Ginger lilies

Slept well despite the conviviality and walked onto the balcony first thing to see sunshine and a still sea.  Beautiful start to the day.  V had woken early and was drinking tea and nodding off in an armchair downstairs.   He went back to bed and I took the dog for a walk along the beach which at low tide seemed endless 

Mid morning we went to visit the guests with the art collection. The house was built in the 1970s and the art and the view was astonishing.  Every surface was full of pottery and every wall covered in art.  In a small study there was a collection of Victorian paintings by Isle of Wight painters.  Outside the garden was full of beds of clear colour contrasts, here the ginger lilies lit up the view with purple verbena popping up between them.  I have a lot of purple in my garden and now think I should introduce more orange! 

Lunch back at JC’s house was a barbecue and there were about 12 of us. It was delicious and was followed by my blackberry and apple cake with ice cream and compote.  Woody somehow ate an entire (raw) lamb bone which was a bit alarming, I thought they just gnawed them.  He was still ok this morning.  

After a suitable interval and now the tide was back in Jo, Sue and I swam and it was refreshing.  Lay in the sun to dry and chatted.  Rani, Jonathan’s daughter took us to the hover in the evening.   

Back at the house I watered as much as I could and got as much ready for tomorrow as possible.  Watched another, pretty bleak episode of Narrow Road…feel duty bound to finish it as I know one of the producers and now feel like an expert on Richard Flanagan.