Today's been a good day. We went down to Clyne Gardens in Swansea, which is famous for its rhododendrons and azeleas. We often went there when I was a child and a teenager and it is also very spectacular in the autumn. The gardens have wonderful views over the bay and back onto Clyne Castle, the home of the Heneage Vivian family until the early 1950s.

Today there was a rare plant fair, and later in the afternoon a band concert. We parked up on Mayals Road, so entering at the top of the garden and gently wandered over to the castle, through the plant fair, down the valley, stopped for a coffee at the bottom then wandered back up through the bog garden to the Japanese bridge and thence back to the car. It is difficult to pick a highlight as all of it was looking absolutely beautiful, although I am very fond of the giant gunnera. There were lots of people around, many buying plants and we stopped to chat to two lots of people about greyhounds. The weather was very pleasant, warm and sunny without being oppressively hot. We took lots of photos, many of which look gorgeous, so I attach a few to this entry.

The outing was ended in perfection by visiting Joe's icecream parlour. As usual there was a queue out the door, and again as usual, made up of everyone from tiny children to a large party of elderly ladies in front of us who were hitting the sundaes, as well as an assortment of teenagers, young couples and families. My chocolate marshmallow sundae was heavenly, and we decided to buy a cone for each of the dogs. We took the cones back to the car, which was parked by the Guildhall, they hopped out and looked very interested in the cones. I'd have liked to have photographed the occasion, but it was difficult to have enough hands to wrangle two greyhounds, two cones and two sundaes for us! Anyway, the cones were a huge success and disappeared with much happy slurping and crunching in about ten seconds. The greyhounds will now be as much a fan of Joe's as the rest of us. Dogs were replaced in the car, and Andrew and I sat on a bench eating our sundaes at a slightly slower speed. All around us we could see couples and families doing the same thing, which I found rather romantic and touching. Then drove home, all happy and tired. As I write, the young master is stuffing a chicken with herbs from the garden and it is about to go into the oven.

On Friday night I watched American Gangster, which was on Sky Box Office. It was excellent, with some stonking performances from Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. It only enhanced my view of Ridley Scott as a director, too, who was not afraid to make a long film that had the time to really let you soak up the atmosphere and the characters. I loved it. The only criticism, which is not unique to this film, was that there were very variable sound levels between the dialogue sections and the bits with music (a well chosen and atmospheric soundtrack, too) so that I found myself constantly fiddling with the remote control. Can't recall if the film did win any oscars, but I do remember it being nominated, and can now see why.

Have also recorded The Curse of the Golden Flower, which was on Sky Indie on Friday night. This was made by the same guy who made House of Flying Daggers which was beautiful, and has Chung Yow Fat (who was in Crouching Tiger, which made me cry at the end). The reviews seen so far indicate that it is as visually spectacular as HFD, but a bit slow on plot. This sort of film is ideal for watching at home, as with a comfy sofa, a good glass of wine and a snuggly greyhound, I'm happy to relax and let the spectacle wash over me, which I would be less happy about if out at the cinema. I will write more about this after I have seen it.