Cabochon emeralds and diamond chips

A bunch of jewels

We had a tremendous thunderstorm this evening – something very near us must have got hit.

Afterwards all was still and beautiful.

I took this photo looking up into the oak tree by the house.

Sweet pea highway

Raindrops queuing on a sweet pea stalk

It must be the rough, ribby texture of sweet pea stems and leaves which makes them so good at holding raindrops.

Normally the drops make me think of cabochon-cut rock crystal or, if they’re smaller, tiny uncut diamonds of the sort thieves tip out of a soft black pouch.

But in this case it looks more like a highway, suspended across a gorge, with a traffic jam in each direction on it. There’s even a coach among the cars!

The wet weather is certainly giving plenty of scope for sweet pea artistry.