A dress in the rosemary

I bought this terracotta sculpture of a dress from the student who made it several years ago when we still lived in Wales. When we got it home we had to decide whether to keep it indoors or put it out to weather in the garden. We decided it would look better in the garden. Unfortunately during the move here one of the middle sections was broken so instead of being 'life size' it is now only about 1 metre high and much of the glaze has been worn away by Welsh winters and Languedoc summers. It stands next to a rosemary bush, our first plant in the garden five years ago, which has now grown so big that it threatens to engulf the statue.

We didn't spend much time in the garden this morning as a swarm of bees passed just over our heads and frightened me a bit. I know that they are not supposed to be dangerous when they swarm, but it was an amazing sight and sound. This isn't the time of year when they usually swarm, so we think that a hive may have been disturbed by the noise of the tree-felling at the bottom of the hill. Let's hope they've found a safe new home now.