Haven't done a lot of stitching over the past few days, so must get back at it. The deadline keeps approaching even though it seems a long way off at the moment. I don't want to be doing all day, late night marathons at the end.

A very nice sunny day - we've had several in a row which has been lovely. Maybe August will be our summer.

Neutral Tones

We stood by a pond that winter day,
And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,
And a few leaves lay on the starving sod;
-- They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.

Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles of years ago;
And some words played between us to and fro
On which lost the more by our love.

The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing
Alive enough to have strength to die;
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
Like an ominous bird a-wing. . . .

Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,
And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me
Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree,
And a pond edged with grayish leaves.

Thomas Hardy
1840 - 1928