A perfect rose

O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd and unrespected fade,
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:
 And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
 When that shall fade, my verse distills your truth

Even Shakespeare recognised the beauty and perfume of the rose, as he writes here in his sonnet 54. Has anyone been watching Upstart Crow on BBC 2? It is extremely funny, a new Ben Elton comedy about the life of Shakespeare and what an 'upstart crow' he was, according to Robert Greene, his rival.

A quiet day at home, and I am still waiting for the weather to improve - tomorrow is going to be a stunning day, if you believe the weather forecast. We are having a BBQ tonight, and a quiet night in.