Day 5, from a high angle...

Two photos for today's challenge. The first one I considered saving until the flower day, but I take photos of flowers every day and I'm not sure if my camellia will still be in bloom then. I love the showiness of camellias, and how easily they bruise and look slightly tawdry. They have almost no scent, are all style and no substance. The cheap red lipstick that wipes off with the first kiss.

They are unashamedly bright and voluptuous. Plump thick petals around an overblown heart. There is no subterfuge. No mystery. They open quickly from their initial flirtatious furl, almost vulgar in their display. But I love the colour that is so unusual for Autumn and the beauty of their shy, mysterious dark green leaves. Sleek and shiny and well groomed.

The second picture is my lazy Sunday lunch, while curled up with Margaret Fulton's wholesome cook book. It is a cheerfully retro book, filled with the sort of recipes that I grew up watching my Mum make for dinner parties and techniques that I have learned to master to make some of my favourite dishes. About the most exotic ingredient is vanilla bean instead of essence, but I love that about it.

My lunch today was fitting for the ethereally grey misty day that has lightened slightly this afternoon as the birds come to call. Sliced romana tomatoes mixed with balsamic and preserved eggplant, a chunk of insipid camembert and pane di casa for dipping in the juices. I curled up in my chair, listening to the birds and watching the spectral clouds coalesce and part like fatefully bonded lovers and mopped up my tomato juice and sipped a glass of Sauvignon blanc. The perfect touch to an indolent weekend.