Landscapes of ice and snow

Mariele Neudecker is perhaps best known for her miniature landscapes - most frequently evocations of mountain ranges - in glass tanks. Her works are strange and disorienting subversions of the paintings of such German Romantics as Casper David Friedrich whose mystical studies of the natural world have obviously inspired her. The effect is an interplay of idealised landscapes and the actual reality of experiencing them.

Last night we watched Neudecker's film, Winterreise: A Winter's Journey at Tate Britain. The film traverses the line of latitude 60 degrees north, crossing a hypnotic and haunting snow- and ice-covered Europe, from the Shetland Islands to St Petersburg.

This visual journey is accompanied by the beautiful and melancholic Winterreise - Franz Schubert's great song cycle which charts the psychological journey of a lover travelling from the door of the woman who rejects him, on a train out of the city, across a snow-clad terrain of plains and deserted villages, trying to remember better days.

I found it quite mesmerising, though the effect was so meditative that perhaps Friday night was not the best time to have seen it. It sedated my mood for the rest of the night, though the fabulous Turkish feast of crusty bread, smoked aubergine puree, stuffed olives, feta and spinach borek, lamb casserole, baklava, rose ice cream, mint tea and robust Anatolian red wine at Kazan in Pimlico afterwards lifted my spirits considerably. The food was fabulously fresh and each dish was distinctly flavoured. And the bar attached to the side was suitably snug, dark and romantic.

Today was spent clothes shopping on Oxford Street: a stressful frenzy induced by a comment from a friend who pointed out that he had only ever seen me in two skirts, both denim, which made me realise I have to get out of my clothes rut. I actually have lots of clothes in my wardrobe, but they were all bought a few years ago and I've grown bored of all of them save these two oft-worn denim skirts. So now I have two more - pretty, fluttery, patterned skirts not suitable for winter at all, but what the hell. At least I now don't have to go clothes shopping again for another two years. Phew.

It's Saturday night and I'm staying in - snuggled up in my duvet and regressing to childhood by watching the first season of The Waltons on DVD.

"They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family."

Yup, I actually got seduced into buying this on the back of this quote from the DVD cover. Sad, sad, sad!