"Pure style is my way of life... a blueprint for living in the 21st Century"
Shots of purple
21 May 2014
When the garden is looking as heavenly as it is at the moment I have no huge need to spread my wings in search of new excitement. ( Although I would rather like to go dancing....... ) This week it is our clever lodger Jeffrey`s birthday and there is cake for tea and all the gorgeous purples and greens of early summer to mark the occasion.
Lucky to have the last fading tulip petals (they`re edible!) to decorate a chocolate Victoria sponge using the recipe from my cookbook, and to enjoy it against a garden canvas of alliums and lime green lavender and lemon balm leaves: one of my favourite colour pairings.
See how a purple/green combination works in printed floral cotton: a remnant used to patch one of my chidren`s jeans pocket.
I feel starved of colour . The tide mark of mud on my shoes is the perfect shade of Drab for January.
Varifocals magnify the general dreariness: consumptive shoppers under supermarket glare, greasy pavements spattered oil slick black. But a fifteen minute dog trot from home, the florist is an oasis. Dog pokes her nose hungrily amongst cheery buckets of tulips and and I choose bunches of cut hyacinths in brilliant Yves Klein blue.
There`s birthday cake for tea. A chocolate and coffee layered Victoria sponge that looks suitably partyish dressed in day glow orange ribbon. Now that`s a good splash of colour on a depth of winter day The cake stand is one of our best buys declares my son not usually known for complimenting his mother`s choice of purchase. Bought from a shoot, I have to say, said cake stand elevates even a pile of currant buns to greater visual pleasure.