Bees and Buckets

So I didn't actually get as wer as I thought last Sunday. It turned out to be a day of deliciously prepared homemade food at my friend Anna's family home in Saghmosavank. It was a beautiful day and we were surrounded by sunshine, family, goats, pigs, chickens, dogs and even a little kitten. Anna's father Tero is a proud man. He loves to work and create things and he looks as if he is part of the land. Forming, shaping, building, growing,... these are the things he does. He proudly showed me their peach trees, apricot trees, apple trees, various pear trees, berries and raspberries. Apricot season is pretty much over but there was one apricot left on a tree and he insisted that I taste it. It was the sweetest, juciest apricot I had ever eaten in my life. Similiarly the raspberries I picked off the bushes were sweetest raspberries I had ever eaten - 10 times sweeter than the organic ones you buy at the supermarket for an outrageous price.
I couldn't stop eating them! Later tero showed me the bees he keeps for honey. Without any protective clothing he reached his hands in and took out layer after layer of honeycomb saturated with bees! Half anxious and half curious I got close enough to get a good look and understanding of how the system works. It was fascinating. After dinner I challenged Anna's brother to backgammon and lost neck to neck and then the madness began as buckets, bottles, cups and saucepans of water started to get thrown left and right. I managed to dodge most of the water and was blessed with only a few drops. We had a fantastic day in all and ended up singing at the top of our voices on our drive home.
The week in the studio has been a productive one. It looks like I will finally be wrapping up this week and am busy discussing distribution deals and concert preparations. The work is hard but I get great pleasure in doing that which I love. I meet nwe faces on a daily basis and have come to love the flow and energy of this city. I do however look forward to the green hills of England and seeing my family soon.
I hope to get some work in progress photos of the village school as the DAC volunteer crew are due to arrive this week and will head up to the village a week later.
We had some refreshing rain today for a change which cooled things down a bit. After a mad night out with some French Armenians who all ended up coming over for coffee at an unmentionable hour I am enjoying a relaxing weekend! I shall be back with more later.
S