Some of my favourite moments of this summer so far: midsummer's night on the Thames after seeing Patti Smith perform at the Royal Festival Hall, with her son and daughter as back up band; the cat in Parisian bakery window shot never gets old; a drink after watching Hiroshima Mon Amour (without subtitles!) at Le Champo; an unexpected bonus of a cancelled Eurostar train = an

HIGH SUMMER ROLLIN...

Hardcore evening gardening once the heat has subsided; finally taming a thorny, unruly beast of a plant into submission - it fought back, I won - sustaining scrapes, cuts and scratches all over. Bonus baby fox cub watching at dusk, dusk stretching into hours. The cuts and scratches on slowly tanned limbs are joined by bites and bruises, scuffed feet and elbows like those of a child: side

THE SET TABLE...

Last Thursday night I went to the launch of The Set Table: The Art of Small Gatherings at Anthropologie in Kings Road. The book is by Hannah Shuckburgh, (who is the features editor of Easy Living magazine) with photography by the very talented Charlotte Bland and illustrations by Lydia Starkey. It's about setting a beautiful table with what you love and have collected: mismatched linens and