Various random pictures and a forthcoming event

Things have been moderately busy around here but not with anything terribly exciting (well, one thing, but I'll tell you about that in a minute). So I took a couple of photos and then downloaded them on to the computer, thus finding some other photos that I must have taken a few weeks ago and never downloaded. So here they are. Above, you see my little Chinese medicine chest, my granny's powder bowl and some pebbles that we collected and Mr Life polished, some years ago. They're in a bowl that (I think) Daughter 1 gave me one birthday.

A vase of lilacs from the garden (long withered now) and a couple of teapots. And a bowl made by Mr Life's cousin. Not sure what it was doing there. Just passing through, I suppose.

I always have flowers on this table in the sitting room.

The weather recently has been very unsummery - today is cold and wet - but clearly it was nice a few weeks ago. There's a cat (hard to tell, but I think it's Cassie) lounging on the grass.

This is definitely Cassie. She always prefers to come in a door rather than the cat flap. She is a superior being, after all. Would you want to crawl through a little door that then biffed you on the bottom as you finished the manoeuvre?

This is Sirius. I wonder if I could persuade him to repaint that bench. Or maybe I could find another volunteer...? It would be good if this person attacked the lilacs somewhat before they engulf the bench. I believe he has some electric hedge-cutters.

A little vase of trollius in a recycled glass vase on the kitchen table. Again, this was some weeks ago. I love that bright yellow.

This, however, is today: my hoya carnosa plant. The flowers smell very sweet. This is a cutting from one in the greenhouse of my parents' previous house. The original plant twined all round the greenhouse but I kept this plant in the same pot for.. oh, must have been the best part of thirty years, because my plant book said that if you repotted hoyas, then they didn't flower. Left in this small pot, the poor thing didn't grow much either, but flowered every year. Eventually, a couple of years ago, I thought I really must repot it, which I did; and it put on a growth spurt but still flowered.

Perhaps I'll repot it again in another thirty years to celebrate my 91st birthday.

The flowers look artificial, don't they? But they're not. They exude fragrant nectar. Fragrant and somewhat sticky.

This is the exciting thing. Oh, you don't think so? Yes, it's just a changing mat, but Daughter 1, Son-in-Law and I went into town today and bought perhaps too many cute baby clothes and two mats: one for their house and one for ours. Such fun! I need to be prepared for Granny duties. July 6 is the due date.

Meanwhile Sirius, unimpressed, considers what this baby might be called. The baby's parents don't seem to be able to make up their minds. How about Prawn, Sirius suggests? Or Dreamy? (Dreamies are his favourite cat treat. What could be nicer?)