Old card for new

This morning I received a beautiful birthday card in the form of a cyanotype print. My oldest childhood (best) friend Eileen White created it using a contact print method from a hand-coated slide with a hand-made plant-based developer. The technology for shooting the image was an 1850 Watson field camera. 

I was keen to blip the amazing image, but Eileen has asked me to hold back until it is released to the world at an exhibition next November. Instead, I have blipped the inside of one of the birthday cards that Eileen sent to me when we were teenagers. It comes from an extensive archive of our correspondence stretching back to the 1970s. I have a very clear memory of the first time that we met, aged 7. Eileen joined my Junior 1 class in the middle of the school year soon after her family returned to the UK from India, where her father had been working for ICI on fertiliser development. (I'll try to remember to blip this year's birthday card later in the year.)

It's been a beautiful day in Edinburgh today. I made the most of the weather this afternoon working on my block garden, mainly replacing plants that seem to have disappeared over the winter months. Meanwhile Mr hazelh set off on a 40 mile bike ride. I spent the morning on admin, exercising, writing shopping lists, and popping round to the supermarket.

Exercise today: 1 hour on the exercise bike; 45 minute interval training run; walking (14,786 steps including run).