Not over till the leaves catch fire ...

In contrast to those who haul down their Christmas trees on Boxing Day, Holy Trinity Dunoon kept its Advent Wreath burning and the Nativity scene under the altar until today - the nearest Sunday to Candlemas, the day when the story of Jesus' presentation in the Temple was read. The Gospel ends with the brief information that Mary and Joseph then went home, and their child grew and flourished.

It's been an interesting time watching the wreath change, the candles burn lower and lower (and miraculously renewed between Sundays - work that one out!) until today, when the pink candle at least was nothing but a fat waxicle and the greenery had been carefully flattened to avoid a conflagration - it has after all been there since the beginning of December, and it's now bone dry and all ready to catch. So this is the wreath at the end of the service, its work done, its symbolism spent.

My extra photo today was a hard choice but marks the end of the day, as the red sky shone above Bute and over the dark fields of the Ardyne farm.