Oh rose ...

Today was ... grey. It was also noticeably chillier than we've been used to, so that when I went out to be picked up on the road for our Pilates class I was wearing a windproof fleece and carrying an umbrella, as it chose to rain just as I was going out. Pilates was quite an effort - the pain in my hip is unpredictable when it comes to knowing what I can and can't do - and in the past hour I seem to have developed a toothache-like pain in a shoulder, probably as the result of a plank or some such. I was glad to collapse in an easy chair with a coffee and do my Italian when I got home.

And that was it, really - my only other outing was to the Health Store (would that one could actually buy health!) to top up on seeds (mustard, caraway) and my favoured brand of eco-friendly laundry liquid (both kinds - machine and hand wash). As I also bought a hefty jar of miso paste it made for quite a heavy load; I was glad I'd taken my rucksack to carry it home in. 

I'm blipping the single bloom from Josephine Bruce, which was going to drop in the rain had I left it in the pot it's had to become used to. The top left is the way it looked this morning; the bottom right, which seems a different red because of the light, shows how the centre has unfurled and lost its precision as the day progressed. The scent is lovely, and we've enjoyed it indoors rather than watching it shed all over the patio. 

A big thank-you to anyone who wished me well on what I suppose is ten years' worth of blip entries; you've all been very kind. I didn't become obsessed immediately with the daily posting - probably because I had to remember to take my camera out at the start - but with the obsession has come a lovely community of which to feel a part. 

Oh - it's not midnight yet. I'm doing well ...