Soggy ...

This was the last of the days I'd promised myself idleness in, though in fact it only affected the beginning of the day. My new fleecy dressing-gown (a present) plays a big part in this because it's long enough to keep my legs warm until I've sat over breakfast to my satisfaction - and that was preceded by my lingering over my tea and then, fatally, having another wee snuggle down under the duvet ...

Coffee changed everything - that, and the sudden resolution to make soup to go with the bread I'd remembered to make. Real bottom-of-the-fridge stuff; I hesitate to give it my usual appellation (Green Welly Soup) because it was orange, full of carrots, sweet potatoes and lentils, as well as oddment and some elderly streaky bacon. Oh - and paprika. Jolly tasty, very filling. And before that I'd downloaded the boarding passes for our next holiday at the end of the month - I have to say that a full-on package holiday is a wondrously simple thing to organise, and I love not having to go to England in order to get a flight.

After the soup I had no time to loiter, as Di and I had arranged to re-do the crèche in church to show the Magi arriving at a house (mentioned in Matthew) rather than the stable. This involved removing the straw, the beasts, the shepherds and the crib, substituting a seated Mary with Jesus on her lap for the kneeling figure in the stable, and putting instead a queue of Wise Men, one of whom has a distinctly Mandarin appearance with a long pigtail, and the one remaining camel, the other having been dropped when someone (not one of us!) decided to clear away the display in a burst of efficiency rather than waiting for us. Ah well ...

That over, we once more went for a hike round the Bishop's Glen. It wasn't raining - at least, not till we were back at the car - but there was water everywhere, running down new eroded channels in the track and thundering not only down the gorge but also in all the small burns that flow into the former reservoir. The main blip shows what I mean - I liked the texture of water and moss and dead leaves. I've added an extra of a shot across the end of the loch because of the two cormorants sitting looking out across the water.

When we returned to the car, outside the church, we found the lights all on and Himself within, practising the final voluntary we all wait for with delight at the end of the Epiphany eucharist. We didn't disturb him. 

And now I'm really tired and must be up betimes ...