Frozen yoghurt on sea

Some late summer miracles: frozen yoghurt has finally arrived in Hastings; buckets of firework dahlias for sale on the roadside; beautiful rainbows and skybows; a fly fishing lesson; and re-runs of My Year with the Bear Family.

Excellent distraction from the super sad and muddy tidings from New England. Only 3 weeks away now and poor dear Liberty Hill Farm and its cows are, quite literally, entirely surrounded by water. If only Jed was really in charge ... what we need in this situation is a good, rural, New England president.

Yellowbrations (in which someone turned 30)

The sound of crinkly yellow tissue paper at 0800 can only mean one thing. Happy Birthday and another fond farewell to that great stage when I am 2 years older between April and August.

Much ripped wrapping later, off we headed for a surprise breakfast, an adventure in Dulwich, a gawp at the Cy Twombly exhibition and a wonderful meal at Nopi. It turns out that you haven't lived until you've had a rum and rosemary Old Fashioned.

Do it yourself...

Having painted 17 stairs this weekend, I resolutely refuse to photograph them as well. So there's no evidence of my noble DIY efforts. But here are some nicer moments from the weekend: romantic potholes, dreamy jags, toy donkeys washed in on a wave, the beginnings of a much more satisfactory scene above the bathroom sink* and some tide line treasure... (courtesy of B's iphone).

* I did actually paint that mirror too... until Friday it was a very fetching shade of B&Q brown.

In Summery

Find a penny update

Current total: £11.85 - can you believe it?!

In a sad dose of symmetry,

I'm to become a godmother for the first time in the same week that I lost my own perfect godmum. My Dogmum. She of the extraordinarily varied Christmas tapes - Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West next to Bach into the Owl and the Pussy Cat - sent to a little goddaughter in a desert. The one who looked after my Mum when her father died and got her drunk and danced with her in the sitting room in the early hours. The one with the best laugh and the naughtiest wink. The one who let 3 students live in her summer house for days and never once suggested it might be a good idea to tidy up or draw the curtains. The one who understood, unquestioningly, why a little girl must have the biggest, cuddliest collection of stuffed pigs and who continued to contribute to it well into my 20s. I will miss you and try to be an eighth as good at godmothering as you. XXX

Sun on the right side of the road

London is cold and damp but I've just spent half an hour finding hire cars which must mean we are going to go somewhere sunny, sometime soon.