We saw a yellow hammer on the way down the lane today, and there were 12 goldfinches on the feeders. If only I could find a recipe for them…

It rained hard, we ended up inside most of the day, and in making tie dye bags we ended up decorating the table and ourselves. Number Two son, who had come out to use a dry morning in helping us garden was upset to find there was a distinct lack of dry morning. He did manage to shift quite a bit of work despite this, pruning flower beds from the shelter of the verandah and sowing seeds in the polytunnel.

As we spent some of the afternoon in the kitchen building up a stock of salt-dough shapes we did some father-son bonding talking about dentistry, politicians and the fact that when he comes to write his memoirs doing salt-dough shapes with your dad at his age is going to seem weird.

I also offered my view on personal finances, hard work and the parameters for selecting a decent care home when your parents pass 80. I’m not convinced he was listening …

The group made a birthday card for the farmer using some of the dye from the bags, Jodi also made him a card and even bought him a gift. It’s a Mickey Mouse tie.

As I said, it’s not often that you see a man wearing a tie with the picture of his business advisor on it.