So cool!

I've been making fruit ices to round off my midday meal. This one's a melon water ice, with lots of pulp in it as well as juice so it's more fruity and filling. 

 

One annoying seed got away from the sieve, though! If I say so myself, I have always made nice fruit sorbets and ices in summer and I have oranges ready for the next batch. 

I've had a lot of people wish me well in the current heatwave but unlike other places we've actually had a drop in temperatures over the last few days. It's partly why I moved to this part of the world - mild winters and sunny but not broiling summers. It's 33C here in the shade this afternoon (91F), which is hot but nothing like the Rome area where it's 10C higher right now. Yesterday evening there was a nice breeze and I went to my next door neighbour for a cold prosecco, which was actually the first booze I've had for a couple of weeks. I don't think alcohol and hot weather go well together at all but it was OK yesterday.

 

Indisputably Isobel

Isobel has a fully charged outdoor trans life and her adventures can be read on her blog, Indisputably Isobel, which I have added to my blogroll on the right. Her blog reminds me of the first few years of this blog, before I got sick, when I packed in a lot of events and meet-ups with other girls, with lots of photos. Worth keeping up with her.

Keep having fun, honey.

Recognition of non-op transwomen in Italy

Good news from Italy where transitioners already have good protections but where help for and recognition of other trans people is patchy. After a long legal dispute, a transwoman in Sicily has been recognised as female despite not going down the official medical transition route which up to now has been the only way to change sex markers on official documents. It's another step forward. I admire her tenacity with the Italian courts that are not renowned for their speediness.

Catherine et Liliane

Many thanks (or curses) to Stana over at the Femulate blog, for introducing me some months ago to the long-running TV show in France, Les RTT de Catherine et Liliane (Catherine and Liliane's time off in lieu), in which actors Alex Lutz and Bruno Sanches took on the roles of gossipy secretaries in a French media office. I have been watching the episodes on YouTube endlessly. The show has now ended but was fine topical satire and neither I nor any other commentator can get over just how brilliantly they performed the roles, from gestures to voices to clothing and accessories. I'm not sure I've ever seen crossdressed roles done so well. The trick is to play it absolutely straight.

There are no versions in English or subtitled in English that I can find but if you want a taste without needing to know much French this episode is as good as any to illustrate the sort of scrapes they get into. Catherine and Liliane are all dolled up in Cannes and come across the Louis Vuitton shop where Catherine soon realises she can just about afford a bar of Vuitton soap. But they bump into Nicolas Ghesquière, Vuitton's creative director, who offers to take them to the fashion show later if they will parade Vuitton dresses there. Having been fitted, they are then stood up for Susan Sarandon and Nicole Kidman. They have no choice but to pay for the new dresses that have been altered just for them. Catherine offers post-dated cheques. Brilliantly played - and what great outfits (although Liliane's is, as ever, slightly comedic). 

All very cool.

Sue x