You know those time when there's not much to say?

It's been one of those weeks.I’m really transparent. It’s always been the case that I need beautiful surroundings to be creative and productive; which is why I live this way with these things around me.This week has been a bit of a lost week and even some beautiful tulips haven’t helped much while the house is in such a mess.But there’s hope that the mess won’t last too much longer. The “taking things apart” stage seems to be completed, the noisy machines are supposed to be removed Monday, and we might begin the “put back together” stage.In the meantime, our lovely Japanese student will turn 16 this Sunday and we have invited her whole group, (all seven children), for a Sunday birthday supper.I told her we will bake a cake together and she’s over the top nervous because she’s never baked anything in her life.Morgan’s still following me from room to room while Milo burrows in the middle of a bed somewhere and we don’t see him till their 5pm supper time.I dropped in on my friend Dalyce’s at her used book store and she pulled out a bunch of books she saved for me including an old French piano exercise book with the most beautiful paper all held together by ancient scotch tape which had long ago lost its grip but left beautiful yellowed marks in places.And now I just keep plugging away, Dunkirk spirit and all that, trying to ignore the plastic and the workmen’s aftershave and keep remembering how lucky I am to have terrific house insurance in the first place.Art: water colour pencils, chalk pencils, charcoal, ink on old book pages.