Teeth and brambles

We allowed ourselves a bit of leeway this morning; I wasn't out of bed till 9am, although by then I'd drunk tea, done my Italian (I make more mistakes in the morning!) and exchanged messages with such diverse places as Oban and Dubai. I'd got up only to shut the curtain across the sun, which was shining full in my face - a "Busie olde Sunne" moment. However, I redeemed myself by taking the sheets off the bed I'd just vacated and putting them in the wash before I had breakfast, hanging them out as I finished. 

The post brought actual letters today as opposed to junk: my new driving licence, very speedily dealt with as I only applied the other day, and a letter from the surgery saying to see the nurse again in three months, which suggests to me that my blood sugar level is fine and may well have gone down further, which was cheering. Himself, meanwhile, phoned the travel agent with all the niggling questions about holiday arrangements that arise when the company involved is a strange mix of Italian and American and keeps talking about visas which we, as UK passport holders, don't need.

There wasn't really time for lunch today before we both had appointments at the dental surgery with both dentist and hygienist. All good news there, happily (I even felt we're not getting our money's worth!) - and the wonderful dentist suggested she grind down one of my lower front teeth to stop me pushing it against the upper one in moments of stress - I seem to have loosened the top tooth by doing this! 

Then, at last, we were free to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, heading down to Ardyne for a walk under wide blue skies up the road between the fields (in photo). I saw the black gleam of the first brambles and made a note to try to make time to investigate before our holiday; I then went home and got a bag of frozen stewed brambles from last year from the freezer and thawed them for dinner. 

Meanwhile mails flew to and fro about the church profile, and like blipper Sally I felt there was an awful lot of stuff in my church life right now. Not ready, however, to curtail my involvement: it matters too much. The good side of it was embodied in Compline online, and it's not midnight yet. #2 son is on his flight home from Dubai, and we have plans for the end of the week.