Festive bokeh

Firstly, I'd like to say thanks very much for your response to yesterday's frozen bubble, currently sitting in second place in Pops - I'm delighted that so many of you liked it. I have to confess that it wasn't an original idea - I saw a time-lapse sequence on Facebook a couple of years ago, and I've been waiting ever since for the chance to try it myself. Because I only had a very short window of opportunity - literally just a couple of hours yesterday morning, after which the temperature went above freezing - I didn't try any refinements, but simply used a cheap commercial bubble mixture; but if we ever get a longer cold snap I will experiment with making my own mixture, starting with the recipe detailed in this fascinating post. And if any other Blippers get the chance to play with frozen bubbles, I'll be very interested to see the results!

Today has been spent getting ready for the arrival of the Offspring, who've both very sweetly come home to help me through the trauma of celebrate tomorrow's birthday. I've never been upset about a birthday in my life before, but I can't say that I'm looking forward to leaving my 50s. I think I probably just need to get a firm grip, and remind myself that 60 is beyond the life expectancy of a large part of the world's population - viewed sensibly, it's clear that age is a privilege rather than something to be whined about.

On which note I'd probably better go and get some beauty sleep. Frankly, my beauty needs all the boosting it can get!