BBQ Haze.

Pentax K1000, Ilford XP2 Super, ISO 400.

Another gorgeous day here. Watched the sun out of the office window like a caged bird, and escaped miraculously into the warmth at 5.00. Not before work provided Haagen Dasz ice cream though. Yum yum.

Got home to find M still suited and booted after a funeral of a family friend. So sad, he was older than M's dad by just two months; struck down by CJD 10 years after the mad cow disease pandemic was at its height. The virus can stay in the body and arrive, unannounced and without warning, any time. It took down M's neighbour within weeks.

This evening we enjoyed the simple things: a gin and tonic with some friends at the Ferryhill, then back home to light the BBQ and cook dinner. I love watching the garden from behind a veil of blue smoke, the smell of the coals and food, and listening to shrieks and laughter from nearby gardens. Summer is here. I can't believe how much has bloomed in our flowerbeds over the last 48 hours - peonies and tulips, poppies and daffodils. Spring flowers with summer plants; everything bursting out at once with the long awaited warmth. M noticed the tree that shades the house budding today, I'm sure it's about 2 months too late. But what a great sight, the condensing of a whole spring into two days!

We retired to the sofa for the rest of the night; the long evenings make fitting in more activities easier - it makes me happy.