A little practice on a beautiful island - that's the way to do it! Lucky me....

The last day of the year, and how hectic it's been, 2014. A good year, I can't complain. Two big ukulele festivals here in England, and all four George Formby Society convention weekends in Blackpool. Long Suffering Husband only declined to accompany me to one - Cheltenham. Add to that lots of good company with lovely people - simply fantastic! So now I'm trying to play catch up.

October saw us having a wonderfully relaxing two weeks on the Greek island of Zakynthos.

The uke came too, of course.... Little Blue Uke... and our lovely verandah was the perfect place to sit for a gentle strum now and then.

What am I playing here? Practising chord melody, "Autumn Leaves" from Sarah Maisel's excellent workshop in Cheltenham, where she shared her strategy for working out chord melody. Seriously good stuff. Challenging on the day - but we all came away having truly learned something worthwhile, a tool to use to work out instrumentals. And a peaceful, relaxed environment with no chores to call you away is the perfect place to concentrate... and enjoy!

Beautiful island, blissful couple of weeks.