Well, well, well

Who would have thought that the year turned out as it did? It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride, which found me hanging on for grim death at one point, while all about me fell apart.

May found me meeting up with all my foodie friends in a beautiful barn in Rye, Sussex and a spring wardrobe, not a jacket or coat in my case, only to find that on the Tuesday it snowed and I was racing around Tenterden in a cardi trying to find any shop that had a warm coat... Joules came up trumps and I didn't have the coat off my back for the entire holiday... then I came home to Dorset a week later to a mini heat wave.

It was a repreive from the ongoing saga of the bathroom, which was finally resolved by Team 3 in October, on account of the first one man team cocked up, the second two man team (one of which experienced a severe lapse in judgement) which resulted in my brand new furniture and fittings ending up Bukshee in someone elses personal development project; they thought I would never know or find out... I am a writer for the Lord's sake... it is my job to be nosy and uncover and discover the light and shade on the road to resolution... it is just in some people the dark side lies beneath and surface, nestled in their ego which they are only too happy to share! The motto? Builders beware... so the third team was sent in to clear up and clear off, eventually resulting in a full refund and a bathroom that was usable and finished to a high standard; true eleven months later than promised but none-the-less vacated and finished.

So what good has come out of this fluff and stuff? Plans for a 2012 Calendar with artsy friends called 'Water Babies', which will not only help to promote artists around the local area, but will raise some funds for a clean water charity too. It is all to do with the Ying and Yang of life...

My two film script competitions have been well and truly launched, having been endorsed by the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook under the competitions listings, I am revisiting my cookbook and knocking it into shape for submission to an agent and after attending the London Screenwriters' Festival in October, I am also totally rewriting one of my rom-coms. So all in all the events and projects I can control have taken a turn for the better, or worked their way nearer to some kind of resolution.

Christmas is here and I have managed to find time to revisit my blog... The only temporary annoyance is that my new phone does not want to upload my images, so photo's will follow at some stage. I am also thinking of totally revamping the look and appeal and maybe even the purpose of the blog, but for that I need more time to set aside.

So for the moment, I wish you all a very happy, healthy and blessed Seasonal break and good fortune in 2011.

From Foxi with love...

Coming Soon

The Witch is back... after a long break and months filled with everything to take me away from my blog... I'm back. No I haven't been in prison, on a secret overseas mission from M or unblocking the drains following my disastrous bathroom installation, just stuck in the fast lane with my foot firmly glued to the accelerator pedal, trying to move into the slow lane and take the slip road off to a place called Sanity.

Watch this space.

Home is where the heart is...

As much as one might enjoy home cooking, there are occasions when eating out is just soooo good. I must declare the reason I enjoy eating at home is because I know exactly where my ingredients are sourced. So if I do venture out, I want to ensure that the experience will be memorable on the food front at least. I have yet to be disappointed with the menu on offer at pick more daisies in Wimborne. The staff and service is faultless, the food stunning and the surrounding a bit quirky and reminiscent of the best type of clean hippy offerings available in Bristol, Camden or Glastonbury. Honest food served with imagination and flair. Check it out.

http://www.daisiesrestaurantwimborne.co.uk/dinner.htm

Sometimes simple is best. Well sourced food, perfectly cooked, well presented, just makes for a wonderful experience. Pick More Daisies has to be one of my most favourite local places to indulge in good food, friendly service and remarkable prices. Again this year I will be ordering the Pinenut tart to take to our foodie reunion in May, near Rye.

Divine, simple, good food, Scandinavian shaker charm.

Another day in the life of...

Soil pipes, waste outlets and mangleworzels

OK, OK... so I'm making up for lost blog time, by incorporating a few images from Christmas at the Jones's household, into a collage of daily life as it is now.

I am using Christmas as the landmark because this was the date when I should have been able to relax in a candlelit bath while contemplating world events at the same time as my Christmas shopping list, sipping champagne and placing my loofah in areas privy only to me. (That doesn't quite sound right, but you get my gist).

Work on the downstairs loo begins in earnest next week, so hopefully by the end of the week guests visiting the smallest room in the house will no longer have to risk, nay choose whether to exfoliate their cheeks on the roughcast bricks or play Electrocution Russian Roulette with the hanging light switch. From this moment on, they will be able to sit and contemplate life at a leisurely pace or read one of the many publications in a well lit space; in fact, I'm hoping that the space will be so inviting that even I might use it on the odd occasion. Of course the choice then continues, whether to house my collection of film awards in there too. The Oscar, the BAFTA, the lifetime achievement award, there is only one drawback, I have none, so a visit to the fancy dress shop to pick up my golden Oscar to sit alongside my copy of the BAFTA nominations brochure from 2005 and my clapperboard, will have to suffice for the time being.

The good news is that once this is finished, then work on the bathroom will commence on the following Monday. Ten days of upheaval and mess should then find me the other side of hell with my longed for bathroom of tranquil calm, scented candles and a toy boy to help me with my loofah... sorry, I was daydreaming.

After a mixed up year peppered with ill health and upsets, my daughter and her fiance will be taking a well earned break, leaving me in charge of my grand dog for five days. I am girding my loins for the onslaught of twice daily walks, regular meals and a routine to abide by, I sense five nights with a turn in time of 9.00pm and no social life await me; no change there then. Actually, I am hoping that the dog, no doubt exhausted from his walk, will sleep peacefully at my feet while I get on and finish the synopsis, tighten up the treatment and edit the script of Love Shack before I can finally send it to my producer friend (Paul Sarony) who has generously offered to read it.

The top three finalists of the Sequel to Cannes Short Film Script Competition, will be announced on 14th February, after what has been a lengthy but worthwhile process. I just hope that Level Films is interested in turning one of them into a short film, we shall see in due course.

Until next time... Hugs and Peace. from Rosie x

OMG 6th November was my last posting

I know it has been an age since I last posted when:

* I forget my login information

* I have too many photo's stored and saved that need uploading

* I can post images of my birthday meal with Paul from back in November

* I have photo's of Susan's stay which was also back in November, showing the Christmas lights in Shaftesbury

What have I been doing you ask? Or not, if you couldn't give a toss.

*WARNING* Major Rant! The following cannot be considered slander as it is all documented and I intend to keep to the facts.

I have been stewing over the will it won't it non-arrival of the bathroom furniture from Wickes, which was promised to have been delivered and installed before Christmas.

The bathroom furniture and installation was ordered and paid for in full on 13th November, 2009; I should have known by the date of the order that for some the 13th is unlucky, however, positive and confident that for me and a certain acquaintance in the Midlands the thirteenth is often a lucky date, I went ahead undeterred. Finally, the furniture arrived, not yesterday as promised for the fourth time, but today... 22nd January, 2010, around 50 + days later in total. When did I discover that it wouldn't turn up? Yesterday, when I phoned in the afternoon to find out where it was. When would it be delivered? Between 7am and 1 pm Today. Fifth time lucky!

Thankfully, on the advice of the very informative information sheet that comes with your congratulatory order message and delivery instructions, not to mention the rather fetching yellow balloon that you are advised to tie to your gatepost, I did not have the bathroom stripped and prepped; as the thought of going native in the toilet department for nearly three months would have been a step too far. Furthermore, when the yellow balloon had long since been burst and shrivelled into a bundle the size of a dead canary, it would have lost all significance, as the delivery men would have been able to have found me by the stench and odour wafting from the Bear Grillys (?) type earth pit at the bottom of the garden next to the overhead watering can swinging perilously above; where I am sure I could have been found holding onto the yellow string complete with Gung Ho attitude and a vague hope that a delivery would turn up this decade. Let me tell you, my balloon has since been well and truly burst. Four abortive deliveries later, due to several incomplete orders, I am now the proud owner of a full set of 13 boxes. Installation? 8th February... maybe... or maybe not.

Watch this space for the latest updates as to whether the Wickes installation team will appear to carry out the one week preparation followed by the ten day installation of said thirteen boxes. Yes, this isn't poetic license, it actually does state 13 boxes on the delivery note.

On a more pleasant and positive note, back in November I spent a wonderful evening in Wareham at The Priory (the restaurant not the retreat) with Paul, a good friend and my guru on all things IT. We share a birth date within a day of each other albeit more than a decade apart, so in true Scorpio style, we gorged on divine home made canapes, followed by a robust three course menu loosely based on French cuisine.

For the foodie fanatics it went along the lines of:

We both chose the same starter and dessert, must be a Scorpio thing; smoked duck and pigeon breast terrine, followed by my choice of Fillet steak on a bed of rosti with a truffle and Madeira sauce and Paul's choice was a Pigeon breast served on Jerusalem artichoke mash, with a raspberry jus and spinach. Dessert consisted of a chocolate pecan tart with vanilla ice cream followed by a truly aromatic blend of black coffee and an urgent appointment with the cholesterol clinic.

Highly recommended, with astounding customer service, amazing sumptuous food in a perfect boutique style medieval cellar setting, with sparkling company that found us enthusing over the blend of food flavours, laughing at the strangest facts and figures, exploring the world of science, that boy does know some amazing little known facts and teetering in heels back to the Silver Fox... me not him.

I must go lay down as the shock of the furniture finally arriving along with the planned mammoth blog (I said blog not bog), has surely zapped today's injection of energy.