This wonderful blaze of colour is what greeted Lucy as she swept the curtain back this morning. So dazzling was the display of the showing-off sky that she called for the camera, hoping to hold on to its beauty before the inevitable rain won the daily battle and turned our world pewter grey once more. We stood on the doorstep, chill wind whipping round the camellia as we struggled to find a gap between pollarded chestnut and jutting rooftops, and in the end settled for anywhere the sky shone through, anywhere we could bathe in its burnished glow for just a moment.
Isabella had far more important things to think about. "Want be Pincess," she announced racing to the wardrobe where Miss Lucy's vast collection of dressing-up clothes resides (thank you Granny-mother)and stood expectantly before it as I rummaged through the vibrant folds of a myriad guises. Within this wardrobe of age-softened walnut there are the makings of many a play as fairy dresses spill over gossamer wings and tiaras sit atop gowns fit for a princess. Should the tale involve castaways and shipwrecks then pirate garb of tattered trews nestle with eye patches and cutlass (fake I hasten to add!), a choice of headgear featuring skull & crossbones or white spots on navy depending on your mood, and even a flag for the ship can be found. Dancers can choose from ballet tutus and leotards or Haiwaiian skirts and strings of brightly coloured flowers for the ley. There's a lion cub, a devilish Hallowe'en outfit or two, wands and Darth Vader and even a Welsh national costume because Granny-mother liked the colours...but Isabella wanted to be a Pincess so first she donned her beautiful tiara encrusted with diamonds and pink garnets (!).
Next came her dress
and then she rode away on rocking dragon to save the Prince from a cow ... as you do.
Finally, this brave Princess did what most Princesses do: she put her coat and scarf over her beautiful gown, took big sister to school and queued in the Post Office for aeons and aeons till her mummy, Queen Pipany of the Wold, offloaded her parcels. They walked along the river as the mist came down, an eerie light settling over the deepening rivulets of the turning tide and the haunting cries of the hidden river-birds wheeling their way through the thickened air.
"We go home now and eat cake," declared Princess Isabella.
And we did!
Bye for now xx
