Friday 31 July 2015

A Jar of Honey

A few days ago I visited a small, family owned, honey factory in Sicily near Mount. Etna. I didn't just come to Sicily for honey, I'm actually on holiday at the moment, but anyways...
The company sells freshly made honey, which they allow you to taste. They offer a wide range of products including honey with creams, honey sweets, honey biscuits, pure bee pollen granules and cosmetics including lip balms, creams and soaps. My favourite honeys were the honey with lemon and orange, and the 'honey with cream' with melon.  
As well as selling honey, the company also sells spices, pesto, olive oils, wines and liquors.

Visiting the factory was so interesting, and being able to taste the different honeys was a wonderful experience! It was also lovely to see one of the 750 beehives the company owns (see above). They keep one of the beehives by the factory for people to see and then they dot the rest of the beehives around the volcano and the other nearby areas where there are flowers available for the bees to pollinate. 
After a lot of taste testing I bought two jars of honey; Miele di Arancio (Orange Honey) and Miele Di Limone (Lemon Honey). I also bought some honey biscuits called Fogile Mandorlate and a honey spoon!
I was also given a little leaflet (see below) to tell me what health benefits come from eating the honey. For example, the Miele di Arancio (orange honey) is relaxing and tonic. Sedative suitable for people who suffer from nervousness and anxiety. Against insomnia and headache.
What really makes this business unique is that they tell you exactly what is in the fresh honey you're tasting and they show you exactly how it's made. The honey isn't mass produced and you are able to see how well kept the bees are as the people who own the business understand how important bees are and treat them with care. 

Visiting the small factory was a wonderful experience and is was so lovely to taste freshly made Sicilian honey! You can also ship overseas which is definitely what I'll be doing once I've finished my honey!

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Sunday 26 July 2015

Dorset.

A few weekends ago, I was in Dorset. Dorset; the little county in South West England on the English Channel Coast. Home to Poole Harbour; the second largest natural harbour in the world, after Sydney, of course. 
I went with my school's chamber orchestra and barbershop choir for a mini music tour. It consisted of busking on Brownsea Island for the National Trust, eating fish and chips, swimming in the sea *but only up to our knees of course, because otherwise the risk assessment would be oh so much hassle,* buying hula hoops in Co-op and buying lots and lots of sweets. Oh, we also performed in the Christchurch Priory which happens to have the longest nave in the country, don'tcha know. 

The weekend was lovely, as was the weather, although I believe my thighs felt very violated by the sun *should've worn factor 50*...


The trip was certainly one of the strangest music tours I have ever been on; with honking the mini bus horn every time we passed a road sign, to getting everyone on the bus to call their parents Barbara for an evening. Even to prank calling the phone number on the back of an orange coach, claiming that the driver was a long lost uncle, and then calling the other mini bus to say that we are following said coach, and not to follow us because we are going wherever that long lost uncle is going. And having them believe us due to fake crying and several phone calls. And lunging. There was a lot of lunging... 
In a nutshell, Dorset was lovely and I had an amazing time. And I took a lot of photos which are now being published on this small space on the internet. And I want to go back to Dorset and I want to find out if the coach company ever called back. I also want to warn you that if you are staying in a Travelodge; the breakfast boxes aren't as nice as they sound...

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Other Blog - Paint The Roses Red

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Monday 13 July 2015

A Deafening Silence to Silence Her

The deafening silence washed over her like a wave washes over the sand on a beach. She looked out over the rocky cliff edge and saw the trail of death that the silence had left behind.
There was a gentle and comforting breeze floating across the land; yet no whistling or low howling could be heard from the tranquil force.
As she looked down from the cliff she noticed the innocent layer of cyanide-looking wispy fog, almost kissing the land with its touch. She saw the misty vapour begin to rise with the contradicting air masses. As a wretched panic took over her whirring mind she turned to run, all too aware of what the silent poison could do. 
She ran inland as the fog crept up behind her as if watching, waiting, savouring her fright. 
The wind had picked up and its sharp edges started to whip at her sides. Her breath caught as she sensed the movement behind her. The force suddenly surging towards her like an uncontrollable tsunami.
It first pulled at her feet, dragging her down. She gasped as she fell, inhaling the death that was looming around her. It recklessly pierced at her lungs, burning her throat on its journey as if a shot of vinegar was scorching away what voice she had left. The pain stabbed through her lifeless body as the sword of sacrifice pierced her trembling heart. 
She screamed out in torture but the silent hallowing bellow from her surroundings was too powerful to let her cry escape.
She lay, motionless, as her soul had been engulfed by the silence.
Her lifeless body lay still as the deafening silence washed over her, like a wave washes over the sand on a beach.
At last, she was silenced.


*Disclaimer - please don't use/edit my work without my express permission and please don't share it without it being credited and sourced back to me - this 'story' is fictional - I know it's not perfect, it was never supposed to be. I don't know what I was intending to achieve in writing this; I just wanted to incorporate cyanide into a piece of writing in some way as I personally find that death by cyanide is a fascinating way to go, maybe it's something about drowning in your own bodily fluids...*

Useful links - 
Other Blog - Paint The Roses Red

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For business inquiries:
painttherosesred123@gmail.com