Last chance ...?

Last night we slept with the curtains open - it was far too close a night to have heavy curtains shutting off the minute current of air that was coming in. When we woke, it was so misty outside that the light was very little disturbance, and it stayed that way till about 10am. The top left photo of the collage was taken at 9.25 as I left to go to the surgery for a vampire session with the nurse. (She was very good at her job - barely a scratch.)

Thereafter the morning was a bit random. Himself was cooking curry - he prefers to have it sit in the fridge for a bit to mature - so I kept out of the way. We had coffee in the garden before I retreated to the study to read over the sermon I wrote and generally mess around till it was time for lunch. By this time the mist had retreated - first to the middle of the Firth, where it hung for ages, foghorns calling from its depths, while we were bathed in bright sun (lower left photo).

In the afternoon I went off to meet my pal - she's been away and is going again, and we had catching up to do. As by this time it was seriously warm and with no sign of yesterday's thunderclouds, I was determined to get a swim in the sea - the weather seems to be on the point of breaking, though tonight is completely clear and a tiny sickle moon, dull orange in colour, has just appeared above the northern hills.

[Quick break there while I took a photo - in extras]

Anyway, as you'll see from the third photo, I did swim. We went to Ardentinny, put on our old sandals (we both have them, stiff and slippy from wading in them for several summers), and made our way to the beach by paddling along the shore line as well as on the path. The keen-eyed will notice that I went in wearing a T-shirt; I have always hated my current swimming costume, and the thought of dragging on its stiff unyielding shape in this sticky heat repelled me, so T shirt and random bikini bottoms filled the bill. Di took the photos; she also took a wee movie in which I can see the couple sitting in chairs nearby looking utterly incredulous as I walked ever deeper into the water.

This is where we always took the boys to swim when they were wee - in these days there were no camper vans and the beach would be much quieter than we ever get it nowadays in the summer. We used to wonder if we'd all glow green like the Ready-brek kid after swimming so close to the nuclear subs that were serviced just across the water; I've not put the lights out yet but I'll let you know ...

Anyway, it was amazingly warm and I could have stayed in for much longer had I not felt guilty about leaving Di sitting for ages. The last photo is the road from the beach before we turned off to the left to return along the shore to the village. I liked the Saltire drooping in the sunshine, though it's probably not too easy to see in such a small photo. 

There were acorns and a heron mincing along the shoreline. It was lovely. I'm happy. And blipper and dooker Lady Findhorn has seen the proof already!