Bowl of cherries

A grim grey morning. I woke far too early, then lost the next three hours or so in a haze of early morning tea, watching the greenfinch eating all the seeds on the bird table and dozing while reading a French book. In fact, it was well into hours starting with 11 when I finally managed to get dressed (around the same time that the rain stopped actually).

After lunch, shopping - restocking after yesterday's public holiday - and a trip to the pharmacy with Conor. After a shower (for him) this morning, I cut his hair (badly - my hairdressing scissors having gone missing I was having to use the next sharpest which are my dressmaking scissors) and spotted some odd black marks on his scalp. Some quick research on-line didn't produce anything particularly fruitful, save that it might be a rarish type of ringworm. So a whole new vocabulary to learn... But the pharmacist didn't think it was that and all the doctors (you can take a kid to see any doctor whether you are registered or not) were on holiday so we will have to wait until next week to find out what it is. Anyway, that was all forgotten when it soon became clear that Conor had come down with his usual summer hayfever/cold/fever/lethargy/vomitting thingy - so he spent the rest of the day wrapped up on the sofa, full of Calpol and with a bowl next to him. Strangely, he perked up for pizza and chocolate cake (accompanied by the surprisingly entertaining Dolphin Tale movie which Katherine has been requesting for months) but said a polite but firm 'no' to cherries for a second dessert. There is a lovely cherry tree just by the carpark of our little community and everyone was out picking cherries today as they are just coming ripe - and they are quite delicious, not as sweet and cloying as the kind you normally find in the shops.

So, despite a very low key day, I find myself rather exhausted. It's my mum's birthday and happily I found a company who would deliver an orchid to her on the very day and, even more happily, it matches her kitchen so she is quite delighted (though that may have been the very strong G&T my dad made talking...)