In search of tranquility!

We have our little friend with us for the weekend, and there is so much noise and tension in the living room that we have come up for a little peace and quiet.   Husband is watching the rugby and will not be a happy man with the halftime score.  Maybe we'll get a miracle in the second half.

The weather has been glorious this week and there is still so much colour in the garden.   I usually find it difficult to get it to carry through to autumn but this year has been lovely.  The next four pics are down to free packets of seed given with gardening magazines which I bought last spring.  There were several other plants who have already done their stuff and died off.

I must grow zinnias again - I had no idea they were so easy.

The cosmos look as if they could keep going until Christmas but I daresay a frost will see them off.

These nasturtiums were supposed to be the bushy variety but several of them have wandered a good 7 or 8 feet from where they were planted.  I am hoping they will have seeded themselves for next year as they brighten up the end of the garden.

It's a good job this is a crab apple tree.  If those were full size fruits I think the branches would have snapped under their weight.  I shall leave them for the birds as we are supposed to have a hard winter this year.

The bees love this clematis and there were dozens of them among the flowers.  I love the silky tassels too.

A gift from the birds which will provide more food for them later.  A seed must have dropped from the holder above where this little sunflower has germinated.

I have finished the last few pages of my 1920s book.  Clarice Cliff pottery above and ladies of fashion below.

The one on the left looks a bit deformed and as if she has bad feet!    In my defence I must tell you I was trying to copy them from images not much bigger than a postage stamp and find it extremely difficult to draw figures but I was determined to have a go.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I have added the chair, picture and dressing table to this double page.

And finished this one with the mirror and little cabinet and lamp.  I must keep drawing so that I improve.  For this book I had to draw everything on paper with much rubbing out until I got it to an acceptable state, then I traced it onto the fabric page and added colour with pencils.  How nice to have the skill and confidence of going straight onto the page without all that messing about first.

Make the most of tomorrow's fine weather,  I believe it will be all change on Monday and for next week in general.