Cool blue

My day was spent saying farewell to my brother-in-law and re-connecting with various family members. The celebration of his life was at Lincoln Crematorium. I left with plenty of time to spare, but hadn't reckoned on the huge number of very slow vehicles on the A15, together with extensive lengths of re-surfacing with a 20 m.p.h. limit. I arrived at the crematorium with about two minutes to spare - all rather stressful.

The celebration of his life was simple and perfect. My niece J gave a wonderful and affectionate summary of his life which had the assembled gathering laughing out loud. And then another niece, K, read a poem that she'd written for him in the months leading to his death. Just so beautiful... The final piece of music was an upbeat piece of jazz which was in keeping with the brightly-coloured clothes worn by most of those present.

The afternoon was spent in my sister Val's beautiful garden, where refreshments were provided. It was really good to chat to so many family members, including several that I hadn't really connected with before. The whole occasion was very upbeat and positive - which is just as R would have wished. In fact, he did most of the planning for it!

I arrived home in the early evening and realised I hadn't even thought of taking any photographs, so had a quick tour round the garden in the fading light to see what was about. This cool blue Eryngium is one of the few plants that is completely indifferent to the drought and seemed a suitably calm image for the end of a wonderful day.