Today I went to the church fair, and bought...

this embroidered tea-tablecloth

and these pastry-crust top terracotta pots

I didn't buy a lot this year, mindful of my aim of decluttering, but I did pounce on the tablecloth and the aged pots. The fair is a lot smaller now as the area around the church is still fenced off; the roof slates are all loose apparently after our Big Event four years ago! Yes, it's taking a very,very long time to get things fixed, and churches were probably the most seriously hit of all of our buildings, usually being old and poorly maintained. (The church in which I was christened has now gone completely, it one of the first churches in the province, and made of red scoria rock, not very durable under the best of circumstances.) There seems to be no plan for fixing the fixable buildings, and the Anglican church has faced huge controversy over the fate of its Cathedral; the Bishop wants to pull it down and put up a new one, but many believe that the old building can be restored. I don't really have an opinion on this. I've heard so many arguments now and seen so many plans that I've flagged it away as undecidable.  The stumbling block for the preservationists is that the Cathedral and the land on which it stands are Church property and legally, the Church can do what it wants.

Perhaps it's best just to ignore these questions and contemplate nature. Here is a stunning deep pink ranunculus that's come out in the last few days. I've tried to grow them before, but they need good soil, so this year I've grown them in the vegetable garden on the best soil I have, and the results speak for themselves. Spent some time today on my Women's Suffrage border, (purple, green and white) transplanting things and setting them out, only to have the wretched blackbirds come and dig them up again!