I have never looked closely at one of the books, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, I inherited from my folks. Today I did and was delighted to find the dedication , a paper cutting and the delightful illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Enjoy the gallery.

Title page

Thackeray’s view

I made so many pancakes yesterday that there were some leftover for Crepes Suzettes today.

There are lots of strikingly pink buds and some much paler open flowers on the Clematis Armandii.