Jenni and Theo’s son was born on Wednesday, in the 23^rd week of her pregnancy. He lived only a few hours.

Here we still are.

My husband woke up that morning feeling “off” – not like him – and spent most of the day in bed. My sister phoned, very early CT time, to say that Jenni was in labour. I felt disinclined for adventure, and anxious to be near a telephone. Even when my husband is in what passes for the pink of condition these days, I worry about being in the country with him, far from help.

He was much better yesterday. We’ll probably attempt Strathardle tomorrow. The weather has been most peculiar – really very nice in Edinburgh and (clearly) London yesterday, apocalyptic between and above. The radio said this morning that some – how much? – of Tayside is without electricity. That’s us.

I’ll print the pattern for the Joseph’s Coat cardigan and take it to the K*rkmichael knitters with the yarn, hoping that it will wind up on the back of a precious Perthshire baby this winter. For Jenni and Theo’s next child, I’ll start again with something else.

In the course of all this, I’m nearly around the heel of Alexander’s second sock. Toe-up heels seem to involve much more knitting than top-down ones – I have decided that that’s because, in the normal way of things, one feels that the heel is done as soon as it has been turned and the stitches picked up for the gusset. The gusset decreases themselves slide down painlessly into the foot.

And, apart from the weather, wasn’t yesterday’s news extraordinary? BBC radio this morning seems curiously uninterested in the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare. I’ll go across the square in a moment and get the papers. And Nadal is out of Wimbledon! As far as I can understand the draw, Federer and Djokivic will deal will each other and Murray, if he gets that far, will meet one or the other in the final. He had a tough match yesterday (which I got to watch), but not as tough as Nadal’s.

Let’s end on a cheerful domestic note. I give all my children New Yorker subscriptions every year, which I think they all enjoy. I know that Thomas-the-Elder reads his mother Rachel’s subscription on his iPad, while she has the paper copy. The Greek subscription comes here, and I send them on in batches when the spirit moves me.

Greek Helen sent this picture recently, with the message, “The New Yorkers have arrived”. We spoke on the phone on Wednesday, and I thanked her for it – she said the boys dive for them. That’s Archie in the foreground, Mungo (presumably) behind.