Time is running away with me!!

Well it's the last day of May and I need to do 2 posts before tomorrow to keep up with the challgenges I've set myself!!
May has been extraordinarily busy for me but so enriching and life-enhancing.
Finally got home yesterday after 9 hours of travelling on the previous day from Sardinia to London with one of my classic but awful migraines complete with sickness and diarrohea and terrible head nt made much better by several screaming children on the flight back - am usually very sympathetic but I really wasn't in the mood that day as was very touch and go that I'd get out of the hotel as I'd been feeling so nauseous and worried about the hour coach journey to the airport. But - I made it and the people I was travelling with from the hotel were very kind and helpful.
I had the wonderfully warm welcome from my lovely Chiswick "family" and a comfortable night's sleep before winging my very tired way back to Wales by train yesterday.
After a much-needed sleep in the afternoon my beloved Bass (my black lab for newcomers to my blog!)was delivered back to me and was ecstatic to be back home and has been very clingy and cuddly since. He's more than well-looked after at the wonderful kennels and the owner gives him lots of extra cuddles but it's not quite the same as home and it's lovely to witness his joy of being home and with me!

I really got into reading on holiday and managed to demolish the Lionel Shriver book "So much for all That" in just under 2 days even though it was quite a harrowing and emotional read at times but so incredibly well-written and researched. Many things described about how people cope and react to terminal illness resonated strongly with my own experiences and how people you think you can read well can surprise you both in positive and negative ways. I'm sure we all are guilty of the "bury your head in the sand mentality" with things we find difficult to comprehend or are alien to us but when you're in the situation with only one endgame so to speak it becomes necessary to find a way through in spite of everything.

I'm now well over halfway through reading "The Life of Pi" which isn't on my reading challenge list but is one I've wanted to read for a long time. I never saw the film and I must watch it once I've read the book as I'm finding it absolutely riveting and very moving.

It was a surprisingly nice day today and I took Bass out for a lovely walk in the forest complete with my Kindle and Ipod and am determined to try and make more time for quiet times and reflection after I got so much out of a slower pace on holiday.

I must go and eat now and then am off to see the film "The Great Gatsby" and will write on what I thought of it later on! I bought myself the novel in Italian at the airport so am going to try and get through that as I'd really like to get as fluent as I can with my Italian as my confidence improved whilst on holiday and I really get a buzz out of communicating in a different language and making closer contact with a culture.

Ciao for now!

Happy Days!

Can't believe it's already 26th May and this is only my second entry this month!
Been so busy this month! Had amazing time competing over 6 days at Cheltenham Festival and meeting up with new and old friends there.
I was amazed to win 5 trophies(2 for piano and 3 for Speech recitation which I hadn't done for over 25 years and amazed my memory held up!!),4 second places (1 with the Outsanding category mark of 90 for piano recital of which I was most proud as was incredibly high standard)and 2 3rds.
Exhausting but well worth doing and had a really good time.

I'm writing this from a finally sunny Sardinia where I'm having a well-earned week's relaxing break. The weather's been rather windy,chilly and unsettled since I got here last Wednesday but is really beautiful today and I've had a lovely couple of hours this morning walking and sunbathing and discovering beautiful mostly deserted coves with velvet-like sand and totally clear waters.
Although I was a bit apprehensive of coming on my own for a beach holiday - as opposed to a hobby-type holiday or sight-seeing excursion tours when you can join a group I'm really having a great time and bestof both worlds. As it's an all-inclusive resort and low season there are mostly Brits staying here and always people around to chat to if you want that. The staff are all Italian and don't speak much English which suits me as I wanted to practise my Italian. The Young entertainment team are all lovely and full of life and Iàve been joining in with Zumba and dancing classes and not felt lonely at all.
I've been enjoying my space too and had a fab walk on a windy morning for 40 mins each way barefoot all the way on beach to the next little port listening and singing loudly to my ipod as not many people around as is low-season here.
I've been enjoying losing myself in my Kindle and have finished the second book in my reading challenge which was The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon which I'd highly recommend. It's a very mysterious and spooky story and I think men would like it equally as is a male protagonist and not at all light and fluffy!!
I've now started on the next book on my challenge which is on my Kindle which is "So much for all That" by Lionel Shriver (who wrote the highly rated but contraversial "We need to Talk about Kevin". "So much for all that" will also be a difficult read particularly for me as it's about a couple who go through the wife's devastating and sudden diagnosis of the awful cancer Mesethilioma (caused by asbestos)and the effect on their lives. I had a very dear friend who lived and died with this desease and of course talking about mortality and the impact of cancer is very close to home for me but I feel the need to face it all head on as that is how I cope best and am interested as to what Shriver has to say on the subject. It also deals with the highly contentious and current issue of health insurance in America.
I'm going to go back to relaxing and sunbathing now before the sun disappears!!
Ciao for now!!

Getting stuck in!

I can't believe it's already 5th May! Time seems to be going so fast at the moment which is a good thing in some ways in that I'm obviously enjoying myself and keeping motivated and positive.
I've been really pleased with not having been completely wiped out from the piano course last weekend. It's actually energised me mentally and I've been full of the joys this week especially with the lovely spring weather that's come our way at longlast!!
It's all systems go with my challenges! I'm off to Cheltenham this week to compete in 4 piano classes all in one day! I start with the first movement of Beethoven Sonata op.110 which is beautiful and I first takled in 1990 in my first year at music college when I didn't really have the technique or maturity to really get a proper handle on it so it's lovely to come back to it many years later!
The next class is a Bach class which is out of my comfort zone as I've always found Bach difficult to pull off but I'm playing Prelude and Fugue in G major from bk 2 and they are really lively and enjoyable to play.The next class is a Baroque class so more Bach and this time I'm tackling the 1st Partita in Bflat (complete without the minuets for timing issues)which I've surprised myself by how much I've liked learning it. It has 5 short movements in baroque dance style with different character to each one. The last movement which is a very lively Gigue is causing the most difficulties as there's a lot of crossed hands playing back and forth at a lively pace so it's easy to land on the wrong notes with all the physical arm moves going on!
The last class of that day will be the Open recital class which is challenging as you play 2 or more pieces in a programme up to 15 minutes. I'm playing 3 pieces I love and know well and have performed all them quite a bit before so I'm hoping this will help although I'm going to be tired by that point in the day! I'm going to be playing The Lark which was an original song by the Russian composer Glinka and was transcribed for piano by Balakirev and is heartbreakingly beautiful and expressive. I then will play Night Piece by Benjamin Britten which was commisioned in 1963 for the very first Leeds Piano competition as a set piece and was recently reinstated as such in last year's competition. It is haunting and evocative in mood. I then finished my programme with a fabulous,fun and virtuoso transcription by the British pianist/composer Stephen Hough of the song My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein which is tricky but great fun to play and to listen to (hopefully!!)
I will then only have a day and half back home to prepare for another 3 days in Cheltenham with 6 speech and drama classes and a further 3 piano classes - if I'm not totally exhausted by then!!
I've pretty much got the 3 poems off pat from memory but it'll be interesting to see if nerves affect my concentration on the day as I've not memorised poems or recited for over 25 years and my memory and brain are not as reliable now. I'm really enjoying the poems though and hope that comes through.
I've had a very sociable week and am feeling so much better in myself at the moment which is good. I feel stronger and haven't had a migraine for a fortnight now which is good.
I've met up with lots of different friends this week and been out to see 2 excellent and interesting films: Trance - directed by Danny Boyle which I was really intrigued and impressed by and A Place Beyond the Pines starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper which was gripping and very interesting.
I'm trying to some Italian every day and the new book is really helping me revise things I've forgotten. I'm going to start the book The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon tonight. I read his first book Shadows of the Wind set in Barcelona which I absolutely adored and was such a pageturner so I'm hoping I enjoy this one as much.