Autumnal pursuits

It felt like autumn this morning - the cool air from the open bedroom windows, the sun momentarily lighting up the raindrops on the glass, a shining ship on the grey sea - and I was lazy, lying in bed catching up on Wildwood's journal. I was alarmed to notice that it was Wednesday again - suddenly the weeks seem to be flipping past again, and it's a whole week since our lunch in Perthshire. Later I made myself go out for eye drops and other eye care stuff - can't decide if the state of my eyes (dry, watering, headache-inducing) is merely (merely!) age or is related to some medication or other. And our blue envelopes arrived, with our appointments for flu and Covid booster vaccinations: just a fortnight away, and only a short walk down the road. 

After lunch I decided that it was time we did some bramble picking of our own, though I had a feeling that no brambles would be as luscious as the first fruits I picked with my bestie a fortnight or so ago - did I mention she gave me a tub of her crumble mix? Anyway, off we went to Loch Striven-side, arriving at the same time as the more serious rain of the day. We got half a kilo of brambles, we were absolutely soaked, and I was stung on the finger by a particularly vicious little nettle that had snuck in among the brambles. I was so wet, in fact, that the water was running down my legs inside my trousers, but it was rather fun. The last photo in the collage shows how the sun came out as we finished - my trousers actually more or less dried before I got into the car. One thing we noticed was the sudden invasion of a whole field of Himalayan Balsam, which I've never seen down there before; it's creeping along the verges too, and the smell in the damp sunshine was very strong.

The brambles are now poached in gin with some sugar and the only apple I had left; they taste great though I suspect they're very, very seedy. 

Twitter update: I think the interminable conversation about the authority of the Bible on Sin (the capital is deliberate) may have reached its end...

And I've not talked about politics at all.