Frankie playing scrabble

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and Kaleidoscopes'

From 'trees and kaleidoscope'

From 'Trees and Kaleidoscopes

From trees etc

From trees and kaleidoscopes

Thursday

Waiting outside Lepton library. My feet hurt from the cold but the sky is a brilliant blue. There's still some green trees and, against the blue, they look amazing. My music box thing is playing Tim Buckley. Buzzin' Fly. This works well with the view but less so with the cold.

I was supposed to be there at quarter to, to help with opening the library for ten. I arrive at twenty to. Five minutes after the library should be open I call to say no one with keys has arrived. I'm waiting for a response when an old lady comes to use the library. I tell her it's going to be a late opening so she heads off to buy a paper.

I look at my shoes. The rest of me is warm. My coat has a quilt-like lining. Unfortunately the tights on my legs and my tiny patent leather shoes are as you'd expect. To get the circulation going I walk towards the shop. I again come across the old lady. She directs me to the chapel. More accurately, to the coffee morning happening inside the chapel.

I open the door and follow the smell of coffee to the main room of the church. To the left is a group of tables covered in cheap table cloths. There is a hatch door, two women are peeking out of it. I pay my donation and order a cup of tea from them.

Carrying my tray I start to move to an empty table when a voice behind me asks if I've been before. I reply no and continue. The woman to whom the voice belongs then informs me that I can sit with her. My chronic politeness moves my legs in her direction. I'm nervous because firstly, I don't know her and I'm scared of awkward conversations. Secondly, one of her eyes is bruised and cut up and neither eye can look in the right direction. And while much of that prejudice is my fault, some of the blame should be directed at story books that warn you that people who look like that will offer you an apple while cackling hideously.

As with most prejudices, it was totally wrong. She is nice. We chat about cats. She has two. Molly 15 and Kitty 19. She describes them both as being very naughty. I say they have a lot in common with my cats. She asks things like how long have I been married. The only unsettling thing was there is an ant on the tea tray and after I return my tray it is on my arm. Even after I move it I spend a stupidly long time checking that it has gone.

So it was nice, and when it was time to leave all the old ladies thanked me for coming and told me to come any time. I had a quick look at the church before I left and returned to my normal life.

Lady From The Cover Of Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage"

Edward Gorey ladies

Tim Burton Picture

Copied from "The Art Of Tim Burton"

Cat Playing With Mouse

Unfinished Bug Man

Dancing Lady

Originally by Edward Gorey

King Quacky- The Ultimate Bon Vivant.

Originally by Jim Woodring.

My Copy Of Some Jim Woodring Panels (Pupshaw And Pupshaw)