New painting!

Also un-shrinking cashmere, garden chats, and ROSES

It seems as though a part of my brain has been demolished along with my kitchen. Not having a kitchen is actually remarkably freeing in many ways. For one thing, I have discovered meal deals. (I KNOW that his makes me sound exactly like Jacob Rees Mogg …i KNOW) but I’ve just never paid attention to the meal deals.

The meal deal defies logic. It’s like being in the Upside Down, where three things work out cheaper than if you just bought one thing. I am utterly appalling at maths and economics, and my mind cannot fathom how this can possibly work, but I’m sure the confusion and the resulting thrill of having got something for nothing is a part of the trick.

The meal deal thing has reminded me of friend, whose dad came to the UK from abroad and started a corner shop which turned into a gigantic chain of small supermarkets. I remember being about eighteen and sitting next to this friend at dinner and he explained to me about the ‘loss leader’, where you price your milk so competitively that everyone comes into your shop, and once someone is in your shop, thrilled with the notion of having saved so much money, they then buy other things they don’t need. So clever and fascinating.

I need to tell you about saving cashmere that you’ve accidentally thrown in the wash. I put my VERY FAVOURITE cardigan in a too-hot wash by mistake last week and I was so upset I almost cried. I am doing more than the usual amount of crying at the moment because my teenager acts like she hates me (I know she doesn’t actually hate me, but she does a jolly good job of making me think she does) and it’s a lot sometimes, even for me, so when the cardigan came out all sad and stiff I got all cross and miserable and my throat was lumpen. I threw it into the corner and started folding the other stuff, and then reasoned that if I wet it, and stuffed it with towels, Michelin man style, it might help to prevent the fibres from constricting. It worked!!! It’s not like it was before…it’ll never be like it was before…but it’s at least wearable. And that, dear friends, is a TIP I could have used a few times in my life.

Join us in June! And thank you DEAR AMP for giving me digital botox!

I did a live broadcast thing on The Garden Collective with wonderful Ann-Marie Powell and it felt like a breath of fresh air - just chatting in the garden with a friend. We did a tour around our gardens, and talked about all the things we’re NOT doing right now, either because we don’t need to, or because we just don’t feel like it. You can watch it here and we will be making this a regular thing, so do come and join us (this is a subscription but you can try it for £1 and cancel any time) and it is just full of garden wonder. If you are even remotely interested in gardening, it’s an absolute gift. Your subscription fee gives you access not just to one creator, but to many. So yes, it’s like a gardening Substack, but only one subscription fee.

I need to tell you about my braces, and how malleable I appear to be (see also meal deals). I went to my dentist for a routine check-up and the next thing I know, I’m sporting what look and feel like those giant gum-shields the american football guys wear. I am talking with a slight lisp and having to make special arrangements for eating (you have to remove the plastic things before you have anything, so snacking is laborious to say the least). I’m not actually sure how I got here, but here I am, and here I will stay, for the next 12 weeks, after which, I am assured, things will be much better (things were, I thought, fine….but my dentist said they could be better.) I love and trust my dentist. Her name is Dr Pooja. She is the most exquisite lady…I mean REALLY beautiful, with the best manners and perfect teeth (obvs). She is so kind with my children and takes time to explain things properly to me which I appreciate hugely. She is also funny and wise. I am trying to convince one of my children to be a dentist; I think it’s almost AI proof (?) and it really transforms lives if you do a good job.

We went to Birmingham to see DIVINE Paddy Robinson and bought a painting. I love it so much I could stare at it all day, which is good, because it’s going in our new kitchen. I promised to write about my kitchen, and I will, when it starts being installed. Right now we are in the midst of boring things like electrics and plumbing and insulation…things that eat up lots of time and money but don’t actually look very exciting. We are expecting things to start happening next Monday, so I’ll do a whole post on it the following week, with pictures.

In the meantime LOOK at my roses! How lucky I am!

x Laetitia