today

....listening to Nina Simone singing My Father - the sheer beauty and sadness of it all; the pauses are exquisite, almost painful, to listen to.

....looking forward to Diana Henry's new book, due out in March.


....reading the very last bit of The Goldfinch. So very good. (But so very heavy!)


....getting excited about an up-coming trip - ooh la,la!


....being grateful for music, books and travel.

evening

Do you have a favourite time of day? I do. It's the time, just before dinner, when the house is warm and cozy, our evening meal is (hopefully) puttering on the stove, the boys are engrossed in books or Lego or piano. It's time to light a few candles and, if you step outside, you'll see the silvery orb of the moon, the faintest trail across the sky, or perhaps glimpse the first star. The light fading across the hill, silhouetting the trees. And the birdsong! The birds are singing...

Inside it's twinkling lights and Diana Henry's Vermont baked beans with baked potatoes to keep tummies full and oh, how I wish we had some of yesterday's bread and butter pudding left (made with Christmas Pannettone)

Winifred Nicholson

I have to admit there are certain colours I turn to again and again and in the garden I love to see blues, purples and whites along with bright zaps of green. So these flower pictures by Winifred Nicholson tick all the right boxes. I especially love the feeling of that paper wrapped around the primulas - so light, fresh and bright. And I really wish I had a flower table like the one below. Sadly with the change in season nearly upon us the garden is on the wane, although at the minute there are plenty of white Japanese anemone and spiky blue eryngium-a bumblebee favourite- to lift the heart.

This morning at Sheridan's market I bought some ripe apricots to make Diana Henry's apricot and lavender jam (from her gorgeous Salt Sugar Smoke). I am hoping it will capture the last fleeting scents of summer as we head slowly towards autumn.If you need some end-of-summer reading you could try The Wild Places by nature writer Robert Macfarlane. As the evenings darken it has been my companion, bewitching, inspiring and entrancing me with its beautiful words...