I know…no post for ages and then two come along at once!

I felt I should reassure (myself at least) that all is really ok here and that yesterday’s little rant/mope was just a passing phase, symptomatic of the moment.

This morning saw the return of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Week; the surprise hit of the early lockdown and one which I really enjoyed. So, although my Hero was out visiting Bettine, I got to stay home and watch/draw and cook lunch.

Multi tasking is definitely in order here, so I grabbed my box of drawing things, my sketchbook and a cup of coffee and settled myself at the kitchen table.

I can’t concentrate for four hours though and consider it a success if I manage to complete three or four fairly quick sketches.

Because my brain is always flitting here and there - thinking about lunch, the drawing and didn’t I mean to photograph those conkers I picked up in the supermarket car park last week and forgot about?

Not to mention the little piece of lamb in the oven.

So one side of the kitchen looked like this.

And these were the shapes and textures I was admiring.

Whilst the other side looked like this. For now.

I thought I’d get a bit of fresh air before lunch so stepped outside into the garden for a while. It was remarkably still. Not a breath of wind at all.

The hostas are so very much “over” and yet, there’s a kind of beauty still there in the leaves, don’t you think?

Though the autumn colours are not yet at their peak, there are some lovely leaves to be found

and on a fine morning like today, it’s good to sit and stare for a while.

Before I went back inside, I checked on my four babies…still twigs really, these are the beginnings of four sloe bushes we’ve planted. They are all doing fine!

Back indoors, then, it’s time to swap coffee mugs for glasses. It’s time for an aperitif, surely? I’ve given up on the drawing now but still watching and listening to the conversation.

As I start getting everything together, my Hero appears and as we sit down to lunch, I tell him that I hope, when I am 87, I am like Joan Bakewell.

We demolish the lot…the garlic is left as an empty shell but thankfully there’s enough to take to Bettine, who will enjoy a plate of roast lamb tomorrow lunchtime.

That comment on Joan Bakewell prompts a quick google, to check one or two facts about her, including that she also collects rubber bands, making a ball of them and keeps paper clips in a small dish as well. Hmmm. That means she has at least two things in common with my Hero (you saw the photo in my previous post of my tax papers he was working on?)

Meanwhile, there’s pudding….and custard!!

It doesn’t last long.

Thankfully, my Hero loves to wash up. We make a good team, don’t we?!