A day in the Borders. Always a joy.

Today we decided to explore Dawyck Botanic Gardens. It had nothing to do with the two-for-one coupon in the Hootsmon yesterday. Well, a wee bit. We've been meaning to go for years. And it meant going south, thus avoiding the Edinburgh Marathon crowds.

A beautiful day, and a drive in the Borders is always a joy. Picnic packed, with nothing forgotten. Well, not really a picnic, just coffee and shortbread. We had lunch at the Gardens. What a fabulous cafe. Great menu. I had a mushroom and vegetable pie which JR claimed was winter food. Why was it on their menu, then? It was delicious. The puff pastry was about 4 inches high!

A lovely walk through the woodland, with bluebells and all the plants and trees named. The rhododendrons and the azaleas (note how I named a couple of plants!) had been hit hard by the frost. Lots of benches to sit on and enjoy the views back down to the big house. I was crawling about on my knees blipping bluebells and fern fronds. A man happened along and said hello. I told him I was stuck, and he kindly helped me up, laughing, saying he gets stuck on his knees too. I was only kidding though. Of course I could spring up from a kneeling position in a flash. I was just breaking the ice.

From there we found a nice wee shady place by a wee bridge and a stream. Only one other car was there, and it was a group of yooffs. We got the chairs out well away from them, in the shade. One youff was swinging on a branch, trying to break it. I was getting annoyed with this behaviour, but JR was not happy that I wanted to ask him to desist. You hear of things happening. Anyway, I could stand the willful destruction no longer, and got up and went over to him.

'You're not trying to break that branch are you?' I asked politely.

'Ahmonlyswinginoanit!' he replied. I think.

But he wandered off to throw boulders at a tin can. After that, we began to feel a bit uneasy. There we were, in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of yooffs who thought I was an interfering old biddy. 'Deliverance' sprang to mind, and once that was there, there was no turning back. We packed up and moved on. I'm sure they were charming chaps, really.

We went to Peebles. There are lovely parts along by the river and we found a choice one by the weir. There was a young woman throwing sticks in the water for her dog. I asked if I could take photos of the dog jumping into the river. I took loads, but never quite got the one I wanted. We had a good chat though. She was Swedish, a vet, and was saving up to go back to Australia to live with her Scottish partner. They had met in Australia, but the job thing hasn't worked out too well here. The dog was an Australian Blue Heeler. They'd brought it out from Australia and were taking it (and the cat!) back with them. Another £5000 to be saved up! I love to hear of young folks' adventures. That was me once!!

None of the photos I took today jumped out at me. Everything was too sunny and washed out. The photo I've eventually chosen, though, was of a sheep and big stropping lamb. They don't even bother to move when you come at them slowly with a camera. They were too hot, and they just went on chewing thoughtfully. To make it a bit more interesting I did a wee effect on them. They were moving away, but the lamb obviously wasn't in a hurry and decided he needed a wee drink. Tail swirling round.