yrs truly, struggling to rub two thoughts together at six in the morning

after finishing work almost on time, i popped in to see this picture by Veronese before the BIG exhibition later this year ... it has been described by one critic as the gayest picture in the gallery

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ng294-the-family-of-darius-before-alexander-paolo-veronese-episode-21-segment-3/*/showTranscript/1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_of_Darius_before_Alexander

a special excursion to trafalgar square ...

... in order to satisfy your curiosity

up early to finish a letter to alex, who i've adored since she was two !!!

alvi ...

... and noa

tomorrow i'll just pop over to assess and evaluate the virtues of my grandsons ...

lest we forget ...

kuniyoshi utagawa in winter

painter's dilemmas ....

sitting in "the studio", the british film institute's tiniest cinema in the south bank complex, and waiting to watch an old black and white fillum ... as the auditorium lights grow dim, so the empty screen is underlit with some lights that are more orange than an actual orange, you might reasonably call the colour ABSOLUTE ORANGE, and the rectangle throbs in a way that might have made mark rothko take his life a lot sooner

and then in a few seconds, just as the fillum is about to begin, but before the lights are dimmed, a few stragglers arrive late and occupy the front rows

statistically improbable as this may seem, three of the twelve have ginger hair, though shades and textures vary ... and so one is immediately confronted with a painter's conundrum ... can you really afford that much cadmium ?

to make matters worse, when we get home, the loved one sits in front of our black christmas tree with it's tiny purple lights, and she is wearing a purple top and purple nail varnish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rothko

it's easy when you know how ( part 999 ) ... although barenboim sometimes looks as if he still can't quite believe the written perfection of the sweetest parts of beethoven's fourth piano concerto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baao02sIFm4

they've only gone and bought one of edith sitwell's old books .... can't wait to re-visit it's new owners, the wellcome collection..

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/dec/29/wellcome-library-medieval-medical-almanac

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/

i always wanted to take a picture of murielle valette, ockenden manor's fab baker AND patissier AND chocolatier ... in the end, she wrote a book and it is beautifully photographed by lisa devlin, and murielle's given me my very own copy for which i am joyously grateful

http://muriellevalette.com/

hey, nonny no ! only six monthe 'til summer !

germans taking the moral high ground whilst you're still lolling depravedly in your leopardskin onesies ...

http://panocam.skiline.cc/lauberhorn

morning in the kitchen

3BT

in the sunlit "bare ruined choir" of the sycamore tree outside the kitchen window at mid-day ...

1.  four fluffy squirrels chasing one another in the "heart" of the tree

2.  five velvety jackdaws having a quiet chat whilst they explore the topmost branches

3.  four resting parakeets, brilliant as jewels, quietly contemplating the prospect of their journey north to the thames

pratchett minus the jacket ...

job done !