An afternoon off

     A break from caring. Accompanied by my friend, Mr S, I headed north to look around a couple of open gardens in the village of Aslackby. And how beautiful they were! The pleasure was not so much in the planting but in the texture of hedges (mainly beech) and old walls of brick and stone. The entire afternoon re-acquainted me with an English aesthetic I had begun to lose contact with. It's easily done. There are often too many visual demands made upon us, to many shrieking and competing 'looks' and styles. The two gardens seemed to point in the direction of more concrete and lasting aesthetics. In addition to the the sensory feast on offer the afternoon also offered tea and cake in the village church. (Pews removed some years ago enabled the nave to be used as an exhibition space - wish I had bought that salad bowl!!!) These open garden afternoons, as well as village fetes, always have the added bonus of home baking. A treat! Not much work done recently on revising the book. Reading: I have laid aside the 'Dubliners' and have started 'Caprice' by Ronald Firbank. A novelette (seems the only way to describe it) I started years ago and put down.