Happy diversion

I was going to tell you about last Monday, when, shopping successfully accomplished, we went to the National Gallery, and spent ages looking at those oh-so-familiar paintings which are so much more impressive in reality than reproduction. I was also going to mention how clean and bright London looked under an autumn-blue sky, with the buildings so well scrubbed, and the water sparkling in the Trafalgar Square fountains. How pleasant it was to be walking in St. James's Park, seeing the trained squirrels posing for all they were worth, and noting that Coots have quite the most repulsive feet of any bird I can think of. To see a duck with an improbably blue bill, and to come home and look it up; find that it is called a Ruddy Duck and think how I would have loved being able to say "ruddy" legitimately when I was a little girl!

I won't be telling you all this because the postman knocked, and delivered . . . .

It is impressive! I have to declare an interest - the author is my cousin, so I have to be predisposed to like it. But I would anyway. I would have no hesitation in giving it to a beginner, since the words and pictures demonstrate the techniques very effectively. There is stuff in there that I have never seen explained anywhere else (and if you look at what I have got around to putting on my Librarything list you will know that I have got a large collection of needlework books) The book itself is beautifully produced - the paper and binding feel good - I particularly like the covers - and the photos are clear and very helpful. I am holding in my hands the source of a lot of happy reading hours and something that will spark off a few fresh ideas of my own, I am sure!

Thanks Ruth: you did a grand job!