Conversational intent

It's been a fairly full on day, at least for me, neatwithice and W. Mr A spent most of the day intently reading a book he bought yesterday morning on kindle, which has him transfixed. Well, he managed the important bits like coffee in Pipers, a visit to Studio Smith Tain for some pictures, coasters and place mats, and then dinner at the Inver Inn.

The rest of us managed a bit more, including some necessary shopping on the high street for the visitors, and then a trip out to the Corry Croft Nursery in Rogart, where a few plants accidentally fell into my basket. Phuopsis stylosa, Geum Chiloense Mrs Bradshaw, Lysimachia ephemerum, Eurybia divercata and Achillea millefolium to be precise. They all looked so lovely. I was going to stop at three, but found it impossible. They have all been squeezed into the front garden, hopefully to provide extra colour as well as growing power.

The owner is exceptionally knowledgeable, and we had a lovely chat with her, and were joined at one point by her husband and her dog, who was a fairly bonkers German Pointer. I am sure Mr A and I will go back at some point, but probably not before we've built a first raised bed for the back.

We came back along the scenic route along the south side of Loch Fleet and we could see harbour seals on the sand banks on the opposite side, and then dropped into Dornoch (but didn't stop), which they thought was cute.

Back here, we sorted out some stuff for neatwithice and W to take with them to Ireland and also imbibed a bit of consultancy for the garden. That included advice to get rid of a sycamore tree, which we promptly did. It's amazing what two people in their 60s and one in their 70s can manage to do given the right tools. We got the stump out, along with a rose stump alongside, in double quick time. I love getting stumps out of this garden!

We're back from dinner, and enjoying a bottle of Prosecco before bed.

Apart from some rain first thing it's been a glorious day getting up to around 21 degrees in places and at times. So it was great to be able to sit out at different points this morning and this afternoon in both sides of the garden.