A change of viewpoint

Today we were threatened with clouds and possible thunderstorms from about midday onwards, but I have to report that so far the only rain has been a barely appreciable smirr sometime after 10pm - the path is damp now, rather than wet, which is how I knew. Guess we got lucky - we had quite a lot of sun, and in the afternoon it was actually hot outside my back door!

However, I was still believing the forecast when I suggested a walk before lunch rather than waiting for the rain, so after coffee we set off walking straight inland from the end of our lane, up the road onto the hillside behind the town, where we walked so often during lockdown that I took a scunner that kept me from going there after we became free again. The track rises steeply behind a row of houses, and the town quickly vanishes behind the trees and bushes that seem to have gone rampant in the few years since we last saw them; we met in total three men with free-range large dogs which happily were all well under control. We decided to turn south when we got up to the fork in the road, heading for the new track down into the Bishop's Glen ( I say "new" - it's probably been there 10 years, built for the lorries taking trees out of the forests. )  There was a great deal of birdsong and absolutely no other sound; there were amazing green smells; the birdsong - especially a blackbird - was wonderful. 

From up there you see the whole of Dunoon laid out below you, including the rear of our house - the top two photos in the collage show the town and a zoom shot which shows our house in the middle of the right-hand quarter, next to a roof with solar panels on it. The third photo looks down the Firth towards Arran - I love the blue distance of it. (The fourth photo was taken in the early evening as a speed boat surges down river in a complete calm.)

By the time we'd got home (via our church grounds, as it sits at the foot of the Bishop's Glen) we were both worn out - a steep climb and a few hundred more feet than we've become used to) so we ate some wonderful smoked salmon terrine on brown bread and I promptly fell asleep. I think I probably didn't eat enough to make up for the calories I'd burned, as I felt rotten when I woke up - aching and flu-like, a feeling which dinner seemed to cure. 

I've been very, very idle since. I tried to look at some music I need to learn, but tended to cough when I sang too loudly so desisted. I sat outside in the hot sun for a bit, and I did sudoku on the computer. But that all felt fine - because I'd been out, I'd really exercised, and I'd been in the middle of nature with the birdsong. 

And, pleasingly, my daughter-in-law loved the photo-book I'd created for her birthday. Happy birthday, Morgane!