Happy Birthday, Vytas.

Today is our eldest son Vytas' birthday. He lives a busy life which includes a lot of travelling to interesting places including China, Japan and Peru  both for work and pleasure. He and Sally are always off 'doing' things which frequently involve specialist attire ranging from Kylo Ren (Comic-con events), 17thC pikeman (Sealed Knott) to Highland wear for a friend's wedding. I just love their enthusiasm and passion for life.

Now I can reveal my kitchen project, marzipan hedgehogs and chocolate truffles, which I made to send to Vytas. The three types of truffles were; nutty, salted caramel filling with vodka soaked apricots and dipped in white chocolate and dark chocolate with rum. There were a few left over after I had filled two boxes and they tasted very nice indeed.

Not only is it Vytas' birthday but it is the 100th anniversary of Lithuania's declaration of independence. It wasn't long lived due to Lithuania lying between two major military powers, Russia and Germany but continues to be celebrated by Lithuanians both at home and abroad. (The guy on the horse is Vytautas the Great.)

Here at home I got two coats of paint done in the last corner of the sitting room before and after walking into town for some shopping. Friday is market day in the pannier market but even at 2.00 some stalls were already packing up. I suppose there's not so much trade in the winter.

I also cut a piece out of the wood frame that the bin store stands on so now the wheelie bin can simply be wheeled out without having to be lifted over the wood. 

The main  purpose of today's trip was to find a top to wear when singing in concerts. Looking at photos on the website I could see that the dress code is black trousers/leggings with a bright, single coloured top with sleeves. As that is something I don't have even with my vast clothing collection I decided to look in the charity shops for something suitable. I first bought the emerald green M&S top and then a couple of shops later found the bright orange top. So now I even have a choice.

And after resigning myself to manually importing, copying and renaming my photo files tonight a new version of the importing short cut appeared as if by magic.