Lightening the gloom

Today was gloomy. No two ways about it - though we did catch a glimpse of rather lighter cloud, a strip in the sky somewhere over North Ayrshire, it wasn't anywhere near us, and the mist hung low over the hills. Because of that, and because yesterday's post was so monochrome and did nothing to lighten my spirits, I've gone for a collage of brightness today, including my Mothering Sunday flowers, my dinner being cooked and on the plate, and the unexpected gleams of brightness spotted on our walk - the daffs and tulips in a pot outside a gateway, the bright pink of a camellia in a garden against a backdrop of grey, leafless trees.

We decided we really needed a decent walk despite the things we had to do, so after coffee we headed south to walk over the farm road at Ardyne. The slight rain that had been falling since we left the house stopped when we weren't long on the road, and the air was still  except for when we passed a gap in the hills which let the still northish wind through. A lone bull bellowed on one of the farms, and some Hedwick sheep gazed impassively as we passed. We managed to fit in three miles before we had to get on with the rest of the day.

Our oddly-timed main meal was left-overs pasta and was actually brilliant, in colour as well as in taste: onion, courgette, a wee bit of a red pepper, three pieces of tender stem broccoli chopped up, garlic and two sliced up left-over venison sausages, with a splash of red wine, some oregano, and some chilli pesto to liven up the pasta. Even the pasta was a tad random, as I finished off two lots and made it up with a third type...

Choir was hard work but fun. We were working on phrasing and emphasis, and the early quaver and slight syncopation needed in a couple of the jazzy ones, ending with the beautiful Crux Fidelis. When we went in to the rehearsal, the evening seemed mild, benign even, despite the mist that by then seemed to have reached the very edge of the town - I even stood chatting to a friend I'd met on my way over the road - but, exactly as promised on the forecast, ninety minutes later it was raining in stair-rods, quietly and purposefully, and the street actually had a small river running down the middle of it. Now - past midnight - the temperature, according to my Apple watch, has reached 13ºC. It was 6ºC during our walk ...

Anyone know a good source of gopher wood?