As seen

here

Less silvered than Cathy's, 

more like old green glass.

Semi-detached

from the blog in summer.

So, a round up of the last few days,

filled as they have been with family and friends, 

reunions and partings,

some art and some car parts,

backgammon and backwaters,

all of them accompanied by food and flowers.

The art was the Miro exhibition at Tate Modern,

in which I was, as usual, more entertained by my companions

and the other exhibition visitors, than the paintings,

and the car part was this hard to replace

rear windscreen blade for our sixteen year old car

lately given a stay of execution

with a new battery and a passed MOT.

Oh and I had a haircut.

I look like a rather cross owl.

On the river

It had been a lovely afternoon, thought Mrs Miniver

as they moved smoothly downstream between the low green banks.

In most parts of England this was the season of the year

that she liked least - this ripe, sultry time

when the trees were no longer jade but malachite,

and the hedges looked almost black against the parched fields...

Summer was bathos, dégringolade:

one waited longingly for autumn,

which would bring back colour and magic.

But in this sort of landscape,

high summer was the perfect time.

Here, the grass of the water meadows was fresh, cool, and green;

the steady onward sweep of the river,

the quivering reflections in its depths

and the play of light on it surface,

gave movement and variety ...

Even the rank and ramping vegetation of summer

(such a come-down, in most places,

after the delicate miraculous experiments of spring)

seemed here to be superbly appropriate,

like large jewellery on a fine, bold, handsome woman.

Down by the water's edge there were coarse clumps

of comfrey and fig-wort,

hemp agrimony and giant dock;
on the banks, a tangle of vetch and convolvulous,

moon daisies, yarrow, and bedstraw;

while from higher up still came 

the heavy, heady sweetness of elder flowers.

Comfrey from Flowers of Marsh & Stream
King Penguin by Iolo A. Williams

Moon daisies in my British Wildflower picture card collection 

with its illustrations by C.F Tunnicliffe R.A  issued in 1964 and

'offered in the interests of education and wildlife conservation'

by Brooke Bond Tea.

Delving into a packet of fragrant loose leaf tea for the newest card

is a delight lost to present day children.

I had thirty-four of the fifty cards needed to complete the album.

Convolvulous from
Flower Fairies of the Wayside by Cicely Mary Barker


Extract from Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther.

Blazing hot

Grandma's jug.

Greek salad with marinated onions for lunch with visitors.

And just because it wasn't already hot enough in the kitchen -

roasted Mediterranean vegetables,

red and white quinoa, harissa dressing and smoked tofu for supper.

Ice cream.

The new library

 The brief was to brighten up 

a children's school library ceiling 

as part of a major reorganisation and refurbishment.

Twenty feet of sloping ceiling

with irregularly spaced lights, to decorate.

There was already a fantastic jungle mural on the wall

so it had to complement that -

using materials readily to hand in the art cupboard.

It was the Grand Opening today.

The VIPs attended, the sun shone,

speeches were made

 and a ribbon was cut.

Well done O.

Mission accomplished.

Evening (north facing) kitchen

Sunlit dishwasher once a year,

for your delectation.

I should get out more.

Bonus

Looking down,

looking up,

on the longest day.

Flying with Mozart

 It's a good thing the day is long,

there is much to do ...

Enjoying this rush of wind under my wings,
the Rondo Allegro at 04:19.