Walking to the office in the pouring rain on Friday, I spotted these diamond-encrusted stems by the side of the path and simply had to stop to take a photograph.  It was a gloomy day, my mind was elsewhere for most of it and this simple thing was enough to lift my spirits and look forward to the weekend.

 

 

Strictly Come Dancing at the NEC yesterday was fun and we enjoyed seeing all our favourites stepping out once again.

 

 

Interesting to see just which page Lynn kept  open in her programme.... 

 

 

Today we have a quiet day at home and Charlotte's Web is finished.  I struggled to work out how to crochet the edge - had the picture on the pattern been clearer, I could have worked it out, but as it was my crochet experience is insufficient to interpret all but the clearest of directions.  I mulled it over for a couple of days, thinking I didn't want a fringe anyway, before the light dawned and I set to work and completed it.  I'm glad I did - that fringe is a good way of adding a little weight to the edge and once it's blocked, it will be even better.

Thanks Nita for getting me going on that one - you are such a clever and talented friend!

 

 

 For much of last evening (when my eyes were averted from Gordon Ramsay's exploits in India*) the extraordinary shapes and colours of last week's anemones captured my attention.  I'd cut them short to go into a small round vase and yet they have continued to grow, some to over a foot high.  The magenta pink of the petals has faded, the deep purply black centres have taken on a hyacinth blue tone and the soft green leaves and stems set it all off so beautifully. I kept looking at them, noticing the negative shapes in between flowers and stems, creating some kind of composition in my head.  I'm not sure I'm ready to throw them away yet, thinking that whilst they keep their colour and shape, they are still beautiful.

 

*We recorded Gordon Ramsay's latest Indian journey on TV and have watched two of the three programmes so far. Can't bear the man, dislike the foul language and "attitude" but oh my, the Chicken Biryani I cooked from his book on Thursday was good!