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As some parts of life continue to be intractably difficult, it's soothing to focus on home and surroundings. In a disorientating week I've met with heartfelt sadness as dear friends have had frail and ailing parents, people have been sad and bereft and I've felt weepy with them. Also a week in which I heard about a craven leap to over-promotion in a colleague -- but at least this gave me the opportunity for much evil cackling in the pub with a lovely, sympathetic colleague (it's all bollocks really seems to be the conclusion). Also cuddled a beautiful, smiling bundle of baby curiosity. Exhausting, and ironic (in the Kierkegaard rather than Alanis Morrisette sense). Which makes me feel compelled to be a bit more appreciative of home life. Here are some recent additions -- managed to change the central light in the lounge from a bare lightbulb to this circles-and-lines arrangement; we were given a gorgeous, detailed and bright print of a bird by Fiona Watson as a beautiful wedding gift (on the wall at the end of this image of my beloved sideboard); I hung up a huge, wadded curtain at the kitchen entry to keep us warm (this side is the map of the world; the other side is a patchwork of leftover fabrics; I don't have any good pictures of it yet); and, although it's not new, the engraving by Alistair Gow that I bought at his graduation show at the Glasgow School of Art in 2010. I was very happy to see that he has some prints at the Glasgow Print Studio now.