Purple Grass.

I was outside gardening as always when I took a closer look at the seed heads on this ornamental grass planted along the side of the drive. They were shining purple in the sunlight. Less than half an hour later as I carried on with clearing everything from an ornamental grass bed I came across the label which had obviously come with the original plants, pennesitum purpureum. I planted that bed about 15 years ago so I had forgotten some of the names of the grasses in it.Last night Peter and I went to a 40th birthday party. I wasn't sure about going as it was one of Peter's friends and it was a 'punk' themed party.

Peter was very keen so I made the effort even though my end result was more goth than punk. The sad thing was that apart from the dramatic make up and a belt around my neck, nearly everything I was wearing (black jeans and t-shirt teamed with silver & black jewellery including ear cuffs and a pair of bajoran earrings) was part of my normal wardrobe. (Peter definitely does not go around with earrings or any other jewellery.) Fancy dress seems to be quite common nowadays and people often dress up for major events. New Year's Eve sees young and old in town dressed as everything from ballerinas to zombies. My sons tell me there are a lot of fancy dress events at university as well.

Most people had made an effort. Kilts seemed to figure prominently. I don't recall them from the original days of punk but I was only an observer in those days having gone from 'hippy child' to 'rock'. We didn't have a tv back then but I can remember being shocked by seeing people with safety pins sticking into them. That's what punk was all about, going against the system and shocking people.

Last night was all in fun.The second band was a punk band and the lively music certainly made you want to get up and dance/jump. Some people had a lot of the moves but I didn't see anyone pogo-ing. We met one of my work colleagues and her boyfriend (do you say boyfriend for people over 30?) and we all got on really well which made it an enjoyable evening. It got rather hysterical when we decided to breathe in the helium from the balloons on our table and sing silly songs. My choice was the Lonely song (Lonely. I'm so lonely, I have no body to call my ow....n.) which makes me laugh even when I sing it with my normal voice. This was all on diet cokes because I don't drink.

I noted that Peter didn't get up too early this morning. I spent the afternoon gardening & listening to the roaring of the wind in the trees. It was blowing up from the south-west so was quite warm. Earlier as I had been taking some scraps to the chickens I noticed Belle agitatedly trotting up by the fence. Looked again and saw that Ben had climbed through the fence and was on the road between the 2 fields. Sarah was already on her way up to shepherd Ben back to the gateway and re-unite him with Belle. Naughty foal.
The diet is still on the go, a whole stone lost! I seem to have settled into a sensible eating plan resulting in a gradual but steady loss. Sad face for yesterday because although I stuck to the crudites at the party I did have a piece of profiterole cake and nibbled on Indian snacks.