Autumn Sunrise

Both Sunshine and I were wide awake at 6:30 this morning (must have been all that chocolate at his parents last night!). As a joke I suggested that maybe we should just get up and go find somewhere to see the sunrise ... and somehow the idea caught on... Looking it up it appears there's not many good views of the sunrise from Bristol (lots to be found of the sunset), so we thought we'd just hedge our bets and head up to the Observatory overlooking Clifton Suspension bridge. All wrapped up and flask of tea at the ready, we drove up to Clifton in the cold but fortunately dry morning ... sooooooooo glad we did! The sunrise was a bit hidden round the corner behind some trees and a crane, but it was lovely to be up that early in the quiet city and watch it wake up.

We then headed into Clifton village for some hot chocolate and toast and then back home to DIY ...

Acoustic alchemy

We've been really lucky recently to have been enjoying lots of live gigs. Its so nice to hear live music, especially acoustic folksy stuff in some of the most intimate venues too...

We've just spent this evening at our "local", the Tobacco Factory, listening to Bristol's own Phil King. Sunshine and I luuuuuurve him ... and we try and go see him whenever we can. We love him so much that I walked down the aisle on our wedding day to this wonderful song. Definitely one of Bristol's hidden talents. One day he is going to be HUGE :)

Last week when we drove up to Dorset, our first stop was at the Square and Compass Pub. Just our luck that they had some live music on that evening in a tiny room full of lots of locals. It was so tiny infact that I ended up sitting on the floor just in front of Gren Bartley. We had never heard of him before - but he was fantastic. He had a really good rapport with the audience and a real dry sence of humour. We were in stiches between songs ... Would definitely go and listen to him again.

Then earlier this week Sunshine found out that Martha Tilston was playing just down the road from us at the Louisiana. We'd never been to a gig at the Louisiana, and we'd never heard Martha live so it seemed the perfect opportunity to go. The very pregnant Martha did a fantastic set of lots of music we have listened to lots before on CD. It was really nice to hear the stories behind the songs ... suddenly I can listen to them with a completely different perspective. My first exposure to Martha was when she used to be in a duo called "Mouse". Sunshine introduced me to her music (he says he can't quite remember where he had heard of her from) and we both really like this song (sorry, couldn't find a video of it anywhere) from her Mouse days. We even tried to do the walk from St Ives in Corwall along the coast to Zennor Hill during our honeymoon. Unfortunately the coastal path was closed due to landslides .... but we've vowed to do the walk ... one day ...

And as luck would have it, Martha was supported by the excellent Jason Steel, who again we had never heard of before, but so glad to have been introduced to his music now. The music room at the Louisianna is again quite small, and as the gig was so gentle and folksy, a lot of us in the front were sitting on the floor ... so incredibly intimate that at one point Jason came out into the audience and sang accapella to us ... Wow! What an amazing voice! Going to be looking out for him again in the future ...

Anyway, so that has been our musical adventures in the last couple of weeks. I would highly recommend listening to each of these artists - you won't be dissapointed!

Appologies for the rubbish pictures - low light and taken with my phone ...

Back Bedroom Part 4 & Lit-up-cycling

Its Christmas eve, and what have we been doing? Filling!

Whilst Sunshine recessed some plug sockets ...

But we also downed tools at 6 pm so we could go and join a group of about 20 people cycle around the Bristol harbourside in their lit up bicycles ... you can see us fairly clearly at about 2:25 - we're the only tandem (and yes, the cargo bike does have a Christmas tree!)



Then we came home and Sunshine made the best mulled wine on the planet ever! Yes, I am a bit biased ... who wouldn't be about their best husband ;)

Hoola Flappers...

I don't talk about it often on this blog but I do teach quite a lot of swing dancing here in Bristol. Down the right hand sidebar there should be a list of stuff I'm teaching/have taught this semester with Swing Dance Bristol. Occasionally though, I get asked to do something different ...

Recently our Hoola Hooping friend Dr Emma (another one to have left the sciences to pursue their passion), asked me to teach at the South West Hoop conference or "SWHoop" that she organises. As I knew there would be not enough men to balance the numbers, I thought I'd teach some solo charleston instead ... also, its such a fun and happy dance that I knew it would go down well with the hoopers - and I wasn't wrong!

I taught a routine last Sunday at SWHoop 1 which you can see here (its a 12 minute review video of the weekend - but the link should take you straight to my class ... if not, I start at about 10mins20secs). SWHoop 2 today Sunshine came with the stills camera and got the only pictures I've ever had of me teaching - which, considering I've been teaching dance for about 10 years, is quite the achievement!

Rainbow ...

View outside our house this afternoon.

Amazingly confused weather in Bristol today - torrential rain with bright sunshine ... only one thing from that ...RAINBOW!!! Infact, if you look closely, you can see - DOUBLE RAINBOW! Thank you my Sunshine for running into the house and calling for me, "Mithi! Come see this! Good surprise!!!", and for the photo. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Sophs!

Its niece Soph's 2nd Birthday in a couple of weeks but she will be holidaying at her grandparents (my inlaws) at the time. So we though we'd go deliver her her Birthday present before they leave on Wednesday for their holiday.

Sunshine and I had been looking for something special for a while - and saw this at our favourite toy shop in Bristol - "Playful", on the Gloucester Road. Soph's dad is a musician and we knew her parents would appreciate having something that made beautiful music however its played - and so we got her this pentatonically tuned glockenspiel from Auris.

Auntie Mithi also made her a card and Sunshine sewed her a carrier to protect her new little musical instrument (don't you just love a man who sews???)


Sunshine (with his designer's head on) decided to film an "unboxing experince" ... as you can see here...

We think its gone down very well - she does a mean rendition of "Twinkel Twinkle Little Star", whilst playing on the glockenspiel. I think she also quite enjoys just hanging out with her Uncle.

Happy Birthday Gorgeous!

Zoo life with Sophs

Today I went on an impromptu outing to the zoo with Favourite Niece Sophs ...

First we had a wonder round the butterfly house...

Then Sophs and her mum decided to see which animals they could run as fast as ... "1, 2, 4 ... go!!!"

After, we went and made friends with some meerkats doing a pile up ...

... followed by watching some gibbons preening ...

We wondered round a bit more and saw some more lovely fauna ...

Finally Soph decided it was time to drive us home.

What a smashing day!

Congratulations The Domakkes!

And what a smashing do it was too ... we were having too much fun to actually take any photos so here are a couple by Sy (I'll upload a few more of our favourites when we get hold of them...)

Sunshine waiting to sign on the wedding certificate as an official witness...

Sunshine and I probably listening to some speeches ...yes, I made an effort to dress up this wedding ...

Setting up for the Dommakes ...

Spent today setting up our friends "The Dommakes" wedding - its going to be FAB :)

Before...

After!

Bristol Ballon Fiesta 2011

I love living in Bristol. Bristol Balloon Fiesta weekend ... watched the balloons go over our house everyday from Thursday to Sunday. Friday watched them with Paul from the harbourside. Sunday watched the Red Arrows from the comfort of the Peskimo's balcony. All photos by Sunshine ... I was too busy staring at the sky to take pictures...

Sand Point with Jeanine

Windy day out with house guest Jeanine and Sunshine at Sand Point.

Parklife with Sophs

A few weeks ago we took little niece Soph out to the park so her mum and dad could have a few hours to themselves to celebrate their anniversary ... I swear she had a good time - having a camera stuck in your face just as you wake up from your nap is not always the nicest thing ...

About town with Bramble

Some photography with a couple of really good models ;)

Bristol Vintage Velo

Sunshine and I have been wanting to go on the London Tweed Run ever since we heard about it. We even talked about organising something similar in Bristol ... fortunately someone else went and did it (Bristol Vintage Velo) and we signed up the moment we found out.

It gave us a deadline to get Bramble all cleaned up (she's had a new paint job) and ready - she even had a picnic basket on the back. It was also an excuse to find "rational attire". Bunny had to come too so I even made him a tweed waiscoat and cravat.

What a fabulous day we had cycling on Bramble from the Clifton Suspension Bridge; through Ashton Court and Tyntesfield Estate; and ending up at the Flax Bourton village hall for tea and cakes; entertaiment (from the oh so fabulous Hot Potato Syncopators) and games too! Met lots of bikes enthusiasts and made lots of new friends.

See more of our photos here and links to more pictures and videos of the great day here.