Giving a fig ...

I was tempted to put my sunrise photo here today, were it not for the feeling that there have been rather many sun/sea/clouds combos on my timeline already. Suffice it to say that the morning looked rather lovely when I was getting up, and again when I was leaving the Pilates class, but after that the showers became more joined up and that was that.

Pilates was busy today, with two extra bodies taking the places of two absent regulars; the teacher told us it was her aim to get me to take my fleece jumper off before the end of the class. I did, but only halfway through - I'm a chilly mortal and it takes a good tough elbow plank to get me really warmed up! I was pretty tired when I got home - I love that moment when I sink into the chair in front of the fire with my coffee ...

I'd done enough Italian on Duolingo by lunchtime to get to the number one spot in the Diamond League - it won't last, though I did actually recover it for a bit while I was waiting for the potatoes to cook for dinner later. I was so unwilling to stir myself over lunch that it was three o'clock before I moved to go out and was then seduced into singing something through for Himself "just to see how it went" that it was raining by the time we set off to drop off prescription requests and go to the post office. I chose to take the long way home and walk by the green turbulence of the sea, whipped up in great curving waves by the concave sea wall along the East Bay. 

The photo with which I chose to vary my images is of the baked figs I'd just removed from the oven to serve tepid with some yogurt - they're basted with honey and lemon juice and are unctuous and lovely - an early Nigel Slater recipe. Talking of food: the pinhead oatmeal made lovely porridge, Sally - slightly chewy, definitely better for me in terms of blood sugar! I didn't cook it for the suggested time, but instead soaked it overnight and then bunged it in the microwave for 5 minutes with a couple of stirs halfway. 

All this reads like a day in the life of Mrs Dale  (though, fascinatingly, I've just read some of the scandals behind the series) - but it's been punctuated throughout by the news of the horrors from Gaza, and Rafah in particular today. God help them.