Rewarded by sunshine

Woke this morning to a different world - rain on the windows, a chill air coming in through every window I subsequently closed, grey skies showing no sign of breaking. And the day remained like this, so that even about 3pm, when I was thinking of going out, there was another shower and I slowed down and did something else instead.

In fact, it felt like a whole day of "something elses" in which I felt busy but underachieving, somehow. A lapse of judgment had me making two loaves - one for breakfast, left on the time, and a ciabatta for lunch, which was gratifyingly delicious. I discovered an email from the company who run the self-catering apartment we'll be staying in in a couple of weeks, and went through it carefully to make sure I missed nothing - clicking links, taking copies of important bits. This encouraged me to give more thought to the talk I'll be giving - and so it went on.

But we did get out. A swift visit to the church to rehearse something - we cut that short as people began to arrive for a service - followed by a teatime walk along the shore road at Toward. We began by walking into the wind under lowering clouds, but we could see sun on Arran, then on Bute - and then on us, like a stage light coming on. The photo I've chosen shows the contrast between the blue sky to the south and the Mordor-type purple we'd left behind in Dunoon, to the north beyond the white buildings of Toward school. The verge is bright with wild mustard, the sea that amazing inky blue, and the car thermometer has risen by 10 celsius degrees since we left it an hour earlier. 

Once again, I was reminded of how lucky we are to be here.