Indian Summer - Bracclesham Bay

What better way to enjoy this amazing Indian Summer than to head down to the coast!  Unfortunately I wasn't the only one who had that idea, and the journey took rather longer than anticipated.  At times it was tempting to turn aside and head back closer to home, but oh boy! was I glad I kept going.

When I arrived at my destination, the tiny car park at Bracclesham Bay was full.  I took my place in the queue and the car park attendant came over and assured me there were families about to leave.  Then when a car left and I was about to go and park, she came and asked me if I would mind the car behind having the space as the man was due to go out on a boat for a dive and was afraid he would miss his boat.  Now of course, if I had had my wits about me and thought quickly, I could have bargained for some advantage ... he could have my space if he would pay my car park fee!  Regrettably I didn't think of that until after I'd politely pulled aside and let him through.  Oh well.

At last I was able to park up and take my place on the beach.  I call it a beach - when the tide is in (as it was by the time I got there), it's more of a shingle bank.  I've been to Bracclesham Bay many, many times, and never seen it as busy as it was today, in October!  So strange, having such a hot, sunny day so late in the year - but I'm not complaining, you understand.  Back in May I was out in Lanzarote and went swimming there - never expected the sea off our south coast to be warmer than the waters lapping the shores of the Canaries. I floated and swam to my heart's content, until my fingers went crinkly, then sat and enjoyed the sunshine and the delight of people all around me making the most of this bounty.  Gorgeous!

October!

What amazing weather for October!

My drive to work takes me along one of those roads that has a canopy of trees overhanging it, and when the golden autumn sunshine slants through, it looks beautiful.  This week there has been the added beauty of early-morning mist, and I particularly noticed a large and intricate cobweb adding artistry to the scene.  Each day I've passed it, I thought how lovely it would be to stop and take a photo ... but it's a busy road and work was waiting.  Not today, however!  Today the dawn was too exquisite to resist.  I pulled on my walking boots, picked up the camera and headed out into the misty sunrise.

I liked the pattern of these palm fronds against the pale morning sky

This pampas grass seemed to glisten 

Over Barossa Common I found plenty of cobwebs festooning the heathland, and the mist shrouding the hills somehow brought a sense of tranquility.

cobweb tree

Old Dean Community Fun Day

By the time I'd turned it upside down and trowelled on the icing, I convinced myself the coffee & walnut cake looked acceptable enough to donate to St Martin's refreshments stall at the Old Dean Community Fun Day today, along with the gluten-free/dairy-free fruit cake.  The chocolate sponge cake is for Vicky's birthday.

Cake-wreck

I do a fair bit of gluten-free baking, successfully adapting recipes, but this time I followed the recipe faithfully as I hadn't tried making  a coffe & walnut cake before.  Here's the very sad result!  It was supposed to be for the Community Fun Day tomorrow (I've volunteered to help with the refreshments).  Do you think anyone will notice if I just fill up the well with coffee icing?

Arundel Arts Festival

On occasions when we've driven past Arundel and seen the castle on the skyline, a friend and I have commented it would be nice to visit one day.  A few weeks ago I googled and noticed there is an Arts Festival in the town in August, where the whole town becomes an Art Gallery.  An opportunity too good to miss!

I drove us down on Saturday.  We arrived about 10 am and left the car in the Norfolk Arms car park (where we'd booked overnight accommodation), had a coffee in a coffee shop and then strolled up the hill to the castle. I took lots of photos but I think these two are probably my favourites.

In the afternoon we went from house to house on the Art Gallery trail - people in the town open their homes to visitors and display the entries in the various competition categories: photography, sculpture, prints, jewellery, ceramics ... a very enjoyable experience altogether.

Besides the artwork, there are plenty of other festival happenings over the course of the 10 days, including free music concerts in the town square and elsewhere.  So much to do and to see, I think we may well go back next year.

Where in the world?

A friend rang yesterday feeling a bit jaded and wanting to be taken away from it all for a day.  I did some research and chose an inspirational place to visit.  Take a close look at the photo and see if you can work out where we went.

If you thought we jetted off to see the Sistine Chapel in Rome, it would be entirely understandable.  In fact we only went as far as the south coast of England.  In a suburb of Worthing called Goring-by-Sea in the English Martyrs Catholic Church there is the only known reproduction of Michelangelo's famous work.

Magic Summer Live

There were some magic moments at the Magic Summer Live concert, but sadly not enough for me to feel it was worth the price of the 'VIP' ticket.  My discontent began on the way in to the grounds of Hatfield House, when the car park marshalls and stewards didn't seem to be particularly interested or informed on the parking arrangements.  Even before the music began, I passed a group of concert-goers complaining it was the worst concert they'd ever been to in terms of organisation. Then there was the weather.  For a supposedly summer's day, it couldn't have been much worse!  The sky is deceptive in the first photo - notice rather the multi-coloured mushrooms.  Occasionally there was a little ray of sunshine in between the cloudbursts, but mostly it was wet, windy and increasingly cold as the afternoon gave way to evening.

It should have been a wonderful experience - the line-up was fantastic:  Wonderland, The Pierce's, The Overtones, Rumer, The Lighthouse Family, Sir Elton John OBE, along with the cast of some of the current West End Theatre productions:  We Will Rock You, Wicked, Mamma Mia and so on.  There were two stages, with a staggered programme so that the excerpts from musicals on one stage interspersed the groups playing on the other.  Sadly even the quality of the music couldn't outweigh the disappointment of finding that the VIP seating was at a vast distance from the main stage and out of sight of the West End stage.

But don't take my word for it, here's a link to a review by Backstage Pass

Ignore the blue sky - notice instead the umbrellas 

Even this camera couldn't quite capture a good shot of Sir Elton John

I liked this couple dancing. Yeah, I'm a romantic at heart

This gorgeous little girl, captivated by Rumer

Rumer 

The Pierce's

The Overtones

The Overtones - in a moment of sunshine

Wonderland

Wonderland