Land adventures!
I fell in love with wild places as a child, spending every summer in a remote Highland loch. We still return for a week each year, to live without electricity or even an access road.
There are no deer on Shetland, so seeing one is always exciting – especially this close up.
I’d always wanted to go to Canada, and took Bouchercon, the big American crime festival which was being held in Toronto, as an excuse. We flew right to Vancouver and found our appartment had this view.
I loved Vancouver! We walked all over, including to Pacific Beach, where I dreamed of sailing oceans.
We saw wonderful wildlife, like this blue heron.
We took a boat trip in the bay, and met up with this playful humpbacked whale – and don’t tell me his spraying the whole boat with very smelly blow was accidental. I could see him laughing.
This starfish was still fighting back!
The hotel had a cook-your-own-waffle machine – I loved that too.
After that we went into the Rockies and stayed in a sumptuous log cabin with this view.
While my husband stayed indoors and composed music, I had three days of guided walks through this amazing forest.
Damp but happy after rafting down the river in an inflatible.
On our last evening we saw Grizzly bears. Yes, they really were this close - our guide had her hand ready on the pepper spray.
My favourite panto role ever – the witch in Sleeping Beauty. Not only did I have full 18th century dress, with a hoop, but I also got to fly on a broomstick!
I really enjoy taking part in musicals too. Here I am all dressed up for the pub chorus in Oliver! - the oom-pa-pa song.
Our College has a film course, so I had fun playing film star for one of the students. I was also in a commercial film, Devil’s Gate – don’t blink in the bar scene, or you’ll miss me.
Iceland was another adventure – I loved swimming in the Blue Lagoon.
I got the chance to meet Icelandic horses.
The landscape in the south of the island had amazing colours.
A long weekend in Venice – the view from our balcony. I could have sat there all day watching the boats going past.
Rather than queue for museums, we visited works of art in the churches they were painted for – this is Titian’s Pentecost, in La Salute.
The hotel next door had an art exhibition.
You can see exactly what these lions on the balcony above think of modern art!
My composer husband, Philip, wanted to record some of his music with an orchestra, and the cheapest place to do it was ... Brno! We had a wonderful weekend there. This is my favourite tram ever.
By way of time out we visited their wonderful puppetry museum - and yes, you get to play with the puppets, so I did.
I loved the street art - so colourful.