Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

I've enjoyed reading everyone's yearly run down, I won't be doing one, 2011 wasn't my most fave year ever, hence my not being around much at the end of the year, I guess all the 'stuff' just ground me down and I was tired. Anyway I'll be back louder and stronger very soon, I miss blogging a lot, miss reading peoples blogs, blogging has enhanced my life and I'm sad that I've let it slide lately  but sometimes life gets in the way.

Good news is mum is well on the way to recovery and I'm ready to attack 2012 full on!!

Tonight though will be a quiet one, with my famous mushroom risotto, a few glasses of wine, and of course my lovely husband. Not in the mood for a party this NYE but if you're off to one, HAVE FUN!!

See you on the other side.....

I'm ok, I'm here, don't panic he he!

Well I must be the worlds worst blogger, where did this month go?

I'm so sorry I went missing, I seem to be apologising for this a lot lately, life just got stupidly busy and it's the end of the year and I'm tired.....

So what have I been up to, well I made my 2 dresses, yes I promise I will take pictures, but I haven't yet, but I did make this

Out of this! However the complicated neckline looked bloody awful. Really didn't sit right, so I had to work with it, I did ok in the end and got lots of compliments which was nice, I promise I will put full make up on & the jewellery I wore and take a pic, honest!

I then added a black velvet top to the dress made out of this, that didn't fit. The skirt fit so I just adapted it to the new top half. I got lots of compliments in this too, promise I will take pics.

Then of course I went to the Rhythm Riot, did I have fun, yep, did I take pics, nope, I really am the worst type of blogger ever, I do interesting stuff I just get all excited whilst I'm there and well, I forget! Perhaps I should quit blogging, or just get my act together anyway.

I saw some great bands at the Rhythm Riot, including these guys Lil Mo and the Dynaflos who I've never seen before they were fabulous live! One of the best bands of the weekend.




oooh I tell a lie I took a couple of pics on my phone, first up this is in the chalet with my friends, and it was only 5pm on the first day, those glasses had/have huge cocktails in, talk about peaking too soon!

And I got some fabulous new saddle shoes from Rocket Originals, they are gorgeous and a slightly amended style, and I have to confess they are even better than their first ones!  Here is a pic in the apartment at Pontins, note the very luxurious carpet ;o)

Just before I went to the Rhythm Riot I finally found out what is up with my knee, remember how well I was doing exercising then I had a pesky knee problem that stopped me in my tracks. Well I thought a bit of physio and all would be good. Sadly not, I need an op, I have torn my cartilage, I guess it explains the pain, but it's blumming annoying well and painful! So now I just have to wait, apparently I shouldn't have to wait to long but still it'll be too long for me I'm sure. The Rhythm Riot didn't help on the knee front, getting drunk and thinking I could dance through the pain is not a good idea, let me tell you now you can't, I nearly didn't make it downstairs it hurt so much, that'll teach me, or will it?!!

Post Rhythm Riot has been recovery, it's true, I used to go to these events, come home and go out that night, now it takes me a good week to recover, it's shameful!

So there you go, I've been up to a lot, just forgot to take photos, shame on me!

Talented Friends!

Ok this is a bragging post, I have very talented friends and I'm going to brag about a couple today I do hope you don't mind! I'm so proud and sometimes you forget if you are surrounded by these people and then sometimes you think, these people are my friends and they are amazing, I need to shout about this!

First up is my very good friend Bloater, or known professionally as Big Boy Bloater , he's just about to embark on tour with Imelda May as her support band, then he kicks off his own tour in Feb.

I love this promo shot of him!

I've known Bloater and Lisa (his wife) FOREVER, we are old, it's true, actually Bloater isn't old, he's the young fella, he's 40 soon, mmm that'll be quite a night ha ha!

They are really good friends who saw us through some of the worst times of our lives, we've had some of the best nights of our lives with them - New Year's Eve 1999 comes to mind, oh dear - and I couldn't think of nicer people this could happen to, oh and they're pretty good next door neighbours too. Bloater is such a talented musician, you just have to look on his website, if you see high praise from people like Jools Holland and Mark Lamarr you know you're pretty good. Anyway things are really taking off for him, and I'm so proud!

If that's not enough Lisa is going out on her own with a 5 piece band as Lil Lisa Jane, I was at her first solo gig and it was marvellous,  can't wait to see more! I hasten to add Lisa played Sax for years with Bloater's original band, so she's not a newbie to the stage.

They were also responsible for my worst hangover from hell after my birthday last week, those are friends I like to keep, you can see this woman would mix up some hellish cocktails can't you?

And if that's not enough, my good friend Sue from Pennychoo Cards! I haven't known Sue anything like as long as Bloater and Lisa but I feel like I have, you know one of those people you meet and you just click with, you can have grumpy old people conversations straight away with them, but then roll around laughing the next minute, well that's Sue!

Sue is a very talented designer and I mean big time talented! She's done all sorts of work for many many amazing people. But I wanted to show you some of Pennychoo's christmas card designs, I bought some straight away, I love her work, I don't think I've ever seen anything she does that I don't like in fact, I know sickening isn't it?

So here are some of her Christmas cards, love em all!

From the Boibles range
http://www.pennychoo.com/boibles-shop.html

From the Eggnog range!
http://www.pennychoo.com/Eggnog.html

So there you have it! I of course have other very talented chums, but I just felt the need to shout about these for now. Sharing the love :o)

Birthday Celebrations and Sewing Mayhem!

Hello! How are you all? Well I've had a busy busy week.

Sooo as you know it was my birthday last weekend, I didn't have any plans apart from to watch old movies and drink fancy cocktails, I didn't take many photos but here are a few from Saturday.

This was the first of many cocktails, I always feel very special when I drink from these fabulous 30s cocktail glasses, I've never seen any more like them I would so love to buy more!

As I wasn't going out I thought it was only right to bring 'some' sparkly to the celebrations so apart from sparkly earrings I wore my 50s sparkly slippers!

After a few I tried to take a pictures of myself none of them turned out great, but here is me after a few.

Here is Paul after a few

And here's the state the cocktail cabinet got in! This is after serious cocktail mixing YAY

So all in all I had a great day, I was dancing round the living room to some great tunes and all was good AND I didn't wake up with a hangover on my actual birthday.

However this is where it all went wrong, I intended to have a similar easy day but not go over the top as I had to work on Monday. I knew my mates from next door would pop round and we'd probably have a drink or two. Well it didn't quite work out like that, Lisa took over the cocktail making I don't really remember what happened. What I do know is that I woke up on Monday morning with the worst hangover I've had in years, ouch! I sat in my PJs all day, ate pizza and general felt sorry for myself, mmmm won't be doing that again for some time!!

So the rest of the week I spent catching up on the work I didn't do on Monday.

This weekend I started my sewing projects for the Rhythm Riot in a couple of weeks. I'm afraid I have nothing finished to show you, I've nearly finished one, but  I wanted to do the cutting out of the other dress whilst I had a good amount of time this weekend, so I don't have much to show you.

One thing I wanted to show is some of what I'm doing, and one of the things I always have to do is alter my patterns. I'm rather chunky and I have a big bust, I also rarely buy patterns in my size, not only are they hard to come by in larger sizes but if I see something I like I always think well I can alter it to fit. This can be very complicated if the pattern is complicated, but I haven't found anything I can't resize yet!

Here's the bodice of a dress I am altering to fit.

As you can see I've cut it up the middle of the pattern piece and seperate it the amount I need, however by experience and knowing how I'm built I know that I never need to resize the shoulders, I actually have quite small shoulders, so I have increase where the bust is and where the waist is, and I will increase the darts at the waist to resize the waist back down.

Now I have no idea if this is the 'correct' way but it works for me, so if you need to alter a bodice or a blouse this could help you, if you want to make it smaller then fold where I have cut!

This bodice is black velvet and it's going on to a skirt made from this fabric, which was originally a whole dress which no longer fits, so I adapted!

You can't see very well but it's very sparkly, I do like sparkly!

The next dress I've cut out is this pattern

In this fabric

This again is far more sparkly in person, it's kind of gold/silver lame sparkly, anyway once I'm done I'll let you see!

I just wanted to assure you I AM sewing, I'm just not finished! There are soooo many pieces to the dress above and as it's such a beautiful dress I don't want to rush it, I want to get it right. 

So there you go, that is what I have been up to, fun, hangover, work and sewing.....

What I've been up to!

Hello all!

I've been up to so much in the last week, mostly not interesting but one thing I have been working on is my living room. As my dining room get's less and less full of stock from my business I closed in July, I have now managed to move my dinette into that room, I can't work on that yet as there is still lots of stock in there but what I have managed to do is work on my living room, it is transformed and I love it!
First up I've been looking for a 50s sideboard or cupboard to convert to a TV cabinet, my budget is low and 50s stuff seems to be in 'fashion' at the moment so it's taken some looking for find something in my budget! Finally this week, I bid on a 1950s g plan sideboard and because the seller was ending it at a strange time and wanted collection within 24 hrs, I won it for £15! Yes £15! These things can go for silly money so I am very happy. It was very dry to I treated it with some Teak Oil and now it looks fabulous, here you go!

I am so beyond happy with it! It looks so sleek and fabulous and all for £15!!! My only problem is where to put all the bloody wires, I think I'm going to hang the extension leads on the wall as sadly underneath it looks like this

Still I'll resolve it.

Then onto my cocktail area, I'm so happy with this. I was lucky enough to pick up another total bargain in the same week, a 50s record cabinet which actually only holds about 1/4 of our record collection but in reality it's probably all we'll listen too. So now I have a little area in the living room for cocktail cabinets, my fabulous gold glitter cocktail chair, records and everything! I need a little cupboard for the record player and stereo but hey with the way my luck is going it won't be long!

I'm so happy with it!

I've rearranged a couple of shelves and I've put my ugly but very functional Ikea CD cabinet elsewhere in the living room.

Do you like my tiki candle holders?!!

Ah bliss! Anyway, it's my birthday tomorrow, so today I am having a bit of a cocktail afternoon/evening in my lovely new cocktail area whilst watching old movies. Bliss

I'll take pictures along the way, til I get too tipsy he he!

Sew much to do!

As well as so much to do!

Firstly I'd like to tell you mum moved to a rehab ward today, so far she's only walked 6 steps with her new hip but considering what she went through I'm not worried, onwards and upwards now!

So I really have had so much to do. As you know I'm self employed and if I don't work, I don't earn, I already missed 2 weeks of work at the beginning of the month, then it took me a few days to set up my new laptop, god I hate technology sometimes! So now I'm trying desperately to catch up on work without driving myself into the ground, this is hard, I need the money but I think that I will just have to accept I will work much less hours this month and budget accordingly :o(

However onto the subject of Sew much to do!

I'm off to the Rhythm Riot in November as usual and if you follow that link to the site you'll see it's only 29 days away!!

When I started my exercising and cut back I really really wanted to get into certain dresses by then but life doesn't always go to plan. My size has gone down a bit but I haven't lost a pound in weight, then when I went to see Mum, dieting and exercise did not happen at all!! But the biggest aggravating factor now is that I've hurt my knee, I have been told by the gym they think I have runners knee and to avoid the gym until it starts getting better, well I went back swimming yesterday and I limped out of the pool, damn! So I'm off to the docs on Monday about it, so no exercise and the aim of getting into those dresses in reality is not going to happen, so my back up plan is sewing! In fact my house may end up looking like this!

This is the first Rhythm Riot I've been to for 4 years that I'm just going to enjoy myself, so I'm not thinking about clothes I can work on the stall in, I can wear what I damn well please and I damn well please to dress up, but what I had wanted to wear doesn't quite fit and won't even if I starved myself in this short time - which I won't do, I do have a birthday next weekend, no starving on Birthdays!

Now I have been intended to run up a couple of pairs of trousers for a while now and whilst that should not take too long - apart from getting the fit right - I would really like a couple of new dresses, I'm so blumming pie in the sky, I won't have time but I can hope that I might!!

So I was looking through my patterns and I like the following 3 although I would be making them for evening wear so not in day wear cloth as they are illustrated.
I like the bodice of this dress and the fit.

I've made this pattern before with the shorter sleeves and I put a straighter skirt on it, I really liked it!

I've been thinking about making this for a long time, however I don't think the neckline will be very complimentary to me, however I like the style, so we'll see.

Fabric wise I have a few ideas. Ages ago I bought the following fabric, it's a beautiful heavy satin but I also bought a matching organza type material to go with it, perhaps as an overskirt or part of a bodice, you can't really get an idea, but you can see the colour here! I have had it so long I need to use it but it's that age old problem of not want to mess up good fabric!

I've also got some lovely black velvet although I'm not sure I have enough for a dress, though I have to say I've always wanted a black velvet dress!!

I've got this fabulous lace type material which might go well either with the velvet or for something different.

I think I'm going to run out of time but I don't want to! I haven't got the cash to buy new, I just need the time to make new.

Don't worry I haven't forgotten about my Mexican Tourist Jacket, I got the sample of material I thought might be suitable and it was so desperately unsuitable, so I'm back on the search for the right shade of the right fabric, it could take me a while!

I'm back!

Thank you so much for all your well wishes for my mum on my last post.

It has been a really really traumatic time, I won't lie. I arrived on Wednesday last weekend to find out they were surprised she's made it through the night, as you can imagine that was rather shocking. Then the consultant on the Thursday morning had the 'do not resuscitate' conversation with me! I won't go through the symptoms but at first it seemed like either she'd had some type of stroke or brain injury during/after the anaesthetic. Her behaviour was so out of character and she couldn't move either of her arms.

Anyway after days of this, where she was screaming and shouting, I came in last Sunday morning and she was asleep, this fact on it's own was amazing as even with enough medication to fell a horse she'd been wide awake and severely agitated. So I say by her bed with my trusty kindle and read. Then about 45 minutes later she woke up and said, oh your here good!!! It was truly miraculous! She was transformed from a screeching banshee who when she did talk, talked rubbish, back to my mum. I didn't get my hopes up as things had been so bad and for the rest of that day, she pretty much slept but the next day, she was wide awake and chatting again when I arrived in the morning, consultants and nurses alike were amazed, no one knows what has gone on, the MRI and CT scan showed nothing, however don't worry I will be asking for an investigation.

By Tuesday she was giving me instructions on bills that needed paying, giving me passwords, pin numbers etc to get it all done, amazing.

I had to leave on Wednesday, as you know I'm self employed and if I don't work I don't earn. Also I think my mum will improve quicker if I'm not there to depend on. She has lots of friends so she won't be short of visitors and support and I feel good about that. I'm ringing twice a day every day and have even managed to chat to her. The ward staff are all amazing, so I know she is being cared for. She started to move her right arm before I left and the day I left it was so much better and then when I rang today suddenly her left arm is moving much better, even the fingers, truly amazing news. She has a long journey ahead of her, with all the complications and her recovery won't be as quick as most people after a replacement hip but as Paul said she has the constitution of a horse, such fight!

Anyway as you can imagine I'm so behind on everything, I had nearly 600 blog posts to catch up on, I hope you don't mind but I just drew a line under it and said there is no way I can do that! But I do hope to be back on track now.

The only highlight of my 3 times a day visit to the hospital was this beautiful art deco building I passed. I wished I'd taken my own pic so please excuse the watermark but I stole the pic! It's so much better in real life and is now a luxury apartment building, I'd be so happy to live somewhere like this!

I also have a new laptop that I need to set up, none of my files are on it, so no new pics I'm afraid. It will take me all weekend to get it up a running.

Obviously I also haven't done any projects but I have the right knitting needles for my gloves although I am dreading knitting them as Tasha from By Gum By Golly said fingers are really hard and I am nowhere near the champion knitter she is!

Anyway I'm back, mum is on the journey to getting better and life can soon return to normal. I've been catching up on my sleep the last couple of days, I'm only just starting to feel human again.

As for quitting alcohol, that is out the window this weekend, but back to it Monday and back to exercising too!

It's pouring more

On Monday my Mum fell and broke her hip. She had a hip replacement today but tonight she has had problems and is now in a cardiac unit. I'm obviously driving up there tomorrow.

Just wanted to let you all know as you have been so supportive with my bad luck over the weekend.

See you all soon

Fiona
xxxxx

Bah, It never rains but it pours!

Firstly thank you for the lovely feedback about my hair, I'm really happy with it and think I'll be sticking with it for the forseeable future!

However this post is about me probably not being around much for the next few weeks. I had a couple of bad strokes of luck at the weekend. Firstly I got up really early to go swimming Sunday morning, and my car just wouldn't open with the normal clicker thing, mine uses a card not a key, anyway there is a key for emergencies so I tried that and what happened the alarm went off, at 7.45am on a Sunday morning and no matter what I did I just couldn't stop it, it eventually stopped but not before I'm sure I woke the whole neighbourhood. Anyway I went back out later to see if it could be resolved, it couldn't so I had to ring the RAC (roadside assistance for our non UK people!) and it turned out my battery was buggered, yeah cos I need that like a hole in the head, so that cost me a fortune. 

Next my laptop finally died it's final death on Saturday just after I posted my last blog post, literally! I've fixed and fixed this laptop and I know that it is not worth putting any more money into it, it needs replacing. I'm in the process of loading all my stuff onto my OH's laptop but it's not a long term solution, he needs his, and also his is neither quick enough or big enough to store all I need to, so I need a new one, how I don't know! Eating on a budget, not going out for my birthday and a small loan from the bank of mum I think!

So the bottom line is blog posting - which I've only just gotten back to doing regularly! - might be sporadic until I have technology sorted. I guess the good thing is I won't waste time trawling ebay for stuff I can't afford and might do more sewing instead :o)

Might see you around but might not, sorry, oh and sorry the blog commenting won't be so regular either :o(

I had the chop!

So I visited the very lovely Nina today from Nina's Vintage Hair Parlour, although they are no longer at Alfies Market, they are relocating, in the meantime they are in a super secret location, which was quite fun!!

Now that I take the pictures my hair IN the pictures doesn't look a whole heap shorter, but believe me it is a LOT shorter, it's not even sitting on my neck, but for some reason the pictures don't seem to make it look much shorter, I guess even when my hair is short there's a lot of it. Nina set it for me to show that it will set too, but I've got a couple of other options for mid week post swimming, I'll get a picture when I'm looking decent on day with the alternative looks!

Does it look shorter to you? Believe me it is. I just have so much blumming hair even short it looks like i have loads ha ha! Nina said if I want to go any shorter I'll need to go really short, I may do that next time, I'll have a think

In other news it is unbelievably stinking hot today in the UK. I think they said it's going to be the hottest October day on record, it is like the hottest days we get in Summer - none of which we had this year! It certainly was not the day to be stuck in hideous traffic jams in London with air conditioning in the car, I was so hot when I got home. I'm now cooling with the blinds closed and a fan on phew!

Also remember I told you how fabulous the history was in Barnard Castle? I totally forgot I'd taken these pictures of an amazing old house there, it was so fantastic, I took a picture of the plaque too, read it, it's fascinating.

I have nothing much else to report, apart from my exercise regime continues well, I'm at the gym or swimming 6 times a week, I'm actually enjoying it. I've lost some inches here and there, but no weight yet which seems weird but I'm sure it will happen, I hasten to add I've almost completely quit drinking and quit snacking, so really don't know why no weight loss yet, damn.... In the meantime I'm getting fitter & my clothes are fitter better!

Autumn/Winter Sewing Planning!

It seems to be a bit strange that I'm doing autumn/winter sewing planning when we're in the middle of a heatwave. Yes you heard it, the UK is having a heatwave at the end of September, it's glorious and set to stay with us for a few days, however we all know it won't last so I'm planning for Autumn/Winter anyway!

Despite the heatwave it is getting darker in the evenings which always get's me to thinking of sewing again. I'm not good at sewing in Summer, I have no idea why!

Anyway I am planning a few new makes, most of them run of the mill, more heavier weight skirts, a couple of new pairs of trousers, but I have a couple of more ambitious plans, fingers crossed I get round to doing them!

First up, I have always wanted a Mexican Tourist Jacket, a bit like this example on ebay.

However my large bust has always be a bit of a problem, they don't tend to come in bigger sizes, so I have decided to try to make my own! Ambitious huh? I'm slightly daunted by it, but excited to. I don't doubt it will take quite some time but if I plan it over time, it'll be ready for Spring. Obviously the actual jacket won't take long to make as it's just a simple design, however I need the right fabric. I'm keen to make mine in turquoise which is a common colour for them, I've just sent off for a sample of a fabric I think will be suitable, so then we'll see!

Then of course I need to plan the embroidery, which I may add I have never done before, told you it was ambitious ha ha! I've downloaded loads of samples from ebay and etsy for ideas and then I'm going to make my own design. Gosh I'm getting more and more scared thinking about it!

The other idea I have is another coat, which I think I'd need to do sooner rather than later. My motivation is this picture, how gorgeous!

No no no, I'm not being that ambitious, although how fabulous would a suit like this be! But I thought how lovely a yellow or green wool coat would be with a leopard collar and cuffs. So there's another idea.

Then last but not least, I am totally not taking to knitting, so I have decided to try something smaller to try to get me into it. I bought this pattern today, so I'm going to try to make some gloves, mum has yarn left from some sweaters so she's going to send them to me, so hopefully next week I'll be starting on them. Oh by the way, don't ask how I got on with the sweater I was making.....

So I have some bog standard staple ideas and then some very ambitious ideas!

Have you got any sewing or knitting autumn/winter plans?

Weekend away and a rant!

Hello all, hope you are all well!

As my post title indicates we went away this weekend, actually to visit my Mum but I sadly didn't take many pics, though there is a load online so I'm going to nick those!

I come from the North East of England, in a small town called Eaglescliffe. You would think there isn't much about Eaglescliffe but actually it's a really old place with quite a bit of history despite it not being a particularly big town. The first ever passenger train travelled not so far from my childhood home, it was the Stockton to Darlington Railway and Locomotion No 1 was the first ever passenger train in 1825!

Anyway as usual we had some chores to do for Mum as she doesn't drive so did some heavy shopping for her on Friday but Saturday we decided to go out for the day to Barnard Castle which is nearby. Barnard Castle is a fabulous old town with stacks of history and was established around 1090, yep that old!

Here are a few, cheating internet shots to give you an idea!

This is just the middle of town, or the market cross, fabulous huh?

This is the ruined Barnard Castle itself, established about 1090 and this is what the town built up around

And last but not least the very fabulous Bowes museum, all within a very short distance, amazing huh?

However I didn't visit any of these as I have been to them all many times before, instead we decided to go to visit the many antique shops on The Bank in the town. The Bank is as it sounds the steepest road ever, but packed full of what looked like great shopping. Sadly we were disappointed.

Firstly we went to The Mission Hall Antique Centre which is worth a visit if in the area but I wouldn't travel there especially. There were some nice things but what partly attracted me was the Vintage Clothes section upstairs. Mmmm I shouldn't have bothered. There were some lovely things up there, I'm not complaining about quantity or variety but the prices eeeek, it was not unlike shopping in an expensive London Vintage Clothes shop. I'm really not sure who buys this stuff there, but I only looked at a couple of 40s dresses - out of interest as they were nice though not my era - and when I spotted that they were both in the £120 territory I walked out sharpish. I would have enjoyed having a browse but was asked immediately what I was after and then the owner proceeded to pull out 50s frou frou frocks to show me, I was polite and said not really my thing, but thanks, however the prices and the 'look at this' really put me off.

Next up, I walked ahead as you know Paul is disabled and this was a steep bank, just as well the next really interested shop was shut, on a Saturday? Really? Who shuts a shop on a Saturday?

So we crossed the road to another really interesting shop,which was interesting, but again, sooooo expensive, like London expensive! I was very confused at the pricing in the shops, I'm not saying things should be a bargain but I don't expect to see London prices in a small town in the North East. Then Mum said oh it's always featured on those antique shows, so suddenly I realised, it's a destination antique shopping place. Well they don't interest me. I don't mind paying the price something is worth but some of this stuff was so overpriced I nearly passed out when I looked at the prices, needless to say we didn't buy anything and left rather sad!

As we were driving out of Barnard Castle we spotted a sign for Raby Castle, now I've never been to Raby Castle, so I set off rather excited at the prospect. Here's a picture, how fabulous is this!

It was first mentioned at the beginning of the 1000s, amazing huh?

But guess what, it was closed!!! Again, what closes on a Saturday? Don't get me wrong I do know this is still owner occupied but if it's going to open at all surely a Saturday is the day?

So all in all our day out proved rather disappointing and uneventful. Next time we visit my mum we've decide to go to York for the day, another amazing city with an amazing and long history, founded by the Romans in 71AD in fact.

I would like to say though if you're in the area, Barnard Castle is well worth a visit, there is so much history there, amazing places to visit, but unless you've won the lottery I would give the antique shops a very wide berth!

I know this isn't my normal blog post but I do assume that people who like vintage clothes and other stuff also enjoy a bit of history! Hope you don't mind. There is so much history in the area of the world I come from sometimes it amazes me!