Evolving

Well, a bit like my city in my last post, I’ve been evolving too. I changed my website host to WordPress, because I love using it for my blog and decided it will be easier for me to update something I am familiar using. So my website for my music is https://dawnmaxwellmusic.com/ please check it out and let me know what you think. It’s very different to how I had built the website before and I like this new look. It has just come to mind that it ties in with one of the songs I have written and recorded ‘Fade to Grey’, perhaps that was no coincidence. I admit there isn’t much content yet on the website but I have plans for 2022 and hopefully I will be very busy updating the website with what I’m up to music wise. So exciting.

I have also changed the content to my FB music page. I love positive quotes and affirmations and I was receiving messages telling me that my daily posts, non music related, were very uplifting and gave people positive vibes in the mornings. So alongside the music, I’m continuing with the quotes, affirmations and all things sparkle because that’s just who I am. For some reason I was trying to keep the music separate and then it hit me, it is who I am so I need to just embrace it and bring it all along together. It may not fit for some people but it fits for me and if just one person gets a much needed lift or positive energy from a post then I love that. https://www.facebook.com/DawnMaxwellMusic So if you are on FB, pop over and give me a follow and join in with the positive vibes and sparkle a plenty.

I will take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to everyone who has supported me on my journey. The high’s, the low’s and the rock bottom. Although I encounter some very black, sad days that are hard to bear, I also encounter some very happy, make it happen, you can do this days. It’s amazing how a random comment from someone can lift you up and raise your spirits and give you confidence to believe in yourself. I am so grateful for you all and I feel blessed to have met you along our paths, online or otherwise.

With love and sparkles xxx

It must be 2014 since I last visited the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market. With no longer working in the city centre and being a full time carer for my parents, going out and about just didn’t happen. The market was cancelled last year due to Covid 19 and the various lockdown restrictions. Earlier in the month himself was able to take a break from his role as carer for his Mom and we went out and about. It felt like normal life and that in itself felt strange.

I haven’t been to the city centre since June 2019 and it has changed a lot since then. There is a lot of construction taking place, some of which is in preparation of the Commonwealth Games taking place next year. The Christmas market is smaller than usual this year because of construction and also in order to limit numbers to try to prevent spread of Covid infection.

The garlic bread with cheese was always my favourite lunch at the Christmas market.

The garlic bread with cheese was huge, double the size that I remember from past years. Delicious! The Gulwein with amaretto shot tasted so good. Himself had his hot chocolate. The city was quiet, very quiet for a lunch time. Perhaps a lot of people are working remotely and also with our infection rates currently so high, people may be hesitant to venture into the city. We both felt a lack of atmosphere. Unusually warm for November it didn’t have that cold Winter feel. It was lunchtime so we didn’t experience the magic of the sparkling lights at night. However, we both felt that the reason for our lack of atmosphere wasn’t the market or the weather, it was because life has changed so drastically for us both since the last time we were there together. We enjoyed our trip out, it was lovely to spend some quality time together, to be out and about in our city but the magic of yesteryear was missing.

It was a lovely day out into the city. We talked about how the city was evolving and how our parents used to talk to us about what the city was like when they first moved here and the changes they had seen. It’s amazing the changes that have taken place in our lifetime and how something’s have actually reverted back to what was in place when our parents were younger. In Birmingham there are now trams and more tramlines being fitted in order to connect various city centre main areas. I remember my Dad laughing when I told him a few years ago about trams coming to the city and he told me that there were trams running through the city when he first arrived here and he seen the lines being taken up and main roads being laid in their place. So our cities evolve, change and yet history repeats itself in a modern form.

I was delighted to see the Nativity scene in a more prominent place. There were a few years, back when I worked in the city, that the nativity appeared to be pushed to the outside of the market area where not many people would pass by. That made me sad, after all it is Christ that is the reason for Christmas and whatever our beliefs, and for a multicultural, vibrant in differences city such as Birmingham, I don’t believe such an important aspect of Christmas should be pushed to the back of a bustling Christmas festival area. We should not be ashamed of our nativity scenes. Embracing each others cultures, backgrounds and festivals will only make us more connected and accepting of each other. And really that’s what it’s all about.

With love and sparkles xxx