Three Beautiful Things

1. An adder draws its diamonds through the dust and away into the scrub 2. It is so quiet that we can hear the wind flickering silver/green the leaves of a poplar across the valley.     3. The farm shop has curled cucumbers 'grown here'.

1. We come round the corner on to the cliff tops, and there is an awful lot of sky, much more than we are used to. 2. It suddenly seems like a good idea to order a glass of wine before we walk back for lunch -- so we sit deep in sofas, out of the sun but with a long view of the sea.   3. We smell the pizza long before we can see the van -- and when we get there, Nick has ordered for us and is bringing our drinks to the table.

1. It's been a journey -- took a while to find a taxi, but now we're here, crunching cases and bags down a gravel drive, and there's an arched door in a charcoal grey wall. 2. We trip-trap along walkways in the canopies of sea-stunted oaks and follow narrow gravel paths, open doors and cupboards and peep behind curtains 3. A long view to the sea, sun fat August blackberries in the hedge and on the way back, a bramley apple falls off the tree into my hand.

1. I am unsure about this shirt dress with a cyanotype print -- I'm sure I forgot it in the back of the wardrobe for a reason -- but it is lightweight and undemanding on a hot day. Both husband and son provide spontaneous compliments, anyway. 2. Unboxing a double row of sushi rolls on the supper table. 3. A new melon, soft orange pink inside and very cool and fragrant on this evening when the day's heat is still dissipating. 

1. We have been catching up while we wait for her to get herself out of the house. We suddenly notice that she's now sitting in the car, glaring at us rather fiercely. 2. I read Jeanette Winterson's summer checklist, which includes making a commitment to nature, and I feel a little less alone. Global leadership may be lacking, but there are things I can do, here in my street. 3. He steps outside to recover from being the first one bankrupted, and then calls us out to look at the moon, which is sitting above the horizon as large as an old penny.

1. After a restless night, I get up furious at all the noises and troubles that have chased away all chance of sleep. It's funny how much better things seem after breakfast and even just a little bit of physical activity. 2. I'm decommissioning nasturtiums ruined by caterpillars and tiny iridescent flea beetles when I notice pale shoots uncurling by the roots. Not only that, but a few seeds lie on the surface of the pots. I replant, push the seeds into the soil, water and hope. 3. We've finished The Hound of the Baskervilles. The antagonist really is a rotter who thoroughly deserves such a horrid fate that is foreshadowed to great effect at the start of the story; and greatly enhanced by the lurid description of Holmes, Watson and Lestrade tracking but not finding any trace.