Lights, Camera...

This week has been cold. Cold and bright. The last leaves are quickly falling from the trees and it's all starting to look and feel wintry out there now.  The light has been ever changing; dull and gloomy, then showery, then fleetingly, piercingly bright, then dark again. When I'm driving it bounces off the wet roads and makes me squint. Our house faces south and from first thing in the morning until late afternoon the hall, living room and the upstairs bedrooms are flooded with light. Now, don't get me wrong, I like this. The amount of natural light our house receives is one of the things I love about it, and makes me feel a little better about our big, ugly UPvc windows that really need replacing. But that sun is low and shines in at such an angle that it shows up every single crumb, hair, feather, fleck of dust and finger print, on every door, window and surface with horrible sharpness and clarity. It makes me wince. 

But it's also quite beautiful and casts the most vivid shadows and reflections on walls and surfaces. I followed the light around the house one morning this week, looking anew at dusty corners of our home, noticing the light, not the dirt.

I received a delightful parcel last weekend from my very good friend Abigail (who I wish would start writing her blog again!). Abigail and I have been friends since we met in our English Literature A level class at sixth form college, in 1994. Good grief, I feel old writing that. She is one of my best friends in the world, a kindred spirit, but the thing is, apart form those years at college, we've hardly ever lived near each other. After doing our A levels we both went off to University at opposite ends of the country, then pursued our own post graduate courses, again at opposite ends of the country, then for the thirteen years I've been in Leeds she's lived in London, West Sussex, Cambridge, Croydon...not the north. We send each other a lot of parcels and cards. We also text, email and phone all the time, but we both cherish old fashioned cards coming through the old fashioned post. Impulsive and generous, she sends excellent parcels. Namely, this Diana F Camera, which arrived unexpectedly last Saturday and made me gasp when I opened it. It's an early Christmas present I think. Thank you Abigail! I am in love with the look of the camera as much as I am the idea of what I can do with it creatively. I'm also a little scared of it, but it comes with a book and some film so I have no excuse now but to have a go and see what this thing can do. Any advice is much appreciated!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Ours will be quiet, I think, and cosy, I hope.