This year's Christmas card

Here's Susan's card for this year, in 3D too. Looks rather fine doesn't it? Immense detail in the painting which has reproduced very well when printed on the home ink jet. She also painted the little cameo wreaths printed on the flap of the envelopes and there's a smaller on on the front of the envelope too.

My dad used to make holly wreaths each Christmas. He was head gardener on a private estate in Shropshire for all his working life. One of the many things he did in addition to gardening was making wreaths, a circular frame would be packed with moss held in place by little stubs of wire and holly sprigs with berries, ivy and other winter greenery stuck into the moss. I don't think I have a photograph of any of his wreaths but I can see them in my mind's eye. Those little stubs of wire had many uses during the rest of the year, holding things together where screws or bolts had been lost - the mudguard on my bike was always held in place by a piece of that wire!

Today's diary entry is almost totally different to what I actually wrote as when I tried to preview I got the "over capacity" message and lost all I'd written. I thought I'd remember, but it was not the case! Never mind, before I post this I will copy the words!