Hiding in plain sight

Just spotted this pretty gecko on the bench outside the house, so I crept up and took a quick snap. Lots of running around getting stuff done today. Last night I went to my English bookgroup: The Overstory. We all loved the first section with its set of linked short stories, and then got bogged down in the long second section. Beautiful writing, but too much of it.

Bit of a contrast to this evening's book at my French bookgroup: the 75 pages of Erri di Luca's Le Poids du Papillon. It was the first meeting of the new season, and to my shock there were 19 of us: too many in my opinion. Funnily enough our English bookgroup had its full quota of ten, and we agreed that a couple of people who'd enquired about joining would have to be turned down. If only because most of us can't fit more than that round our tables; it was a squash round M and J's table.

When I got home from French book group, I found J-M, S, and a few other people sitting on the bench in the square drinking wine. This used to be a regular feature of summer evenings a few years ago, when J-M and C lived opposite us. We all felt it was appropriate if rather mournful to be there without C.

Later, L, who had been friends with C since they were teenagers, invited us all over to her house to eat in the garden, where we formally toasted C's memory. It was a small gathering of friends and relatives, and while there was sadness, there was laughter too. It was a good way to celebrate him; just the kind of occasion he would have enjoyed. We were glad we were there. Home early and sober for an early start in the morning.