I found this sunny yellow flower amongst the blues and purples of the agapanthus in my 'for winter' file.
In July it was one of several, 6 to 8 feet tall, grown from seed in the garden of our next-door-but-two neighbour, Mr Constable's, garden.
He bought a copy of my dad's book and recently came to our front door to tell me he had read it (twice) and would like to have a chat about it.
By coincidence this was just after my 10 mins of 'fame' on BBC Radio Suffolk talking about the book. So the next day, I took my iPad over and we listened to the broadcast and had a chat along the way.
Mr Constable now lives alone and regularly takes the bus to Winchester to lunch at the Chinese restaurant, Mr So. He also still works, via his computer, tracing missing persons. His last request came via the American Embassy.
I asked if I could take his portrait and he replied 'After Christmas'. I am not too sure if that means 'No'. I shall not write about his wife here in case it meant 'Yes'.
I had lost track a bit of Mr Constable's age so asked him and find that he is now 95.
Beautiful flower. I love sunflowers, they always remind me of my Auntie Peggy, she was an artist and loved painting sunflowers.
I hope Mr Constable will allow you to take his photo, he sounds so interesting.
I hope Mr Constable will allow you to take his photo, he sounds so interesting.
Thank you and Happy New Year to you!