Delta Disaster

Delta airlines have to be the WORST airline in the world. And I have travelled. Short haul flights may well be bearable but long distance - never again.
Cabin crew come stringy and frizzed like a bad perm - slapdash slapstick straight from a Carol Burnett Show- oh so tired.
Ground crew are the sum total of the word rude.I don't know how they sleep at night.
There are no little touches or bits of love to make you feel special or aid relaxation - everything is the barest threadbare clean picked bones - a municipal bus with wings.
And did I mention that I endured four nine hour intercontinental flights within six days with no personal TV screen.
Tatty cabins and stinky loos make you wonder if the engine oil is managing to find its way to its destination.
No seriously now, you can honestly give this airline a miss and take the long route across the atlantic via sydney if need be. It is just not fit for a queen.

The Rock in The Big Apple

You will never guess where I have just been.......
New York.
Yip
The Big Apple
....and for what purpose you might well ask ?
Well to do my queenly duty of approving store locations I might answer.

So, the secret is out. Rain is opening a store in New York. Isn't that just awesome hunnee? and it is in a prime prime location in central Manhattan theatre district right between 5th and 6th avenues. Radio City Music Hall, Anthropology , Nine West and Godiva are our neighbours.
Oh fame at last .
Of course the lease has yet to be signed - we still have some minor haggling to do but it is 99.99% said and done. It is unbearably terrifyingly exciting and thrilling. Our first international flagship store.
All sorts of self doubt creep up on one - even on a queen - and one begins to wonder - is Rain really good enough, can we pull it off , are we fooling ourselves to think we mere african mortals can achieve this ?
And in the next moment all the creepy nagging lurking doubts are shoved away and the happy blessed thoughts take over and one realises the true miracle of it all - that God has really made a way for us, and all we need to do is step forward in faith one foot at a time.
I can't begin to describe how challenging and exhilirating this all feels.Parachuting has nothing on this adrenalin rush.It is also a bit like soul pilates - I feel stretched in every direction by the challenge of making this happen.
On a less intense note, the week long stay at my partners' Simon and Hendrien's home near Conneticut was like a dollop of green in an ocean of hard New York grey.
They live in a forest of horsey farmlands with rivers and lakes for neighbours. On our daily game drives I notched up sightings of three deer, a racoon roadkill and some perky live squirrels.
I was treated royally (one could expect this being queen) with Simon bringing me coffee in bed in the morning - what a good man - and Hendrien feeding me with healthy organic stuff. I was however left with a deep sense of pity for them having to cope without servants - Heaven forbid !

pumpkins and patience

You may well be wondering what is happening with Amsterdam ..... well so are we. We are all anxiously and patiently waiting for a store location to confirm itself so that we can all LEAP into action and make it happen. Patience patience patience. In the meantime we are growing pumpkins.
Here is my gardener Delight - also known as the Green Machine.