Blog

Gourmet chocolates during the holiday season, with a roaring fire in the room, and perhaps a quiet drink to celebrate Christmas or New Year.

Chocolate from Gertrude Hawk is the perfect gift or treat with friends, the box of assorted chocolates are my favourite, personally the milk chocolates suit my taste, but the man like dark chaocolate.

Of course when chocolate was first invented thousands of years ago in the jungles of Mexico is was just a drink, which is nice, I love a hot chocolate drink on a cold winter night, but I am glad the method of making solid chocolate was discovered.

My favourites have always been caramel chocolates that melt in your mouth, but I always chew them before the chocolate is fully melted so that I get the wonderful taste of chocolate and caramel together, yum!

The man likes his chocolate too much to be allowed to have it too often, but when we do have a big box he always likes a glass of sparkling wine with the chocolate. He says they were made to go together. I do agree, sipping champagne while you're eating a lovely gooey chocolate is heaven.

Guys, don't forget as well that Valentines day isn't too far away now, and while every girl loves flowers, a big box of chocolates is also very welcome.

Well, where has the time disappeared to. Just last week I was celebrating Christmas with friends and tonight I'll be seeing in the new year, having a quiet one this year, just the man and me and our three kittens.

The Christmas tree is still up of course, but we aren't playing Christmas music anymore, we're back to the kind of music we love the most, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, George Michael.

The cats don't realise anything special is happening tonight, it's probably hoping too much for them to sense a difference, although they might sense our moods have changed.

It feels bitter sweet to see out 2008 and bring in 2009, on the other hand we believe 2009 is going to be a great year for us so we're also excited.

so my dear readers, have a very Happy New Year and all the best of luck to you for 2009.

A cat finally uses up it's nine lives and appears at the pearly gates. Saint Peter tells him he's been a good cat and will be allowed into Heaven. For being such a good cat you can have anything you wish to make your stay comfortable.

The cat has had a hard life on the farm, with people who ignored him, dogs that barked, and hard wooden floors to sleep on. With a knowing smile Saint Peter offers him a fantastic pillow in front of a warm fireplace.


A few days later some mice appear at the pearly gates and are also told they've lived a good life, and are also offered anything they want to make their stay more comfortable.

Well the mice have also had a hard life, constantly running away from large feet, brooms and sharp claws, and ask for a set of rolling skates. Saint Peter smiles again and the mice race off on their shiny new skates.

A week later Saint Peter wanders through Heaven on his break and spies the cat sleeping on his cushion in front of the fire. "How are you cat?," he asks.

The cat half opens his eyes and giving a great yawn says "Oh yes, and thanks for all the meals on wheels you've been sending me".

Starting a new business from the ground up is a trying and stressful activity, so wouldn't it be great if most of the thinking had already been done and you only have to make it happen?

This is the advantage of franchising. You find a business idea that is within your expertise, then approach one of the franchisors for your niche, and if all goes well you become their representative in your area.

The advantages of franchising are that all the mistakes have already been made in most cases, and you just need to hit the ground running when you open the doors. In most cases you'll also get marketing from the franchisor and sales leads from them, but it's your business, and you make the profits.

To start a business with a franchise, simply use the search form on the Franchise Opportunities website and browse all offers you think might be interesting.

This particular directory is the world's largest franchise directory, covering everything from office services, party plans, burger restaurants and anything else you can think of.

Some of the industries you might like to think about include bridal, cleaning and maintenance, financial services, lodging, pets, photography, real estate, travel, vending machines, or wholesale.

There really is something for almost everyone, and even for all budgets starting from under $50,000.

Today we went to an artists market here in Spain, it was small, and filled with English artists amongst the couple of Spanish artists, but it was still a great day out.

Here in Andalusia, the small village markets are often dominated by retirees and stay at home parents who have a small craft business that brings in a few hundred Euros a month, more than enough to pay for their materials and let them take the family out for dinner once a month.

we noticed something quite amusing though, the Spanish artists had plenty of pictures of bullfighting and imposing buildings on display, whereas the English artists tended to have more flowers and pueblo blanco paintings on display.

I didn't see anyone actually buy anything but it was still really nice to see the displays.

A new report suggests global warming may have been to blame for the complete collapse of the Roman Empire between 200 and 700AD. It seems dry weather was to blame, I assume crops failed leading to internal instability.

Researchers from The University of Wisconsin-Madison geology department took measurements from a stalagmite originally from Soreq Cave near Jerusalem. Using an advanced ion microprobe they were able to see detail about the amount of rainfall of the era.

I think this should be a serious wake up call to those of us living in the 21st century. Europe and the USA are facing new challenges and our western civilization is showing signs of decline whereas other older civilizations like India and China are now growing and could become dominant soon.

I'm not saying the fixing the environment and global warming is going to reverse the fortunes of the US and Europe, but it is interesting that a parallel can be drawn with the Roman Empire.

Do you ever wonder which watches celebrities wear and why? Sometimes I do, especially when you see someone like Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, or Britney Spears wearing something really nice and delicate made with gold and filled with little diamonds.

Or maybe someone like Brad Pitt, George Clooney, or Matt Damon wearing one of those really rugged manly type watches with multiple dials that tell you almost anything you could ever want to know.

I've only ever had Seiko Watches, other brands that I like the look of are outside my budget, such as Tissot, or Gucci.

Have you ever noticed the celebrities never seem to wear digital watches, most of them own analog watches with hands that rotate. I find that quite amusing that technology has moved on so much yet we all still prefer analog watches.