Chelsea!

I always go a bit mad with the camera when I am let loose at the Chelsea Flower Show. Luckily for any readers I can't work out how to add more than five pictures to a blog entry! They'll appear here in no particular order. We had a lovely day. The weather was cooler than it has been of late, but dry and sunny, ideal for wandering around, looking at beautiful things. I am always amazed at the perfection in every bloom on show and this year was no exception. I did order a fair few tulip bulbs from Bloms . In a quaintly trusting way, one orders the bulbs now for delivery in October. No credit card information is given, but an invoice is sent out after delivery of the bulbs!

Got to love an elephant! Especially this one made entirely out of flowers!

These were stunning too! I like browsing around the Grand Pavilion as you can actually get to see the flowers in there. The show gardens are beautiful but, even on members' day, it is hard to get to see them, and once you have elbowed your way to the front you tend to only see a snippet, not being able to step back and see the garden in its entirety as the designer intended. In some ways it is better to see the show gardens on the TV coverage. One can't do the show justice either way really, but a combination of being there and TV works well for me. Being there gives ample opportunity for retail therapy too.....

Talking of beautiful things - two lovely ladies hiding their lights under glasses of pink champagne! And one of those ladies trying to hide herself by pretending to be a cushion!

The observant amongst you will remember that my youngest had a birthday today! She is now four years old. She had a great day with cupcakes, presents, birthday cake, presents, presents and more presents! She has her own baby now, and a buggy for the baby too.

As this is supposed to be a blog about running, I should also mention that I went out running with Stephen again. We ran the same route as yesterday, but he managed to run the whole 4.33 miles and I knocked 2 minutes of yesterday's time to run it in 36 minutes, so about 8min 14secs a mile. Apparently I run at the same pace whether I am running up hill, on the flat or down hill, appart from on the 'home stretch' where I subconciously pick up the pace - I wasn't aware of this! I also twist my upper body too much as I run still, so more work on those pesky abs is needed. Good to have some feedback on what I am doing other than just times, and it won't be long before Stephen is back up to speed and leaving me for standing. Hopefully running with him from time to time will spur me on to run faster. I am enjoying this brief spell of being the faster, fitter runner!