socialising in the dark

Yesterday afternoon I had choir practice. One of the nicest surprises here has been finding a great church that, as well as everything else, throws together a choir every time there is a good excuse. So far I've been part of a performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors and Christmas Carols by Candlelight service. Now we're preparing for Easter and singing a range of songs, for 4 or 8 parts and in a variety of languages including some traditional Tanzanian ones in Swahili.

I thought it would be a great idea to have a few of the other singers up to our place for dinner afterwards but things did not go entirely as planned.... firstly only 2 of the 5 invited managed to come. Secondly we had a power cut so not only was my lovingly pre-prepared meal unable to be cooked (someone explain to me why I bought an electric instead of gas oven please....) and we resorted to breadcrumbed fish fillets and samosas out of the freezer (we have gas hobs) but we also enjoyed a rather dark, although very romantic, candlelit evening. However, it was really nice to get to know L and M better.

Having no international visitors booked in this month, we thought we'd invite people over occasionally and get to know people better. We seem to have gone rather overboard this weekend though and somehow we now have a family coming for morning coffee and lunch tomorrow, then a friend of a friend who we have only met over the ether so far coming late afternoon and staying overnight, to be joined for Sunday lunch by another family... Lots of fun!

And next, and completely unrelated, here are a few recent pics....

Kitty in Scottish National Dress...ahem....for Diversity Fun Day last weekend. Sadly only 2 others made the effort and the National Dress Parade was abandoned after they all got a bit shy.

Our resident Oscar nominee...

One of the many alternative uses for the Music Makers floor cushions

And a garden visitor - yes it really does have transparent 'windows' in it's wings.