I guess my big achievement for May was taking the leap to have a hair cut. This was the most drastic haircut I have had since I was a child. Would you believe I actually walked back into my apartment and burst into tears! Not that I didn't like it, but it was just so different, and I knew that if it hadn't worked I would have had to live with it for a very very long time.

I did manage to squeeze in around my work catering an afternoon tea for 40 people, which was fun. What I really haven't managed to achieve in the last months is getting to the gym. So far I calculate that I am paying about $50 a visit at the moment. I need to find time somewhere to go!

I have, however, managed another breakthrough with my voice. I am not sure why, but I suddenly seem to have leapt forward, not only in sound, but in my coping strategies with stress during lessons. Happy happy vegemite!

May 8

A weekend away in the mountains with my choir. We had a chalet booked. Dinner on the first night was a mixture of curries cooked by two of the choir and the next day I made a big batch of spaghetti bolognaise (working on the KISS principle). We sang heaps, and I had time to bond one on one with some newer members of the choir and even got to play the recorder once. The views were fabulous too!

Then we had the first of the "Ville et vous" celebrations. These are a sort of fete, but based in a suburb rather than a school. Everyone in the suburb drags out their old stuff and sets up stalls to sell it. There are bands playing throughout the day and evenings and food stalls. This one was in "Les Grottes", which is a quartier behind the train station (you remember where the culinary squat is). This year's fete didn't seem quite as good as previous years, with fewer and less interesting food stalls. But I was not actually there to party.

My singing teacher had been approached by one of the local community groups in the suburb who have an old piano that they want to renovate. They had this idea to put the piano on a cart and wheel it and some singers around the fete making music and passing the hat around. Pierre (my teacher) invited myself and two other of his students to perform. We were singing classic jazz songs - the others had performed in a concert with the pieces recently, and I was able to take on the music even though I hadn't had it for long because the pieces were mostly familiar to me.

We turned up to discover that the cart was only just big enough to fit the piano, leaving Pierre squeezed onto a stool scrunched up, while we walked beside the piano singing. It was fun, if a little raggedy andy. There was some challenge as we moved along as the acoustic changed as we moved around the buildings and open spaces. We did manage to raise over a thousand francs for the renovation, which was great!

The jazz mood has been good and prepared me for my next performance, which will be in Tunisia in July singing at a friend's wedding.

May 23-5

There is this great calendar of all the medieval fairs in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

I choose a weekend then find the nearest fair. This time I could go a little further afield as it was a long weekend. I decided to check out Semur en Auxois.

It is kind of Dijon direction then south a bit. A typical medieval village on the edge of a kink in the river, Semur itself is quite picturesque. This weekend it was filled with activities and life, as one of the best medieval fairs I have found so far, wound its way along the narrow streets.

I guess what was great about it was that there were heaps of activities for kids to do, and some interesting and unusual stalls.

Best of all for me, there were concerts. A few street musicians, but really the highlights were the concerts in the church. The first concert I attended was singing, which was lovely.

But it was the second concert that got me SO excited I could burst! A wonderful wonderful group of musicians from Dijon, playing all sizes of recorders, crumhorns, cornetti, viol de gamba and singing as well. They even had, not just bass recorders, not even just contra-basses, but SUB-contra bass recorders. And I say to you... YES that is a plural. They have TWO SUB-CONTRA-BASS RECORDERS. WOW. I mean. WOW. I was just floored. I sat there gazing torn between jealousy and an overwhelming desire to rush up to them to beg to let me play.

After the concert I did approach them, and explained that I am a musician who hasn't been able to find a group of early music musicians here in Geneva; they kindly said that I could come visit them in Dijon. Yay! I am SO going to go visit them.

I decided not to stay in Semur for the evening, but to head out to Dijon. On the way I visited the town of Flavigny. I briefly considered staying there but decided to go on. It is a cute village with a medieval heart, but very very small. One of the 15th/16th century houses is for sale... tempting...

I found myself a pretty cheap hotel in Dijon and crashed for the night. Not a bad little hotel actually... must remember its name.

I was pleased to get a chance to visit the Musee des Beaux Artes in Dijon again, to snap some better shots of particular things I photographed very badly on a previous visit.