Baled!

A visit to the optician had me out of the house at 9am today, having abandoned my breakfast after the porridge and first-cup-of-tea stage. Despite the ongoing devil-eyes look, she could find no structural problems other than those brought on by increasing decrepitude, though I'm going back in a few weeks for a further check. I was barely home when Himself's sister phoned, so I abandoned the thought of toast and Vegemite in favour of another cup of tea and a blether - much better for the waistline!

Between coffee and lunchtime I left undone all those things that I ought to have done other than fitting in 30 minutes of yoga, so perhaps there will be some health in me ... (if you're not familiar with the prayer book, I'm sorry - it's a great repository of phrases beloved of, among others, PDJames, who used them for the titles of several of her books). I realised that I was incredibly sleepy, dropping off almost as soon as I'd eaten lunch - I fear I'm turning into a right old cailleach , though I remind myself that it was this desire for a lunchtime kip that made me think I should stop teaching...

Later, encouraged by the latest thought that 10, 000 steps is no longer the holy grail, we went for a walk between the farms at Ardyne. Despite an earlier forecast that there would be sunny spells it remained obdurately pale grey all day, but where we were it was at least entirely still and when we stopped to listen, it seemed silent until we tuned our ears in to the distant sounds of a lone bird here, a flock of geese there ... Such a silent moment was when I stopped to take this photo of the new harvest - though it never seems very romantic to see the fields stretching away dotted by random groupings of black plastic-wrapped bales. The tree in the corner is a very ancient one; half of it is dead but I'm always amazed by the amount of life that sprouts from it every year. 

Watching my French family's progress through France as they prepare to return home, I notice that as everyone slots back into their lives our social life is showing signs of picking up - I'll need to get my act together and not fall asleep at inopportune moments! This moment, however, is totally opportune ... night night...