Berried Treasure

I recently discovered the delights of Tiptree Conserves. And look what magically appeared in my garden today.

It started with their fabulous strawberry and champagne conserve, and let me tell you, my taste buds will never be the same again. And guess what? It doesn't end there. They have more scrumptious goodies for me to enjoy.

You can enjoy them too. Check out their website www.tiptree.com
They have a Visitor Centre that I would love to visit.

A match made in Pinewood Studios

HISTORY FLASHBACK loosely taken from Ruth's script.
Ruth and Pedro met over a bacon buttie in the canteen at Pinewood Studios in 2001 when they both worked on the hallmark mini series - Dinotopia. Ruth as a trainee supervisor and Pedro as a visual effects artist.

Now...Ruth is a much sort after script supervisor and has worked on Dalziel and Pascoe, Wire in the Blood, Silent Witness and Bad Girls etc.

Pedro has 3 Emmy awards under his belt; he has worked on Casino Royale, 2 of the Harry Potter films, and Die Another Day (with Ruth).
I could go on and on, but I want to tell you about their wedding, but first let me just say Beat;root! Pedro is the drummer with this brilliant band.

SCENE 1 EXT.
A1 NORTHBOUND. RAINING, DULL, AND CHOKED WITH TRAFFIC
Sat Nav and I set off to go up north for Ruth and Pedro's wedding. Plan A: I would take my wedding outfit with me and change at my niece's house when I collected her, then we would all go to the wedding together.
A1 traffic almost at a standstill - seriously delayed.
Plan B: Traffic delay too serious to go to niece's. Sat Nav called her on mobile and told her to make her own way to the wedding venue. We needed to find somewhere for me to change en route. Toronto Lodge Hotel open, swept into car park, grabbed bags, ran through rain into hotel, quickly explained our predicament, angel of mercy on reception offered me somewhere to change (thanks angel).

SCENE 2 EXT. WEDDING VENUE
A BIT LATER...STILL DULL, BUT STOPPED RAINING
Arrived at wedding venue with 5 minutes to spare before start of ceremony - or so we thought. Impressive marquees set out for event. Very original and personal. We wondered why the other guests weren't already seated. Brides aunt informs us that the wedding is actually at 2.30pm and not 2pm...so we are actually half an hour early. Should have checked the invite!

SCENE 3 EXT.
Stanhope Silver Band played a selection of tunes while guests were being seated. Very original seating - hay bales covered in Calico.
The bridal procession arrived, led by the vicar as the Portuguese Choir sang Here Comes The Bride.
The film and sound crew were unobtrusively dotted around the entire site in different vantage points.
Ruth shone and looked radiant on her fathers arm. She wore a beautiful fitted cream lace wedding dress, complete with sparkly bits. Her three bridesmaids wore dresses in deep purple. The service didn't actually follow the Order of Service that we were given, and there was lots of good natured laughing and applause throughout, like when it was discovered the rings hadn't been unfastened from the ring cushion, and when suddenly at the end of the service Anita (Ruth's mum and my best friend) stood up and shouted 'we haven't sang the last hymn'! Everybody laughed and cheered. We sang the last hymn, and the Portuguese Choir sang Alleluia' from The Sound of Music...again ;-)

SCENE 4 EXT. DULL BUT DRY
The ceremony over we followed the bride and groom down through the meadow towards the main marquee passing 'the chimney sweep' on the way (a good luck tradition and a great photo opportunity for wedding guests).

SCENE 5 INT. MAIN MARQUEE SET OUT IN WEDDING STYLE WITH DANCE FLOOR
With her special personal touch Ruth had gone as far as displaying photograph trees as unique table centerpieces showing photographs relevant to the guests sitting there. After congratulating our special bride and groom we were offered Pimms.
Food, touching wedding speeches, champagne toasts and fabulous entertainment.
We enjoyed a truly spectacular wedding, met some wonderful people, and made some great new friends.
We had the pleasure of music from Pedro and his band Beat;root. And we all enjoyed Pedro's surprise from his new wife when Ruth and some of her family and friends took to the dance floor with their fun interpretation of the Vote For Pedro dance complete with fab Vote For Pedro t-shirts (there is a video on my youtube sites).

SCENE 6 IT'S AFTER MIDNIGHT, A1 SOUTHBOUND TORRENTIAL RAIN
We are going home, but I am struggling to see because the rain is so heavy the wipers simply can't take it.
Bizarrely somebody switches the rain off and Sat Nav gazes up at the sky and asks me 'Did you see that blue flash of light?'
'No,' says I.
'There it is again!'
'How much champagne have you had?'

Thank you Ruth and Pedro...we were proud to be a part of your perfect day.
May the sun always shine on you both :-)

Spoof Red Carpet Event 3rd August 2007

Well, the clue is in the title . . .

Believe it or not this is the first chance I've had to write this blog because a hectic time and recovery from the Red Carpet Event has slowed this epistle down. And trying to join up to all of these internet sites/service is driving me crazy. A personal thanks here to Steve Weber for his help . . . and patience! Thank goodness I bought his book, now all I need is for him to move in lol!!!

Have you seen Helles Belles?
No?!
Well shame on you . . . go and watch it now on Myspace and then come back and read the rest of this blog. Otherwise you won't have a clue what I'm talking about.

Now to the Red Carpet Event.
Well, we do like to do things different here, and this was no exception. As the crowd of adoring fans waited outside of the venue (our village hall) the cast assembled in the local pub (the only pub in the village actually) in some trepidation as our Director had mentioned that a Limo would be collecting us. Limo's and twisty, narrow dales roads do not go hand-in-hand so you can imagine there was some concern boosted by our Director's quirky sense of humour. After a slight delay the Limo did indeed arrive and the cast were carried in splendor to the venue. Did I say splendor? Ooops . . . I should have said converted Ambulance.

The red carpet was rolled out ready, the champagne was on ice to be served to arriving celebrities and the bouncer was working hard on crowd control trying to maintain calmness while they awaited my arrival.

Suddenly I was there and was deafened by the screams of excited fans clamoring for my autograph; the bouncer worked hard to keep them in check behind the barrier. I signed as many autographs as possible, hating to disappoint, then he guided me safely through the melee to the waiting press reporter and tv interviewer.

After answering many questions from the press I had to insist they let me go. Someone else was waiting to arrive. Relieved and somewhat exhausted I gratefully joined the rest of the cast inside needing more ice cold champagne to ease my throat whilst waiting for our final actress to join us. We knew she'd arrived by the screams of the crowd and Sienna (ok it's a pseudonym, it was really Sat Nav) and her stuffed dog Yip Yap (who stood in for her treasured Yorkshire Terrier) stepped out of the Ambulance, oh no sorry, Limo.

Miss Ruby Diamond was our brilliant Hostess for the evening and presented the Oscars . . . oh no damn, it was certificates wasn't it?! I was just getting a bit carried away there but they are as precious to us as Oscars lol! As with all Oscar ceremonies, some of our cast could not be there - holidays and personal appearances interfering - but in true Hollywood style we linked to them via satellite. Yes, you can tell this was an evening of pure style. Just to show how glam we all looked - that's me and Sat Nav of course - I have posted a couple of photos. We know that you don't want to see the others!

There will, of course, eventually be a film appearing of the night. When I have time to edit it, that is. I've no idea when that will be as I have to finish writing my sequel. But control yourselves - it will be worth waiting for and something for you all to look forward to!

In conclusion I would just like to thank my wonderful partner, my amazing family, my beautiful dogs, my darling friends, my long suffering therapist, my female gynaecologist, my bank manager, my car . . . oh everyone really . . . thank you . . . without you all I could not have done it . . . lol!