three words

+ Tiny star-like flowers on my new sedum. I love how delicate they are and how the colours go with the grey foliage.
+ And Elusive primes - a zine created by my talented friend, Zoë. You can see more of her work - and that of other creative and clever women - in Three words: an anthology of Aotearoa/NZ women's comics coming out in March next year but available now to pre-order. Also some contributor profiles here and a radio interview with editor, Sarah Laing here.

How're your christmas/holiday preparations going? I bought a real tree this year but, I don't know, it looks a little sad. Real tree? Or artificial tree? What do you think?

cherries

Hydrangeas are in flower and cherries are in season - two good things at once.

Eating: the incomprehensibly delicious combination of rhubarb and strawberries. Together they make an amazing crumble. Recipe here for baking rhubarb in the oven. Crumble recipe here.

Reading: The New Yorker. It's the Mary Norris effect.

plates

Some Crown Lynn treasures - "staccato" side plate and a pair of "narvik" dinner plates - found on our last holiday at Matakana. And a plate by Pauline McCoy purchased at the Big Clay Day Out held by the Auckland Studio Potters on Sunday.

Reading: Between you & me: confessions of a comma queen by Mary Norris who is a copy editor at The New Yorker. She started working there in 1978 so you could say she's an authority on spelling, punctuation and grammar. Which is what the book is about. Sounds pretty dull but, actually, it isn't. Review here.