see UB40 at Southend and was a pure coincidence that this happened on my birthday. Fantastic night!!!!!!

Should have had my long awaited op but it didn't happen. 12hours wait to be told 'no bed'

Did Richard box workshop.

End of month and Snow!!!

Operation happened on Dec 1st heavy snow outside but all went well. Went back to school for just a couple of days before Christmas break.

Went to see The Blockheads at Colchester. Another stonkingly good night.

January we popped down to Brighton for a spot of shopping and the Brighton Tattoo convention

February

Went to see Fairport Convention at Colchester. They were a bit subdued I thought but still good and they did the entire Babbacome Lee album which I had not heard them do before.

Went to Textiles in Focus  at Cottenham and for the first time did a workshop. Margaret taught one as well.

March

Went to see an amazing dance show at Rochford. The ATS belly dancing that I am learning was formulated by American Carolena Nericcio. She came over here to do some training and an evening of dance was arranged so us mere mortals could watch the creator at work. I have to say although she was totally breathtaking I most enjoyed the sister studios dancing together. For me this was Tribal as it should be.

March also had the Essex Tattoo Expo at the Brentwood centre and I worked on the Tattoos Only mag stall with my daughter. This is always a great day and I bumped into a few old friends and made a few new ones.

Towards the end of the month Tribal Unity organised a charity hafla for the people of Egypt. Always a bit nerve wracking dancing in front of those that can really do it but a great night nevertheless. And I won a record amount of raffle prizes which was a first for me.

Phil went off to Jerez to watch MotoGP and it rained!

Meanwhile in the sunshine of Camden market I had the best mothers day ever with my two children and their respective partners.

Camden probably not the place it used to be but good fun anyway and I managed to spend a bit.

On to April.

Phoenix hafla and the last of Wendy teaching us. :{

When we go back it will be a dance club. I hope people support it.

Did only my second ever workshop at Hylands House 'Inspired by Kantha' and have completed my elephant piece.

Met some colleagues old and new for coffee and a catch up and now looking forward to a day out with hubby . Tollesbury I think. Then some of my dancing buds coming over to have a Tribal bra making day which should be fun

Phew ! That's all caught up then

OK so it's not that then

So it is obviously not the pics that stops me from blogging it must just be me.
Anyhoo I broke my camera so even if I wanted to take pics I couldn't

Why don't I blog more often?

I often sit down at the computer with every intention of blogging, but don't.
Why is this?
Been thinking about this lately and have struggled to come to any conclusion.
Is it because I have nothing to say?
Anyone that knows me or has met me will know that this cannot be true as I always have something to say.
Too much on many occasions.
I certainly have the time, in fact I spend far too much time on the computer.
Rephrased that says I waste far too much time on the computer when I should be doing other things.
The only thing I can think of is that I find uploading and editing photos such a pain that I am avoiding blogging because of it.
So from now on I will be blogging more and posting pics less.
Makes the blog a bit boring but it might just get me going more.