Lavender

It was cloudy with rain threatening this morning, but luckily I managed to avoid the rain on my walk with Xena - it started raining just as we were nearing the house and it has rained on and off throughout the day.

Tonight is the Corpus Christi dinner for the livery company* of which Gavin is a member. Usually it is a formal dinner with (I think silly) certain traditions, where they also swear in the new master for the ensuing year. Obviously due to lockdown the dinner cannot take place - instead it will be a dinner via Zoom. Everyone has to get dressed up in formal black tie wear and we have been sent the menu and recipes to make the dinner. I have cheated as I did not like the look of the starter (almond gazpacho with date and tomato tartar) so I have substituted my own tomato and lentil soup instead. Main course is salmon with a salad of borlotti beans, green beans and baby tomatoes and pudding is Eton Mess but we will just have fresh strawberries and cream. As no one will really see us on Zoom, (with over 100 people taking part) and will only see our top half,  I am not going to get dressed up - I will keep my jeans on and change my T shirt for a sparkly top. I think the men may be wearing formal dinner shirts, bow ties, and shorts! And the best thing about being on Zoom is that when the speeches start, if they are boring I can sneak off and go do something else and no one will notice!

The sun came out for a while this afternoon so I wandered around the garden taking photos of the flowers. The hidcote lavender is looking lovely at the moment so that is my blip for today.

*Livery companies were founded in medieval times to control the trades, crafts and professions through trade and guild associations. (for example, silversmiths, drapers, grocers, fishmongers etc) There are currently 110 livery companies in the City of London and today they are mainly charitable companies and involved in education .