Best dressed teapot and mental meanderings...

I bought this tea cosy in a little craft shop in Cornhill on Tweed last week.  An interesting little shop where the majority of the goods are made by local woman and sold at ridiculously cheap prices.  Women really do struggle with knowing their own worth.  

Early rise this morning as we had an online meeting with Alan's speech and language therapist Karin.  She's so lovely and always a joy to catch up with her.  I certainly can't fault Tayside's NHS SALT service.

Sketched out a landscape painting then did a smaller trial of the painting to work out colours.  I've only recently started doing mini versions of paintings  (as opposed to just colour swatching) and it's a really helpful exercise.  I know from today's small version that I can ditch a couple of the colours and approach the whole composition in a more minimalist way. 

After lunch I spent a chunk of the afternoon menu planning for friends coming at the weekend.  We haven't seem them since before covid so lots to catch up with.  They were supposed to come on 14th January but Alan went in to hospital on the 13th and this Saturday was the first date we found that suited all six of us.

I went round in many circles with the menu but have settled on tomato and basil soup with garlic and parmesan baguette croutons, chicken pesto roll-ups with buttered jersey royals, and salad.  Keylime pie and a fresh fruit platter for dessert.  That said, limes seem to be in short supply so if I can't get a hold of them, I will make a pavlova instead.

I had planned to get some crochet done (desperate to get the two cardigans I have started, finished) but instead got sucked into my current book.  It's the autobiography of Billy Idol, which this time last week I would have laughed if you'd said I would be nose deep in it a week later.  

I came to it by a rather strange and convoluted route that I shall detail below, more for my own amusement that anything else.  It typifies situations I find myself in quite regularly where I start off down one route and end up travelling a very different and surprising road.  It kind of explains why my Primary 4 school report card said "easily distracted", and why I never get to the end of my to-do list!

Anyway, here's to unexpected destinations :-))

*  Hear Madonna's song Material Girl on the radio.
*  Remember the video for the song was based on Marylin Monroe's performance of Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
*. Search for a clip of Monroe performing the song on YouTube and watch it. This leads me to think of Hollywood actresses of the golden era.
*. Watch a number of YouTube videos on the lives of various actresses including Bette Davies, Katherine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford.
*  This puts me in mind of the three female characters in Duran Duran's video for their song The Chauffeur.
*  Watch The Chauffeur video and wonder who the women were.  Google them but the only one credited is the woman playing the part of the Chauffeur at the end.
*  Discover she is Perri Lister, a former dancer (part of the dance troup Hot Gossip) singer and actress who was Billy Idol's partner from 1980 - 1989.  She also appeared in his White Wedding video.
*  Watch the White Wedding video.  Remembered how much I liked the song at the time (1982 - 41 years ago!!!) 
*  Wondered what Billy Idol looks like now....searched YouTube and found a fairly recent clip of him on Loose Women.  
*  Gritted my teeth and clicked the link (I hate Loose Women with a passion!) Discovered a much older Billy Idol (happens to us all :-) with a face that's certainly lived a life of sex, drugs and rock n roll.
*  Was fascinated to find him interesting, funny, sober and articulate.  Also learned he'd written his much lauded autobiography by himself without the help of a ghost writer (his mother was apparently amazed he could remember so much given how off his head he was!) and having always considered him (back in the day) to be the pretty boy of punk, was even more fascinated to learn how deeply involved he'd been in the music scene as punk emerged.
*  Googled reviews of his book and all were favourable.
*. Ordered said book and now I am engrossed.  

And that's just one mental detour....I find I have many in a day.   This explains a lot!  :-))