Bright days, dark cabbage

Cavolo nero is my new thing. It seems strange to see this dark, wintry vegetable under such bright, cloudless skies at my local farmers market. It's brooding beauty juts from boxes of fresh-bought produce and jostles for space in my boot alongside a body board and various towels and bathers - our ever-ready kit for impromptu swims. Yet this is August, it is as cold as it's going to get all year - and I'm in sandals!

Grapes on a plate

In a largely domestic life, in a country without civil war, with my health, my children happy, my husband loyal and with money enough in the bank, these grapes looking pretty on a plate makes me smile.

What a luxury, to stop and notice their perfect tense skins. To choose a fetching purple plate to put them on. To waffle on about it here. What a blessing that I can concern myself with the details of my life in such a languid manner. To contemplate pomegranates.