Monday, May 08, 2006

Part two, dismiss and refreshment.

1. Going into the library and finding parts two and three of a trilogy I was rather enjoying. Cecilia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynd Trilogy is a romance set in a world where brownies live in people's kitchens and mischievous spirits steal babies and people are can be magically bound by fairytale promises. She plunders a huge range of folktales, often weaving them into the plot, and characters regularly down tools for a little storytelling. I also love the way she describes the clothes and the food and the landscapes. Everything is rich and the colours are so vivid that it's like wandering into a Preraphaelite picture.

2. Sitting in the park with a book because there is no washing up there.

3. Lou's mum's lemon and lime icecream. It is the most refreshing thing ever.

Escape, tulips and samosa.

1. This morning, I'm piling into a car with friends to escape into the Weald, where we will visit a garden planted with 45,000 tulips. 2...