Mind-blowingly gorgeous Georgia

We are on the midnight plane to Georgia. In various stages of inebriation, me and Dave WhatsApp this to our grown-up children. It's not our fault. Nothing ever is. Our Georgian Airways flight, the last one out of Gatwick, is delayed. What else is there to do but dutiful duty free?

Dave is my compadre, the finest travelling companion a woman could wish for. The best thing about her is that she will go absolutely anywhere but also has no idea where anywhere is. Except France – which she has taken against to such an extent that even French people speaking French near her makes her extremely annoyed. She can sniff out pretension at 100km, not that she knows what a kilometre is. And God help anyone she calls "piss-elegant".

Suffice to say, when we arrive in Tbilisi, I have to prod her awake and try to enthuse her, though I feel very rough myself. "All airports are the same. Why are we even here?" she asks.

We are in Georgia mostly, I remind her, because she loves post-Soviet places and last year when I was in Armenia to do a story, everyone kept saying: "Don't go to Georgia. There are big men with swords there who will kill you." So it's a must.

We arrive at Rooms Hotel in Tbilisi, a former Soviet-era publishing and printing house. I should say we partake of the city's immense cultural riches, but we go to bed and order burgers and chips on room service because we know how to live. When we come to, we realise we are actually in a completely fantastic place.

Beachcombers de luxe on the Kent coast

In Wendy Aldridge's Ramsgate home, the decor drops a few subtle hints to its coastal setting, but that's not really the main aim. Yes, there are paintings of skeletal fish and sailing boats and a Curtis Jeré wall sculpture depicting birds in flight. But it bears only a passing resemblance to the local gulls, which tend to loiter on street corners rather than fly in picturesque formations.

Wendy never aimed to create a sugar-sweet version of seaside style in this flat, which she renovated with her husband, James. "We wanted to include a few reminders that the sea is just outside the front door, but without being too obvious," she says. Instead, she has mixed 1970s, mid-century and contemporary designs together to create a less clichéd coastal look.

The couple, parents to Ida, eight, and Arlie, five, bought this basement flat two and a half years ago. They initially tried to buy in Margate but then looked five miles south to Ramsgate. No Turner Contemporary or Tracey Emin neons here, but there is a nice beach and some interesting architecture, including sea-facing Victorian townhouses, long since carved up into flats and bedsits.

This flat had been rented out for many years, so wasn't in the best shape, but two rooms had been knocked into one big space at the front. "This meant we could immediately imagine how it would work for us as a family," says Wendy.

Originally, this run of rooms would have been dedicated to serving a Victorian family on the floors above. Wendy fully embraced the flat's below-stairs vibe with dark paint colours, offset with glossy white tiling, flashes of gold and warm-toned mid-century furniture.

Then there's the centrepiece sofa – a louche 1970s number in sage-green velvet that was shipped over from Italy. "It's so low-slung, you literally sink into it," says Wendy. "I like to imagine it having a very glamorous life before it came to us, in a nightclub or a chic apartment," she adds. As if proof of its partying past, the upholstery bears the odd cigarette burn. "I'd never replace that velvet, so they'll remain as part of its character."

Facing it is a leather sofa by the Brazilian designer Percival Lafer, which almost qualifies as an impulse buy. "James went to pick up a chair and the guy was also thinking of selling his sofa. James rang to ask what I thought. I said, ‘If you can squeeze it into the car, go for it.' It fitted in by a whisker."

Can’t sleep? Perhaps you’re overtired

Nerina Ramlakhan remembers when her daughter was a toddler, and how if she got too tired she would be unable to switch off. "There was a healthy level of tiredness," she says. "But if she went beyond that, she would be running on a kind of false energy. And then she wouldn't be able to switch off when she went to bed."

Overtiredness is recognised the world over in young children – but it is seemingly more and more common in adults. Dr Ramlakhan should know: she is a sleep psychologist and is increasingly seeing people who remind her of her little girl when she was younger.

There's certainly an irony that in our sophisticated, hi-tech, busy world we appear to be reverting to behaviour that we recognise and know how to treat in kids, but are somehow failing to deal with as adults. Overtiredness, sleep experts agree, is down to our always-on existence. In the past, says Ramlakhan, the author of The Little Book of Sleep, our days had naturally built-in downtime that gave us short snatches of rest. Today, that has disappeared for many of us. "We have become restless as a society – and that places more demands on us when we get into bed at night," she says. "We have lost the rituals and practices that gave us little respites during the day. In the past, you would go to the supermarket and, while you were waiting in the queue, you'd daydream, be a bit bored, look around. Now, any window like that will be filled by looking at your phone, answering some emails, sorting out your Amazon account."

You may think you are putting the time to good use – but that's not how your brain interprets it. There's a complex neurophysiology that requires breaks in tasks and concentration; if it's constantly bombarded, the brain becomes overloaded. The result, says Ramlakhan, is that it goes into what we might call survival mode: it assumes that something bad is about to happen, it ups the adrenaline and it puts out an urgent call for sugary snacks to provide quick-release energy.

And there's more: if your brain has become tuned to always reaching for the next thing to do, to never taking a moment to just pause and rest, then it will gradually become harder and harder to switch off at night. It's almost as if we're losing the ability to let go; and the biggest letting-go of all is falling asleep, which Ramlakhan describes as an act of trust. "There's a growing tendency to hold on, to keep on going, and it's manifesting in our sleep patterns as well. People say to me that they feel they're on the edge of sleep all night. They're getting up in the morning feeling exhausted. They say they keep waking up at night and can't get back to sleep. But it's normal to wake up at night; most of the time, we just go back to sleep."

US pianist Eric Lu wins top prize at Leeds competition

The 19th Leeds piano competition was won on Saturday night by Eric Lu, a 20-year-old from Boston in the United States, whose sparkling and supremely confident performance of Beethoven's fourth piano concerto secured him the top place, and also the Hallé orchestra prize.

The rebooted competition, held every three years, was co-founded 55 years old ago by Dame Fanny Waterman, and rapidly established itself as one of the world's foremost piano events, launching the careers of musicians including Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Mitsuko Uchida and András Schiff.

In recent years, however, fewer finalists have gone on to make their mark as international soloists and, as the event felt increasingly old-fashioned, it was felt that a new approach was needed.

The 95-year-old Waterman stepped down from her role as chairman and artistic director in 2015, and the competition's new directors, pianist Paul Lewis and Adam Gatehouse, announced an ambitious reboot that touched on every aspect of the competition. “We want to redefine what a music competition can give to young performers as well as audiences,” said Lewis, who also stressed that the competition needed to nurture its winners in the long term to help them develop lasting careers.

Twenty-four finalists aged between 20 and 29 were chosen from first rounds held in April in Berlin, New York and Singapore. The second round, in Leeds in early September, whittled that number down to 10, from which five finalists were selected, who each performed a concerto with the Hallé orchestra and conductor Edward Gardner in concerts in Leeds town hall on Friday and Saturday night.

Pepper spray, Christmas come to Gibsons film set

Wildfire smoke wasn't the only disturbance to mar production. While shooting on the government wharf the evening of Aug. 21, a man who Hayden said "appeared to be assaulted and doused in pepper spray" crawled onto set. The crew's first-aid team attended to the victim, dousing him in milk to wash out the spray.
RCMP Const. Karen Whitby later confirmed that the altercation occurred in Gibsons Harbour, and arose from a dispute over the ownership of a 27-foot Catalina sailboat named The Salty Dream. The victim was physically assaulted and sprayed with bear spray and the accused was arrested later that evening at 9 p.m. and charged with assault with a weapon.
"We did our best to ease his suffering until the RCMP and ambulance could arrive," said Hayden of the victim. He said the incident held up the shooting "a little bit," but that "there's never any doubt, when there's someone in trouble we need to help when we can."
The team spent a week in Gibsons as part of its two-week shooting schedule, shooting on and underneath the government wharf, at the marina and at a house near the Langdale Ferry Terminal.
"We were looking around on the Mainland and couldn't find anything that had this kind of beauty and scope," said Hayden. He said the production team finally landed on Gibsons because of its history in show business. "It's a film-friendly town," he said.
Wendy Gilbertson, director of parks and cultural services with the Town of Gibsons, said the Town was contacted in June about the project. She said the filming provided a boost to the local economy, with the sizable crew making purchases at local businesses such as hardware stores and restaurants. "They hire extras, they've hired security and traffic control," Gilbertson said. The team required a number of permits to get permission to shoot, including a $500 application.

Wine & Beer Festival in New Boston Saturday

One area woman's experience with lupus inspired her to seek ways to help others here who may be afflicted with the autoimmune disease.
                                                 

To that end, Sandy Tutt organized the Put on Purple for Lupus Wine & Beer Festival at Oak Grove Golf Club on Saturday in New Boston with a wine and beer garden running from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., a two-man scramble golf tournament starting at 8:30 a.m., an artisan market starting at 9 a.m. and a car and truck show starting at 10 a.m.

The wine garden has a $10 entry, which gives festival-goers a glass and a tote bag. Tastings are $1 with glasses of wine for $5. Bottles of wine will be sold, too, by the 10 Texas wineries participating. Texas wineries include Red Road Vineyard and Winery, Enoch's Stomp Winery and Vineyard, O'Farrell Country Vineyards, White Fox Vineyards, Homestead Winery and others.

Among the more than 30 vendors will be sellers of crafts, homemade jewelry, massage therapy, custom cookware and more. "The vendors are free to the public to come out and shop," Tutt said. "We also have two food trucks that are going to be there."

Unique vendors include Bleau Dog Vintage Decor & Boutique, The Quirky Quilting Bee Shop, Bon Temps Art, D & R Gourmet Blends, Rose of Sharon Acres, Pink Ride, ELV Shots, The Mess Sergeant's's Custom Cookware and Wood Working and more.

As for food vendors, they'll supply the barbecue and crawfish eats. For the truck and car show, it's a $10 entry fee but free for the public to see. The public will also serve as judge. A silent auction, door prizes and children's activities are also part of this inaugural event.

Proceeds will got to the Dallas chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America. Tutt's goal is to help people in this area and raise awareness about lupus. She's seen a lack of lupus support groups and medical care here, so she wants to change this via the foundation's help.

Tutt was diagnosed with lupus five years ago. At the time, she had no idea what it was. "The more research I did, I realized there was nothing in Texarkana," she recalled.

Tutt traveled to see doctors and eventually contacted the Lupus Foundation of America. Her experience with their fundraising walk the past three years inspired her to start this wine and beer festival. This is the third year for the golf tournament portion.

She's devoted the past year to organizing this family-friendly festival and looks forward to seeing people there.

Technology enriches Chinese lunar New Year customs

Gifting red envelopes stuffed with cash to relatives and friends, visiting temple fairs and making traditional dishes are customs during the Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival.
                                                   

These old customs have a new face in the digital age, according to a report issued this week by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Robotic devices have replaced food and new clothes to become popular gifts during the festival.

The sales of steam mops, dish-washers, robot window cleaners and cooking robots on Alibaba's online platform Tmall increased by 320 percent, 188 percent, 169 percent and 145 percent year on year, respectively, during the seven-day festival holiday that ended Wednesday, the report said.

The dining tables of the Chinese have also changed. In addition to the traditional dishes of fish, rice cakes and dumplings, families are using online market places to buy exotic delicacies from all over the world.

The sales of imported fresh food on Tmall surged by around 300 percent during the festival year on year. Chilean king crabs, Boston lobsters, and fish from New Zealand are the most popular, according to the report.

The online availability of temple fair tickets revived this traditional custom. In Beijing, a total of 300,000 temple fairs tickets were sold online between Feb. 8-10.

Digital red envelopes also took the place of traditional paper ones. More than 250 million users of Alipay across the world collected five "fu" -- literally meaning happiness -- characters in the holiday.

Users from over 1,700 cities outside China participated in the Chinese "fu"-scanning game, which allows users grabbing a digital red packet after collecting five "fu" characters.

Duan Baolin, vice chairman with China Folklore Society, said that the customs, new or old, all represent the culture of Spring Festival. "Carrying on the old and innovating the new are both necessary to integrate the culture of the Spring Festival into our life," said Duan.

The report is based on data of Alibaba's 10-plus online platforms including Tmall, Taobao and Alipay.

Several Celtic Imbolc Customs & Traditions for the Feast of Brighid

Imbolc, pronounced IM-olg or IM-olk, evolved into St. Brighid’s day, and is considered the first day of spring. St Brighid’s feast is a February 1st continuation of Imbolc pagan traditions. It is one of the four fire festivals celebrated by the ancient Celts. It probably occurred on what we consider Feb 11th, due to the shift to the gregorian calendar. But the Fire festivals are celebrated always on the kalends of the month sharing the same Irish name as the festival.
                                                 

If you want to join in any of these practices in Texas this Feb, join us for the Imbolc Retreat.

Imbolc and St. Brighid’s Day

It’s many names are Lá Fhéile Bríde, Laa’l Breeshey, Gwyl Mair Dechrau’r Gwanwyn, Goel Kantolyon, Gouel Varia ar Gouloú, Imbolc, Ogronia(Kondratiev 147) and Oímealg(146). Alexei tells us that the Giamos half of the year has its midpoint at Imbolc, and the waning of the winter begins. The name Imbolc comes from words meaning milk or lactation, and Old Celtic Oui-melko, or “Ewe’s milk”. It was a time of returning fertility, and so is associated with the Irish goddess of birth and childbirth.

Brighid as saint has well known lore about her life, however, the goddess she represents goes back to feats of the Irish mythological cycle. She connects to British and continental versions of herself: Brigandu, Brigantia, and the Romans observed her as a guise of Minerva. Her name means “high” or “exalted” one(148). Briga and bri and brig are names for high places, but also imply that they are imparting a fortitude and strength. Alexei calls it an upwelling of ‘force’. In our folk magics, the closest thing some recons have to energy are Bri and Bua. These are ‘power’ and ‘swelling’. Bri is inherent to a thing, while bua is imparted by action, say the ill energy of a battle being put into the ground itself, on top of the plains natural bri.

1. Make Brighid’s Crosses

Making St. Brighid’s crosses was very widespread and popular. They are made on the eve of the feast day. The native name for them are cros Bríde or bogha Bríde. They were hung in homes, cowsheds and stables. Little crosses were called Crosóg.

The diamond lozenge cross was the most common. These were made of rushes or straw. You can put twigs across the legs of the cross, making crosses at the ends of the legs. You can make more elaborate ones by increasing the number of lozenges or forming a wooden lattice about the cross by weaving the intersections(Danaher 16).

2. Make a Brídgeóg

Groups of young folks would go door to door almost like mummers, carrying a symbol of Brighid. While sometimes the cross, other times it was the Brídeóg, or effigy representing Bridhid, that was taken around. These groups were led by a ‘captain’ or lead by a “Bridget”. Young girls would be chosen for this role in their groups, and girls who were named after the saint were especially chosen. This probably incentivised the naming of girls after the Saint among parents.

3. Make a Crown of Rushes

The effigy was carried to neighbors houses and were welcomed in as they announced they were bringing the Saint’s blessing into the home. They would hand out crosses they had made as well(25). The representative of Bridget, if a young woman, would wear a crown of rushes(Brighid’s Crown) and carry a woven shield, and a veil made from the strongest grasses near wetlands.