Back into gear ...

There is a sense in which much of this fairly poor summer has felt static, a space in which nothing happened except the steady tread of time. The weather probably contributed to the gloom this induced in me, but I suspect it was also a need to have some huvtaes (don't laugh). I've quoted Shakespeare before on this topic - "If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work"... 

Now, it was a glorious day after this morning's mists cleared - the hottest since June. I rang the GP first thing to ask for a prescription and ended up having an appointment two hours later; seems he thinks I need an MOT. But after that yes, we did a holiday thing - we drove north to Ardentinny, parked in the village, and walked along the shore path to the beach in the bay. My blip, rather than showing my usual shot of the place where they repair broken nuclear submarines on the far side of the loch, shows Himself on the path where it skirts the fields, with the trees just beginning to change colour for autumn. It's a summer path for me - in the winter the sun doesn't really reach Ardentinny and we tend not to go there. I waded back along the shore - I didn't have my cozzie because the beach is too busy these days, even now the holidays are over, and I remember when it could be just us there, but I was wearing a short skirt and it was delightful.(The sea, not the skirt)

That was when the holiday mode ended and routine took over, with our main meal (pasta, spicy) in the late afternoon and coffee in the garden. This in turn signalled the restarting of choir practices, with five of us tonight, two being on holiday.  (We're permanently a singer short these days - looking for a pure-voiced soprano to sing second ...) Actually it was just what I needed. We laughed, we caught up with each other, and after a few false starts we sang beautifully - songs we haven't sung for years, some of them.

My favourite for the evening was Ah Robin - I'm sure I've mentioned it on Blipfoto before, but tonight I've found you a performance by three silver-voiced women which is much closer to how we sound. The first time I sang this - and look away now if I've already documented it - was in the chapel of Fordell Castle, as the entertainment for a party thrown by Fordell's owner, Sir Nicholas Fairbairn QC. The chapel was lit by candles, we'd all been given a drink before we began, and we were extremely young ... 

In case you too want to sing along, I'll give you an extra to help.