Ready to pop!

I always like cow parsley at this stage - huge, heavy, swollen, expectant buds straining to burst. There's lots of it around our garden hedgerows - and indeed in other, less welcome places - and although I tend to think of most umbellifers as cow parsley, this larger, less delicate variety is hogweed, Heracleum Sphondilium. I tried this in mono too, and quite liked it, so I've included it as an extra.

My Friday was less productive than I had hoped, as J's PA was ill, so I needed to support her for a lot more of the day than I expected. It can't be helped - we've never had enough of a team of PAs for there to be any hope of covering absences at short notice, and I am there so it's not a catastrophe. It was a bigger problem when I was still teaching, but in those days J was generally at school/college when I was working, so she needed less support at home. I did manage to pick and prepare a big bowl of spinach and do a bit of garden tidying; and with the broadband connection working better, after dinner I watched the Sewing Bee "re-use, recycle" week on BBC iPlayer. I rather liked the zero waste wide leg drawstring trousers, cut in a series of simple shapes with no fabric discarded: I could see myself wearing them in the house and garden. I enjoyed the imaginative outfits created from crocheted blankets, which reminded me of the waistcoats my mum and aunt made for me in the 1970s, but I don't think I'll be emulating them. Watching it always makes me want to sew - I've been browsing dungaree patterns with J, who would like a loose, dungaree style jumpsuit. I'd love to make her one, but know I'll struggle to find time among all the other priorities. I've never understood how people get bored at home: my plans and aspirations always vastly exceed the time available in which to execute them.