picnic

what an amazing weekend

picnic on the croft - A made delicious treacle scones, which we took down to the shore and washed down with peppermint tea. He lit the Kelly Kettle, while Méabh and I went to inspect the sea and watch the small birds and help find dry twigs for the kettle fire.

with the three of us sitting quietly on top of an upturned plastic fish box - contemplating our surroundings and the early evening colours, less than 20 feet away from us, the resident otters decided to amble down to the shore, swam out a little way and played together in the water and the gathering evening light. With my camera in my pocket, I failed to get the image, but it doesn't matter a jot. The whole weekend was wonderful, but this was the truly magical highlight - and I will carry it with me always. These animals must have been aware of our presence on their shore, but accepted us there without fear or grudge. They could have decided on a different route from their holt down to the sea, but carried on with their outing as if we were of no consequence to them.

Acceptance is perhaps the greatest gift of all.