Roses

Our neighbourhood is awash with roses in full bloom at the moment and are an elegant prelude to the hydrangea season which is tantalisingly close.

Garden Colour

Pictures of flowers are a bit obvious and boring I know but Ibolya, Ruby and I are just loving all the little bits of colour that's breaking out around our little garden. My hydraenger bushes are on the cusp of flowering and will be a proud and thrilling momnet for me when they do.

Saturday

I took a weekend off from taking photos last week, I was getting photo and blog fatigue. But this Saturday, I was back, snapping away with a vengence. And what a fun-packed day it was. Lots of nice things to eat for breakfast, lots of Ruby-time and playing in the morning. Lunch with the Leahy family at Gracelands and a trip to Homebase for plants and sandpaper, for my wardrobe project.
On Saturday evening we did a very rare thing and left Ruby with Kate and Dan so we could travel to Hampton for our friend Sarah's 40th birthday party. On the way, we watched England vs USA on my iPhone and had a really great time at the party - held in the spectacular garden of Sarah's parents.
In my last post, I hinted that Gary Oldman might be Britain's answer to Robert De Niro. I regret saying that now because, on reflection, that honour surley belongs to Daniel Day Lewis.

Gary Oldman

What an absolutely phenomenal actor Gary Oldman is. It's hard to under estimate just how good he is (an English De Niro?). His range is so diverse he's played everyone from Sid Vicious, Joe Orton, Lee Harvey Oswald, Dracula, Pontius Pilate, Beethoven and Commissioner Jim Gordon.
So I'm incredibly excited by the news that he's filling Alec Guinness's shoes as George Smiley in a film adaptation of 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. Even more exciting is that it's being directed by the Danish director Tomas Alfredson, director of last year's best film 'Let the Right One In'. And it's got a script by (Frost/Nixon - Longford - The Queen) writer Peter Morgan! It's also likely to co-star Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender and David Thewlis. Just how good could this film be? I cannot wait.

Super Sweet

I'm slightly obsessed by Super Sweet by Wardell Piper at the moment. I heard it twice on Radio 6 Music recently and I can't quite get it out of my head. It's not available on CD, must be long deleted on vinyl (would be a great find in a bargain bin somewhere) and can't find it anywhere to download except from YouTube, which are vinyl transfers and not very good. That's the (rather suggestive) cover of the album it's taken from.
It's a truly magnificent slice of uplifting DISCO from 1979. Relentless hand claps, an infectious guitar hook, slabs of 'call and response' strings and a truly funked-up slapped bass-line. It's everything I think great dance music should be. I hope you enjoy it too.

Other bits from last weekend

Some other bits from last weekend included; going round to my sister Jane's for, my niece, Beatrice's third birthday party. Vittoriano and Lorena came over for a very Italian dinner. Painting pictures with Ruby on Monday afternoon. Had to take Josie to the vets on Saturday morning, her skin allergy has flared up again and she has to ware a cone for a week or two, bless her. And, we took loads of pictures of Ibolya and little bubba, on Monday afternoon, as well as some family pictures.