One leaf, one tree

Thanks to everyone who was so positive about yesterday's blip. You're all very lovely! And now for something completely different...

My job involves working closely with 8 different NHS Trusts in the Liverpool area and today was largely spent at Aintree hospital. Although best known these days for horse racing, the earliest record of Aintree dates from 1256 when the place was known as Ayntre meaning 'one tree' or 'tree standing alone'.

The most striking feature of the hospital's recently opened Elective Care Centre is a 4-storey atrium featuring, on two walls, an artwork by Anne Brierley and Rebecca Seabrook comprising individually designed metal leaves based on Norse and Saxon jewellery. The walls represent spring and autumn and the cycle of growth and rebirth and were inspired by a Saxon poem

I am sun-struck, rapt with flame,
Flush with glory, I flirt with the wind,
I am clutched by storm and touched by fire,
Ripe for the road, bloom-wood or blaze.

Here's one of the leaves which I've had fun throwing some digital paint at... It's been that kind of day!*

*Except for the pizza and chat I had with my friend Carol after work which was entirely stress-free!