l Eco
l Travel
l Designer chairs
l Art
l Mercedes
l Marshall
l Brain exercise Massage the mind.
l Eco in mind! Power your
l Concept Car Mercedes EQXX
l South of France Puisserguier/Bezier.
l Solid Sound Marshall retro but
l Brian Clarke A very British artist.
Give your brain a workout! The simplest brain games and cognitive exercises can boost memory, help you think clearer and help your mind work faster. Your brain’s fitness depends on how much it is used. Every time you do something new or different, you create new neural pathways and simple tricks can help give your brain a workout!
Despite being an organ, the brain has some powerful similarities with muscles. It can be worked on, developed, tested, and have its endurance and capacity increased. Just like physical exercise, it’s about training the brain to ensure its happy and healthy.
Something as simple as using your nondominant hand more in your day to day life will cause your brain to lay down new pathways and rethink daily tasks. Staying engaged with the tasks at hand is also a good way to test the brain. For example instead of relying on a list to remind us what we need to do or get, only use it when you have completed all the tasks you can think of, this keeps the brain active.
Refreshing your head space.
Puzzles are like weights for the mind, deciphering abstract concepts, performing math problems, and working to find answers helps your brain develop new neural pathways. Even something as simple as practising to remember a loved ones number, can start off a good habit of retaining knowledge,
which you may also need in the future. Conversations with people about something recent or from the past is also a great method of jogging past memories and exercising the brain. Face-to-face social interactions force our brains to think and act on the spot. Conversations, discussions and exploring ideas challenges your brain to accept new concepts and entertain abstract thoughts.
Mental exercise is something we all do daily without sometimes noticing. For instance observing things, people and situations, problem solving, organising our schedules, the list goes on. Doing these things gives our brains something to think about and therefore keeps it active
Wake up to being mindful.
and alert.
Routine is usually what keeps us all moving forward; however mixing it up every now and then is a good thing! For example, drive or walk a different way to wherever you normally go. This little change in routine helps the brain practice memory and directions, and also changes up your day and makes mundane things more interesting for you. Another aspect of your daily routine which is also important is ensuring you are getting enough good quality sleep! It’s a must for a healthy brain, to schedule in rest.
Learning or doing something new or even rekindling an old hobby is a great exercise for the brain. Its engaging and gives the brain new experiences and information to work with. Picking a book on a completely new subject you don’t know anything about is a great start. Keep entertained as well as informed and educated. These methods keep your brain active and also enable you to pick up and develop new skills, it’s a win, win!
Quote - “The brain is muscle. If you don’t exercise it, it will get slow.”
Rachel Riley
“I don’t always enjoy curating, but I do believe it’s part of my job. It’s a good exercise for my brain, like warming up.”
Takashi Murakami
Tesla Energy
The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery stationary home energy storage product manufactured by Tesla Energy. The Powerwall stores electricity for solar self-consumption, time of use load shifting, and backup power. The Powerwall was introduced in 2015 as Powerwall 1 with limited production.
Power your home, save money
Powerwall is a compact home battery that stores energy generated by solar or from the grid
You can use this energy to power the devices and appliances in your home day and night, during outages or when you want to go off-grid
With customizable power modes, you can optimize your stored energy for outage protection, electricity bill savings and more.
Keep your home and all appliances powered during an outage.
When severe weather is forecast, Storm Watch will automatically charge Powerwall to its maximum capacity to prepare for an outage.
When an outage occurs, Powerwall will help keep your solar system running or, if using grid power, will transition your home to stored energy instantly.
Time Based Control mode optimizes your stored energy. With variable rate plans, you can program Powerwall to use your stored energy when prices spike, saving money over time.
Powerwall can power your entire home with one unit, making whole-home backup protection more affordable.
Each unit is self-contained with an integrated solar inverter for added efficiency, resulting in fewer parts and faster installation.
This concept car won’t go on sale, but we’ll see its tech in future vehicles.
Designed to slip through the air with as little drag as possible, the EQXX doesn’t wow with off-the-line performance. Instead, the power really comes after you’ve gotten to highway speed. But even then, the concept vehicle is an efficiency machine that feels like the future. Mercedes has no plans to put the EQXX into production, but what it’s learning now will at some point land in its vehicles.
Mercedes had a singular goal: Build a one-off concept vehicle that could travel 1000 kilometers (621 miles) on one charge from a battery pack slightly smaller than 100kWh.
Mercedes Benz has set a milestone for EV range with the Mercedes Benz VISION EQXX, the company managed a range of 1,000 km on a single charge, the is certainly impressive. The Mercedes Benz VISION EQXX still had a range of 140 kilometers at the end of its 1,000 km journey.
About the size of a low-slung compact sedan and shaped like a windswept teardrop, its tiny, bubble-like frontal area contrasts with a substantial side profile that stretches over a 110.2-inch wheelbase.
After debuting the EQXX earlier this year at the CES technology show, Mercedes was quick to prove the car’s real-world bona fides on two long-distance treks across Europe, the longest of which - from Stuttgart, Germany, to Silverstone, England, where it hot-lapped the famous race circuit - saw the EQXX go 747 miles on a single charge of its battery, which stores slightly under 100.0 kWh.
That feat is impressive enough for a vehicle developed in just 18 months, but it also bodes well for a range of near-future Mercedes EVs that will draw on the EQXX’s suite of advancements.
The face of France is southern. Temperatures approaching the late 30s - with mid-August marking festivity and bright celebrations.
Puisserguier
My stay was in Puisserguier at my friend and host’s sizeable, charmingly rustic, and comfortable maison. Russell is very English but most passionate about French sensibilities, hence his holiday home since 2016. His knowledge of local wine and its nurturing, perfect for an enhanced and rounded appreciation of French culture and living. Views of the town and surrounding landscape are a palette of salmon, terracotta, hot amber, dusty grey, yellow and green. The code of politeness is Bonjour with a smile. As you navigate the back streets, smokey home cooking and barbecue punch the air. Evening
golden hour is a photographer’s pleasure, make no mistake.
Béziers
Béziers is a 20-minute drive from Puisserguier. The festival Féria de Béziers delivered a plethora of cultural displays from Spanish/ French dance, bull running, circus horses and riders, to marching bands, and live music all accented with people wearing red and white, red neckerchiefs a plenty.
The warm evening air invited a walk through the park centre, with oversized sculptured textile flowers, cobbled back streets, and distinctive boutiques. An evening laser light projector show at the cathedral. Then back through the center for large stage live rock anthems. The whole experience granted me everything I wished to see in the south of France in one day.
Puisserguier is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It benefits from a micro climate.
- Dennis Sterne, iphone 11
Trip to Saint Chinian - Rustic views once again, this time with a noticeable injection of renovation modernity that purposefully echoes local traditional design by way of iron railings and architecture. It’s easy to forget rest period from 12pm up to 3.30pm. So don’t be surprised to be met with ‘sleepy town’ in the villages.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been before or if you’re a first-timer – the South of France is one place that’s guaranteed to be an easy yes when it comes to deciding where to holiday.
Trip to Valeras-Plage - A much welcomed overcast day made for a cooler time out. Despite my Caribbean decent I prefer a mild mooch. Classic coastal scenes with better than average market shops leading toward shore. Terracotta sand and doc inlay. Some slightly overpriced restaurants, but a choice of cheaper eateries and the surprising note was the healthy queue for the LEGO toy shop Musee Du Jouet. An example of some kind of universal transcendence perhaps.
The Béziers Feria, an internationally famous bull fighting festival celebrated for five days attracting millions of people every year.
Marshall, one of the most legendary brands in the music industry. They have always been best known for their guitar amplifiers, but now Marshall has gone mainstream.
Retro influence
If you are looking for an expert in sound and design within audio equipment, then oyu ought to opt fpr a model from the Marshall Speakers family. Every speaker unit is made with the utmost skill and finesse evident in its craftsmanship. With over 50 years in the industry, the company has technologically evolved to enhance your music experience, all the while maintaining its signature classical retro design.
Different kinds of Marshall speakers
One of the reasons Marshall Speakers have
continuosly stayed on top of their game is because of their ever evolving innovative technology without compromising on their signature classy looks and high quality merchandise.
1. AC powered Marshall speakers
Some of the most innovative models by Marshal are the ones that are AC powered. These speakers come with a strong reproduction capacity which means that you don’t have to worry about running out of juice.
2. Compact and portable Marshall speakers
If one of the things you seek out in a pair of speakers is portablility, then it is always a good idea to opt for Marshall speakers with rechargeable batteries. The lithium charged ion batteries have a sturdy 25 hours life with a single charge. They are easy to charge with a USB port. Most models are AC powered as well.
u
Above right: Marshall Stanmore II is a rockin’ Bluetooth speaker that improves on the original. a slightly gritty, powerful profile that is most tuned for its genre of choice. Rock is clearly that target here. Stanmore II sounds strong, with substantial room-filling bass but not overwhelming like speakers designed for pop and rap.
3. Multi-room Marshall speakers
This in-built system allows multiple speakers within the same model family to come together play in the same vicinity. You can play the same track on different speakers or different tracks on each of the connected speakers.
4. Marshall speakers with Multi-host functionality
This technology allows multiple Bluetooth host devies to be connected to the speakers simultaneously and move between host devices without having to connect and reconnect multiples times.
Marshall Voice
“Play my chillout playlist.” The most helpful speakers in the collection. Marshall Voice speakers combine the authentic Marshall sound and voice activation technology. You can play your music, schedule reminders and control your smart home, just by using your voice.
www.marshall.com/lifestyle/speakers
(born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker.
Brian Clarke Hon FRIBA FRSA CF is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and contemporary architecture.
Born to a working-class family in the north of England, and a full-time art student on scholarship by age 13.
Brian Clarke in his London studio.
The art installation at Beaverbrook Spa by Craven Dunnill Jackfield, and British artist Brian Clarke, is a magical meeting of British, traditional manufacturing, craftsmanship, and artistry.
Luminous stained glass Brian Clarke’s ‘Manhattan’ and ‘Daffodils’ at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich.
Paintings of poppies offer a visual diary of the pandemic.
Brian Clarke, Vesper 476 (2019), Watercolour on Velin Arches, 80 × 60 cm.
In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel, a court chef known as “Taillevent”, wrote Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France. In the 17th century, chefs François Pierre La Varenne and MarieAntoine Carême spearheaded movements that shifted French cooking away from its foreign influences and developed France’s own indigenous style.
eye Food
To this day the French still can’t get enough for them and they are the food of choice at times of celebration like Christmas and New Year.
Above: Savory crèpes called galettes are from the region of Brittany.
Right: Crèpes are considered to be one of French’s traditional dishes that stands out from the rest. Served either as a dessert or a savory dish, crèpes are made from a very thin batter of eggs, flour and milk. It is a paper thin shell that can be stuffed with fruits and cream.
Escargots Bourguignonne is a traditional French dish originating from Burgundy. The dish consists of snails that are baked with garlic and butter. If using fresh snails, they should be blanched in boiling water and rinsed in clear water. The snails are then cleaned with a small brush in a mixture of water and vinegar, and rinsed again.
Above: Beef Burgundy is a comfort food that is stewed and slow-cooked. The dish is usually cooked with onions, carrots, parsley and garlic.
Left: This vegetarian French stew is robust enough to serve on its own, but also perfect to pair with roast chicken or pot roast. The traditional recipe uses eggplant, zucchini, onion, and peppers, though any number of veggies would fit in well.
When sitting down becomes a mundane experience. Raise your seat game and add a little design to your motion.
is a sleek
chair designed to go with our Angel dining table. It is available in a selection of our standard and specialist finishes and can be upholstered in customer’s own fabric, including leather.
Above right: The Vienna carver chair combines elegant Art Nouveau inspired curves with a mid Century Modernist aesthetic. It is beautifully proportioned with a dynamic silhouette, and it is wonderfully comfortable. The legs are water cut from steel plate, providing a strength that belies the carver chair’s delicate design.
Rosa - Inspired by the functional elegance of Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe’s classic tubular chair designs, Rosa exudes the easygoing versatility of outdoor furniture, without compromising on comfort. Rosa’s flowing lines and proportions were refined through an iterative prototyping process resulting in slim, sophisticated forms, alongside maximum comfort and durability.
Vertigo Interiors - ‘Seating is our favourite design category, because we absolutely love the sheer range of varying mid-century designs that we offer and there is something for literally every occasion.’
In honour of the great Charlie Watts 1941-2021, fresheye commemorates the legendary drummer and celebrates The Rolling Stones Store anew on Carnaby St, London W1 opened 2020.
CHARLIE WATTS 1941-2021 Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who helped them become one of the greatest bands in rock ‘n’ roll, died at the age of 80 August 2021. He performs on all studio albums. Sir Paul McCartney described Watts as “a lovely guy” and “a fantastic drummer” who was “steady as a rock”.
