'To live life is so startling...'

Delicately marked leaves that hold raindrops as though they were pearls, drifts of tiny yellow flowers like mist...and the colonising instincts of a super bug. Alchemilla mollis is one of the few garden flowers I am happy to cut and put in a vase - before it spreads even further.

I have a little book of letters of Emily Dickinson's in the loo - it's a joy to dip into for a few moments. I found this today, 'To live is so startling; it leaves but little room for other occupations, though friends are, if possible, an event more fair.'