And then there were two ...

Some of you will have realised recently my childish excitement about my meconopsis this year, my glee that after a couple of barren years preceded by one miserable one it is producing proper flowers again, so I'll crave your indulgence for a post that features it on its own... 

Last evening I went outside at dusk and photographed the fat, hairy bud beside the first bloom of the summer, because I had discovered that said bud had a blue line appearing on it as it began to open. This morning it was fully out, despite the fact that the sun doesn't get round there till mid-morning, and in fact this morning was cloudy until almost midday and quite cool. I saw from the forecast tonight that the east isn't getting the sun we're experiencing here, but is having much more cloud and consequently lower temperatures.

I went to Pilates this morning - an excellent antidote to the stress of last week. The combination of quite demanding exercise with the odd outburst of hilarity is just what I need on a Monday morning, and it was great to come home and sit in the garden with my coffee just as the sun came out. Then I made mini-pizzas in the mini pizza oven for lunch; I'm getting better at it after a tentative beginning. Life is, however, too short to stone an olive. (I only had stone-in olives). I dragged myself together to go down to the shops for the odd thing, helped by the fact that the daughter of the couple next door, who are away, came round with a bunch of friends to make use of their garden in the late afternoon; they seem to have migrated indoors now and the noise is appalling. There is some male roaring at the top of his voice (it's almost midnight); I can't decide which is worse - inchoate bellowing or gormless conversation. 

Today's photo, to return to a more pleasant topic, shows the mecanopsis last night and again this morning, after I'd faffed around with an app that simulates different painting style. You can tell I've not been out much ...