Art, apricots and paid.
1. To keep Bettany busy Jane gives her some oil pastels, a sheet of sugar paper and a vase of flowers. 2. Eating homegrown apricots. 3. As a freelancer, I love that moment each month when I discover that I've been paid.
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Technology works, cocktail and dinner with daughter.
1. I've promised Alec a frappe from a particular coffee chain as a reward for doing an extra tuition class. I discover that I've collected enough points under Microsoft Rewards to get a voucher that covers it. It turns out that I can load the gift card on to an and when the time comes to pay, I hold up my phone for scanning. This seems like a miracle. 2. Nick's cocktail comes with a huge globe of ice. It's delicious, and I wish I'd had it myself. Alec and Bettany are both astonished by the strawberry on a bamboo skewer in their smoothies. Alec imagines that I might buy him all three meals here on his birthday. 3. Two tables along from us, a dad has brought his really tiny daughter out for supper at The Ivy. Sitting in a highchair, she hides behind the menu and pops out to make Alec and Bettany laugh.
Catch, meet-up and supporting information.
1. To be told that Alec has just made a cracking catch. 2. The little smile that Bettany does when we unexpectedly run into one of her friends. 3. To look at a Hiroshige print showing a shinto shrine then tumble down a rabbit hole of maps and tourist guides to better understand the place as it is now. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In the post, sunflower buds and research.
1. Post today is a poetry book and some caterpillars. 2. The great buds on our sunflowers. 3. Idly researching restaurants and activities for the short break we have planned.
Workshop letter, in the street and close thing.
1. I led the last workshop, and one of the writers sends me an email to say that it has continued to inspire her this week. 2. In the summer evening to chat with neighbours in the street while our girls chalk pictures on the pavement. 3. Alec comes home from his cricket match bouncing with stories about the close win his team achieved.
Cancelled, climb and strawberries.
1. My disappointed friend tells me about her summer cold. I tell her about our torrential rain. A picnic in the park will be no fun for anyone. 1b. Alec tidied and dusted the stairs the other day. The clear space and the unexpected free time give me the courage to tackle the first floor. 2. In the rain a snail climbs up the water butt. 3. We have a lot of strawberries and they are sweet, fragrant and delicious.
Freedom day, toasted cheese and workbooks.
1. To open the butterfly cage and let our four painted ladies out into the sunshine. One of them flies straight off, one of them has to be lifted out on the dish of fruit. One climbs on to my fingers before leaving and the other sneaks off when no-one is looking. 2. Nick has made toasted cheese sandwiches for supper. 3. Bettany informs me I will be looking at her school books while she has her bath. She brings them to me, a bulky stack in a split plastic bag. It's funny to contrast the assignments she has really run with, writing page after page in her precise print; with those that she didn't think was worth her while (a work sheet where she had to fill in the adjectives in a story, and she'd written either big or small for every single one).