What a difference a week makes

You come home after a holiday and everything look so familiar and the same, except that some things have changed.

For me, changes are mainly the garden, where there has been exponential growth in my absence. The irises are nearly all in bloom, many of the perennial geraniums are in flower and the Turk's cap lilies are about to burst open. The tree peony flowers are over.

The strangest change in the garden is that the siskins have gone. They must have finally gone north. The feeders are strangely quiet with just the more usual mix of garden birds.

I love alchemilla mollis despite its tendency to seed everywhere and I chose this photo because it shows the patterns created by the leaves and the emerging flowers. Can you see the tiny red tips on the leaves?

My tooth was mended in a 10 minute dental appointment at 0820. This afternoon Mum and I went to see the National Theatre digital recording of The Audience with Helen Mirren as the Queen. It was well worth seeing and there were some sterling performances of a number of British Prime Ministers.

Soon the holiday will be a distant memory.