Friday is Back!

It has been a long time since I last went to jazz at Burgundy's. And I felt a bit strange last night as I headed towards Burgundy's with my sketch book. How had I become adopted as "artist in residence" and called Toulouse Lautrec or Watercolour Will!.

The journey had been to New Zealand where I had the joy of meeting many blippers at Wanaka, Timaru, Rangiora and Christchurch. And my New Zealand sketchbook, as revealed byPaulaj yesterday still has many gaps in it as I could not keep up with the wealth of subjects - spectacular landscapes, wildlife and people. Grateful thanks to all that followed this exciting journey and your comments were always appreciated.

But as soon as I stepped into Burgundy's it was a delight to re enter this time capsule of old friends and to have such a warm welcome. And the jazz group was perfect to get back into the groove. Here is Fran, always a lovely challenge as she is a great mover as she sings in that mellow, mature and rich voice. The others were also sketching favourites - Laurence Canty on bass, Peter Boocock on drums, Dave Lee on reeds and Vinny Parker (from Manchester) on keyboards.

Great to have had an exciting trip and great to be back.