MissM, Graduate

It was a wonderful day. MissM put on the robes and the hat and received the Hug and she was graduated. We clapped and nodded at all the glowing words said about the Class of 2014 and smiled at our daughter who had worked so hard. There were photos with parents and friends...with scroll...without hats. There were balloons and bubbles and cupcakes. And the sun shone. A day to be grateful for all the good things that life can bring us.

Many thanks to MissM for letting me share these photos with you.

Plum Crumble

MrM
What is your favourite crumble?

MrsM
Oh...I think plum.
Although I do like rhubarb.
And apple, of course.

MissM
What about blackberry and apple?

MrsM
Yes, perhaps that is my favourite.

Gooseberry, on the other hand,no.
I wouldn't be unhappy at all
if I never had to eat another gooseberry.
If all the gooseberry bushes in the world
were struck down by some terrible disease
I wouldn't shed a single tear.

MrM
But where would we have found MissM?

MissM
What do you mean?

MrsM
Surely everyone knows that babies
are found under gooseberry bushes?

MissM
Are you being weird?

Of cushions

MrsM takes cushionage very seriously:
size, shape, orientation,
colour, fabric, pattern.

When she needs to leave the house
she calls in the crack troops
to act as Cushion Monitor.

*****

We have been away!
But now we are back
and suddenly it is September.
How did that happen?

My carefully planned posts
seem to have got in a muddle
so you must be patient
while I work out which order
to tell my story.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Courgette and Lime cake

One sunny day HelenandCarolineandJaneandMe hit the road and ended up in Winchester. This was not totally accidental because we had important things to do. Helen had promised to give us a tour of the historic centre of the city. En route we planned to stop for coffee in the cathedral refectory, admire the water meadows, check the quality of the retail stores and decide which houses we would buy when we won the lottery.

It was an arduous day and we replenished our glucose levels by eating cake. After much discussion and consultation with the waiter it was agreed that we should each have a slice from a different cake otherwise we would not be able to assess the overall standard. I had courgette and lime cake but don't ask me what  flavours HelenandCarolineandJane chose because I was laughing too much to remember.

cup and sun

Scenes from my weekend:

a bowl of nectarines on a windowsill,
a newly framed picture on a kitchen wall,
a jug of white stocks in afternoon sunshine,
a white enamel bowl of oranges,
a posy of summer flowers from my mother.

A multitude of small delights.

people I work with

Albert Irvin
Andromeda, 2012

I cannot find an image of Redcliffe 2000 that I can share with you so it must remain on the wall at the foot of the staircase, a joyful explosion of acrylic paint seen only by the great and good as they hurry past to their policy meetings. It is a life-enhancing painting, a rejection of darkness, an electric surge of colour. As I walk past I turn my face gratefully to absorb the energy, the elan vital.

A Dahlia Moment

I have a difficult relationship with dahlias.

I would love to have a dahlia border
with every extravagant shape
and the full spectrum of neon colours.

Unfortunately I know myself too well,
I am too lazy to stake floppy stems
and too forgetful to do the earwig patrol.

And so I look forward to late summer
when dahlias burst into flower
but they are an annual reminder
of my own failings as a gardener.

Perhaps next year...

*****

I was sorry to see that Jane Brocket has decided to finish writing on her blog. I met Jane in January 2007 and it was as a result of a conversation with her that I discovered blogs and the window they offered into an inspirational world. At that time I had time to explore and I found such diversity : women creating beautiful work, overcoming challenges, enjoying life with their families, discovering the world around them. There was always a warm welcome in the comment box of these blogs and eventually I found the courage to write my own story. I am grateful to Jane for pointing me in a direction that would ultimately bring me so much creative satisfaction and wish her luck with her new projects.

The Rules of Croquet

"[He] can't get through the hoops,...
but then how gracefully
he fails to do it!"

The Small House at Allington
Anthony Trollope

They don't know how to play croquet,
these young whippersnappers.
It makes you wonder what they learn at school.

It's quite simple really:
hit the ball through hoops
and smack your opponents
into the shrubbery.

It's when you discover
the brutal inner person
which lurks inside us all.

No use behaving like a gentleman
and letting your girlfriend go past.
It's every man for himself.

Many thanks to the lovely Natalie
for an amazing garden party
in the most beautiful of settings.
An idyllic English summer afternoon.

Emergency Rations

Our lives are the sum of our memories.
How much are we willing to lose
from our already short lives...
by not paying attention?

Joshua Foer

So true..

(as MissM would say)

***
I can't string words together tonight,
my mind is like mashed potato.
Back tomorrow.

Courgette and Basil Frittata

Take new potatoes from Sunday evening,
half a yellow pepper from the fridge,
summer courgettes and left-over cheese.

Whisk eggs with fork in your favourite bowl
add to frying pan and cook gently,
inhaling fragrance of basil.

All you need now are
sun warmed tomatoes, a pinch of salt
and bright green salad onions.

Also a glass of chilled white wine.

I'm taking it seriously,
this slow-cooking, easy-living thing.