If anyone remembers the late Adam Faith, my erstwhile hero, I've written a two-parter about his life and loves on www.suite101.com with help from his 'autobiography' actually written by someone else. Why didn't he ask me to do it? This joins my other two-parter biog on the artist Mark Gertler, my grandmother's brother. Now reading about Gertler's great love, the artist Dora Carrington (and Nigel Slater's Toast).

Other writing projects are in progress, including work for the planned anthology by Southampton Writing Buddies. One batch of 3 entries is ready, and another 3 planned for two weeks' time when the comp closes. Another helpful and fun meeting of Writing Buddies took place on July 2nd, and the next is on the 16th.

The clock is home and going well. It's just slightly amateurish; the case bears the hallmark of having been assembled by John's late father, a really delightful man who used to call me his darling but never took to my al dente vegetables. This gives it plenty of charm, though, and we are proud to keep it going.

Had a good day in Salisbury, as usual built around lunch at ASK and a raid on the Lakeland store. Needed a new HideID (auto stamp of gobbledegook to go over address/personal details on paperwork being recycled). The old one melted when I left it next to the Remoska table-top cooker, also ironically from Lakeland.

Eat, eat, eat. Several recipes made, photographed for suite101.com and then devoured. Meals out at Chinese restaurant in Romsey (my all-time favourite, lots of vegetarian choices), Coriander Lounge Indian buffet lunch in Southampton High Street, the Crown pub in Highfield, and Puccini's Italian buffet in Bedford Place.

A less dignified picnic of frittata, salad, nuts/cranberries and fresh cherries at the wonderful Yeovilton Naval Air Day near Yeovil. Thrilled to see the fabulous Vulcan flying again, with the Harrier doing its usual hover, sideways, backwards, and bowing, and a surprisingly great display by the Spanish military aerobatic team, Aguila (eagles). So good in fact that I plan to write to congratulate the Spanish first minister - maybe an invite to Spain to follow?

Thank you for reading this, if you got this far. Question of the day: are whoopie pies a worthy successor to cupcakes? I plan to make them for the granddaughters for a definitive answer. Martha will adore them if they have hundreds and thousands over them. Sprinkles, she calls them. Aaah!