Well it’s good thing I’m not Damon Salvatore or a Heretic! And how come Elijah and Klaus were never tortured with it? Suddenly the Originals were too good for Vervain just White Oak?! – my thoughts when I saw a bottle of Vervain at the supermarket.

A beautiful day full of sunshine!

It was a surprisingly good day! I didn’t throw cups, have a melt down. perhaps I did curse a little and mumble to myself about customers, but I was well behaved.

The sadistic side of me was also enjoying every moment Annie was becoming grumpy with the McCafe person! “But Annie,” I teased with a grin, “isn’t it like having two of me on McCafe?”

Annie glared at me. “No, I don’t have to tell you how to do to your job!”

The huge coffee brewer broke just before lunch.😱😱😱 so we were making coffees with 8 coffee…

Poster, 20 Feet From Stardom. Image from The Cocoa Diaries

Strip out the backing vocals from rock, pop and R&B music and you lose much of its depth and richness. And yet, how many of us can name the singers (mainly women) who perform on our favourite songs?

20 Feet From Stardom is a 2013 documentary that explores the lives and careers of some of the music industry’s most prolific backing-singers. We may not recognise the names — Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer (who’ve both sung Gimme Shelter with Mick Jagger), Judith Hill,  Claudia Lennear, or Darlene Love — but we recognise their voices, and when the spotlight is upon them, we understand their genius.

I love this movie. It doesn’t flinch from the harsh realities of what it means to be in the background — vital to, but often unacknowledged in — moments of musical magic and history-making…

The blank page intimidates some writers. They claim they feel the pressure of needing to produce perfection in the first draft. Others insist they are waiting for inspiration from their divine muse. The underlying issue might be less ephemeral, and easier to solve.

Salespeople know the axiom that says a confused mind will not buy. Faced with multiple choices, a customer’s knee jerk reaction is “no.” Extensive options, confusion, and uncertainty are ingredients in the recipe called Disaster. Seeking to avoid the risk of making a mistake, we walk away. The lesson for anyone in sales is to present minimal selections, straightforward explanations, and foregone conclusions. When the decision is obvious, humans act. We want clarity and simple answers.

Why wouldn’t the same principle apply to authors? A writer’s imagination teams with an immense selection of stories they want to tell. Confronted with unlimited possibilities, we can’t decide. Inaction and lack…

As my regular readers know, I love to get up early and walk or jog. If I can make myself rise and get out an hour earlier than usual then the rewards are great. Last week as I set out at 7.00am, I saw the sun rising and the beauty of the morning was quite overwhelming. How do you begin your day?

Marvellous Morning

It’s morning time, I’m on my own, the air is cool and still

What’s wild and green and overgrown now gathers on the hills

The long stems rise, their leaves reach high, towards the sky in praise

The rising of the sun is nigh, ‘twill guide our path today

There is a world we hardly know that starts the day before us

Where hope and faith and life can grow, where thankfulness implores us

Through trilling sounds and meadow mounds alive with buzzing creatures

This is…