The Promise of Morning

I liked these words from today's blip by wws1968 so I hope he won't mind me using them as well. This is my favourite time of day (photo taken at 6.58am) when any thing seems possible.

I spent last night bivvying on the summit of Screel, south of Castle Douglas. It was a beautiful evening with a lovely sunset and I had a very comfortable sleep. I always sleep quite lightly when I bivvy, and wake up several times during the night, but find it very easy to drop off again. This meant that I got to experience (at different times) a dark starry sky, a light rainfall, and a tiny crescent of the waning moon. Also, rather bizarrely, at 5.16am (I checked) a woman and a dog running past the summit cairn. I expect she was just as surprised to see me lying there. We both said hello, she ran off and I went back to sleep. I'm sure it wasn't a dream..

Also last night, when I reached the top of Screel, I saw two painted lady butterflies dancing around. A few of my friends had reported seeing them recently, but this was my first sighting. I took a lovely photo of one which I shall add as my extra for yesterday. Apparently we are experiencing a mass migration of painted ladies, which happens every 10 years or so...see HERE for more info.

I descended from Screel into a warm and humid morning, seeing not a soul on my way, and drove to Castle Douglas, where it began to rain.  I met Joe for lunch ( he works in a bank in CD). We went to Nico's, a really nice Greek restaurant.

Back home, the sun came out again and I did some gardening...and saw two more painted ladies.

The promise of morning was fulfilled.