Five things that make my heart sing…(in no particular order!)

1. The delicate beauty of French macaroons… the exquisite colours and sheer “giveability”!
   

   Just so beautiful!

2. Sneaking decadently back into bed with Joe after waving the children off to school… blissful (especially in our dreamy re-decorated bedroom)
   

   heaven!

3. My replacement wedding ring – made again for me by friend and jeweller extraordinaire Kerstin Howard. The first version of this true work of art… was given to me by Joe at the Trevi Fountain in Rome (and the stone is the colour of the Trevi fountain…) on our 14th wedding anniversary six years ago.
   

   Trevi fountain in Rome

   I was heartbroken a year later when I realised that it had slipped off my finger into the sea in Swanage… I combed the beach for weeks afterwards when the tide was out. This year Joe asked Kerstin to make another and it brings me constant joy everytime I catch sight of it. The design is so original and the stone seems to be made of ‘ocean’.

   

   My beautiful original wedding ring

   Thank you Kerstin!

4. An unexpected hug from any of my children…at any time… makes my heart sing… and
5. Singing… my how I love to sing!
   

   Love to sing!

   I forget sometimes, how hugely important it is to me… and then I remember and blast my way through favourite songs as I drive to and from work! Thrilled to have discovered Soundcloud for sharing tracks… here’s a few old favourites of mine: Soundcloud/mannyatkins

   But really it’s performing that I love… don’t mind how small or attentive the crowd! I realise as I write that I can feel a Christmas concert of some kind coming on – how I wish I could persuade David Coburn to pop back down to Tence and put us a little something together…(we played one impromptu concert together in August this year…)

   

   Open Air Concert in the centre of Tence

   (are you reading this David?)