Blooming pretty ...

Not an easy day to take photos, today, as the rain poured down in torrents (it's doing again, right now, battering the front of the house). Not an easy day to take photos as so much of my energies were taken up in what were not, by any stretch of the imagination, photogenic activities - such a change, really, from the preceding weeks.

First of all we had the arrival of the New Fridge. It's only the third fridge of our 49 year marriage; the first was small and brown wood-effect and began its life in the hall of our small Hyndland flat; the second was a tallish larder fridge which I grew to love. For years now its interior has been gradually degrading, so that I was scared to put anything much in the door shelves in case the brittle plastic sheared off. For years now we've been looking for a replacement that was neither too high (the kitchen ceiling is not far above my head) nor too small ( I couldn't go back to a below-counter size). At last we've found one; it's three or so centimetres higher than its predecessor but I'll get used to that. The local electrical shop chaps delivered it down the back garden path in the rain, and took away the old one. When all was finished, cleaned, cooled, filled and tidied, I stuck my collection of fridge magnets back on the door and side, which has the double effect of making it seem familiar and reducing its apparent bulky whiteness. All good.

All good and nothing whatsoever to do with the photo, which I took this afternoon of a corner of the Holy Trinity Rectory patio. Because I've been here for so long, I can remember this spot in different guises, including a decrepit glass porch which extended the whole length of the patio, but this has to be its prettiest incarnation. I hope the deer leave it alone ...

We'd been having one of our regular Preach Meets - when the lay preachers meet with the Rector to discuss the lectionary for "their" days. There are four of us now, and the discussion is lively, informative, and sometimes completely hilarious. Today's was excellent - and I'm not even preaching this time. Two days with great conversation - I'm growing spoiled!