Monday, June 30, 2025

Going away, sweet peas and calls.

1. Waving off the last of our sleepover guests. Now we are free to be tired and grumpy.

2. A bunch of sweet peas -- bright stained glass colours -- tucked in among our packing.

3. The wheezy calls of the baby seagulls nesting in a chimney stack the next street over; and the swifts shrieking overhead.

Friday, June 27, 2025

Shower, after supper and leave it.

1. Overnight shower has dampened the parched garden, left drops on the washing line and cooled the air.

2. Now we're sitting in the garden (we've left the supper table uncleared in the kitchen) I'm glad that I gave into an impulse and rolled a couple of tinned cocktails into my M&S basket.

3. I note in on my list and leave it alone for tomorrow.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Pied, open door and day's work.

1. My walk in the woods today is pied and dappled and splashed with light and shadow.

2. On a day when it's too hot and bright in full sun, to sit by an open door in vast, cool room.

3. When I am called for supper, my tracker shows me just how much work I have done today, and it feels like enough.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Jade green, pay and moving.

1. I love the coffee in jade green cups and saucers.

2. A schoolgirl doesn't have the busfare. The driver tells her that her pass will give her a free ride on the next bus. But a passenger pays her on. 'You're out late enough as it is.'

3. We are all aching for different reasons. Movement breaks have become a games night sacrament.

Monday, June 23, 2025

Not full, new coffee and nearly gone.

1. Opening the dishwasher and discovering that it is not full and clean as expected, so I don't need to empty it. 

2. The new coffee has some enticingly complicated instructions with it.

3. Someone has been eating the jammy cakes I made, and there is only one left.

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Cash, work and sofa.

1. Our bank has given every customer £100, which is a pleasant thing to find in our accounts.

2. This edit of a sweet romantic novel is flying along -- and it's a Christmas book so the descriptions of cold weather are very welcome on a day when I've shuttered the west side of the house against the determined sun.

3. Three of us squashed on the sofa in the front room -- coolest spot in the house -- listening to the radio.

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Lime, a game and jasmine.

1. I thought I caught lime blossom last week while sitting out drinking coffee on the Pantiles, but it is early yet, and it was such a subtle scent coming and going on the air currents, so I put it down to a general feeling of happiness. But now I've definitely and unmistakably I've caught the faint fresh smell up on the common.

2. A glass of wine, a game and some talk and the day is rounded off.

3. The scent of jasmine has slipped through the back windows and rests in the dark rooms.

Going away, sweet peas and calls.

1. Waving off the last of our sleepover guests. Now we are free to be tired and grumpy. 2. A bunch of sweet peas -- bright stained glass col...