White Coat Syndrome

When I went for a health check last month the doctor raised an eyebrow at my blood pressure and suggested I get checked out by the practice nurse- which I duly did yesterday. The doctor ran the test three times to be sure of her findings and the nurse ran it just the once and pronounced me well within acceptable parameters. What this shows, I suppose, is that I'm less afraid of nurses than I am of doctors.

Hilaire Belloc By David Low

If I was rich I'd buy paintings. Since I'm not I buy old prints.

Yesterday I found this in a charity shop:

Contemporary photo-lithograph of David Low's 1936 caricature of the poet, essayist and historian Hilaire Belloc. Great artist, great subject. Low wasn't cruel in the way some modern cartoonists are- but he could get under his subjects's skin. He described the art of caricature as "all-in portraiture."



The original pencil drawing is in the V & A.

Chickweed

We sauteed the chickweed but before it went in the frying pan I ate a sprig raw and really I think it's better that way. As a cooked veg it becomes mushy and generic but as a salad item it tastes quite intensely green- viridian even.

Who knew chickweed was so good to eat? Well, our great, great grandparents did- and we've forgotten. We've forgotten so much.