Thursday, April 01, 2010

Embroiderer, sugar bowl and jeans.

1. I interview a lady who embroiders tactile copies of famous paintings for people with visual impairments. She uses textures to express temperature and colour. It's fascinating to experience a piece of stitching with my fingertips as well as my eyes. "Try touching it lightly -- it sort of tingles," she says.

2. She brings us coffee -- and her sugar bowl matches the dinner service that I inherited from my grandmother. She tells me that she found a pair of matching egg cups in a charity shop, and that she eats boiled eggs just for the pleasure of using them.

3. Two newly-washed pairs of jeans lounge on the bed, proud of their clean, cold blues (one deep water blue and one shallow water blue).

Watering cans, eating alone and settling down.

1. The grounding weight of my watering cans. 2. Our schedules mean that I eat supper alone in the peaceable, silent kitchen. 3. Now the chil...