Irises

Poor Gavin has now got Luke's rotten flu and is man down so he has not returned to work, and it is strange having an almost full household at the moment, with only Thomas absent by being at school.

Luke is going on his university ski trip to Tigne on Saturday so I took him shopping to get some things he needs. It was a rushed shopping trip as he needed to get back to finish an essay for university. As I have mentioned before, he is studying Modern Languages and Cultures at uni, (French and German), and they say that their command of the spoken language deteriorates at university (compared to the level spoken at school) until they go on their year abroad which is in the 3rd year. However, I was very impressed with his German whilst we were in Switzerland, it was so useful to have someone who could actually understand everything and translate for us. Usually we open our post that we receive there from the local council or bills and we don't have a clue what it is all about, but thankfully Luke was able to deal with all of it!

There has been a varied response to the controversial decision by the Royal Photographic Society to award the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate) a lifetime honorary membership for her family portraits and tour photos. As some have commented, many mums take great photos of their children but the RPS does not give them an award. I think they have a point. Her photography is very good but is it RPS standard?

It was a dull day where the light deteriorated before I had a chance to get out for some photos - so I thought I would show the beautiful vase Molly gave us as a present. Ideally I need some arum lillies in there so I must look out for some.