Hope your week has been a good one! Holiday time, so Hayden is enjoying chilling in his PJ's in the mornings!
For me, the time is passing way too quickly! Aurora Special Care Centres annual fete is around the corner, and the planning and organization is something else :) But I am getting there... so keep fingers crossed that all goes smoothly - as a lot of children are going to benefit hugely from the fete.
Here are some of the strange and interesting events happening around the world this weekend!
UK Air Guitar Championships
Flex those fingertips and dig deep into the wardrobe to find your spandex pants. The UK Air Guitar Championships at Concorde 2 is not only a club night and annual event: it's a musical movement that has conquered the world.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Try not to wince as devotees walk barefoot over hot coals or climb ladders fitted with razor-sharp rungs at Phuket's annual Vegetarian Festival. Local residents with Chinese ancestry observe a ten-day vegetarian or vegan diet, aiming to cleanse their spirit.
The ceremonies date back to the mid-19th century when a travelling Chinese opera company fell gravely ill. Fearing that they had let down their Gods, the actors performed self-mutilation rites to try and cure themselves. The festival is celebrated by devout Chinese all over the world, although the island's five temples are the most famous venues, and it's a common belief that those who observe the festival's sacred rituals will enjoy good fortune.
On day one gods, spirits and ghosts are petitioned for their mercy and assistance during the following nine days. Various ceremonies are performed in the temples and processions of white-clad devotees fill the streets.
Believers run over glowing charcoal and up and down ladders with rungs of sharpened blades, fuelled by a frenzied spiritual fervour. Participants also show off their spiritual prowess even further by piercing different parts of their bodies with iron needles, measuring up to four metres long.
ArtCar Fest
Every year more than 100 weird and wonderfully modified cars roll in for the ArtCar Fest at the San Jose Museum of Art. Stay for the How Berkeley Can You Be? festival, held on the Sunday.
ArtCar Fest is the perfect marriage of the American love of both cars and self-expression - from the Cowasaki (a life-size, cow-shaped motorcycle) to the Carthedral (unsurprisingly, a car with a cathedral attached to the back), the range of design and imagination is fantastic.
One of the highlights of each festival is the building of a brand-new ArtCar which is then raffled off, allowing visitors the chance to join the inner-sanctum of the ArtCar community who parade their creations every year
Kivik Apple Market – Sweden
Every year since 1988 the Kivik Apple Market has featured one of the world's more bizarre works of art: a 'painting' made with as many as 75,000 apples. The fruity and fragrant pictures can measure 12x8 metres and weigh up to four tons.
The Apple Market celebrates its 25th edition in 2012.
