Apple season

(Backblip)

CleanSteve's birthday started off cloudy. I brought him a special tee tray in bed, along with one of his presents (a book) and later he joined TML and I and unwrapped the other parcels. We drove to Cheltenham and made our way to Kibou, a Japanese restaurant, where we'd booked a table for lunch.

None of us are really experts at Japanese food, but I'd been there before and knew that Steve would like it. We had a fantastic selection of tofu, seafood and teriyaki prawns in convivial surroundings, then perused the shops in the mall as we made our way back to the car.

On the way home, when the sun came out, I had a brainwave and requested that we stop at Prinknash Abbey gardens, near Cranham. I worked in the gift shop there briefly, in the noughties. At that time, the monks still tended the walled garden, but now many of them have passed away, and the garden is being restored by the Gloucestershire branch of the Butterfly Conservation Trust, with many butterfly-friendly flowering species planted. I'd been there before in recent years, but always in winter or spring, so it was a joy to see it in high summer, with flowering plants, an espaliered arch of pear trees, and a beekeeper at work among the hives. The sun warmed our faces, and I might have suggested a walk up to the monks' cemetery, if we hadn't been wearing such townie shoes!

We spent the rest of the day loafing at home, although I had to pack my gear for the market the following Thursday/Friday, as I knew Steve would have to take it down because I'd be on holiday. I was due to leave on Monday.