Seeking the sun ...

Same weather today - we've been stuck three days now under this plume of cloud coming through the Central Belt, and this morning felt grey and chilly as we headed out to church.I was preaching this morning - you could say my third public speaking gig of the weekend - and was a tad apprehensive that I was under-prepared after having had so much to do, but it seemed to be ok. I find it nerve-racking preaching in front of the professionals - we had Canon Paddy celebrating, but the rota lets her off the sermon hook sometimes!

We stayed for the usual chat over coffee - the crowd joined shortly after the service ended by people coming in for the Open Studios exhibition. Eventually we came away, and retreated to our warm house with Di for strong coffee and a seat in front of the fire - and the customary blether. We'd left Sarah behind for her last few hours with her paintings before she headed back to her new home; I have to say that having her stay these past days has made both her and the new bishop feel much less far away, which is good.

After lunch I fell asleep with the Observer, having first told Siri to waken me up in time to go back to the church to collect my unsold poetry books. In the event we went only to say goodbye to Sarah and help her pack up, as the other artists have offered to go on flogging my book tomorrow to anyone interested. Then we went looking for the sun - I had clocked that the sky to the south looked distinctly brighter. The photo above shows what we found - blue sky, a pale sun gleaming on the sea, the dry seedbeds of autumn and a big flock of ducks - eiders, probably - circling offshore. On the way back we we noticed a cormorant standing bolt upright on a rock, intently watching the Bute ferry ... or so it seemed. 

I almost forgot about the gravy with tonight's chicken - Himself reminded me shortly before we'd finished eating, so we had to take some more off the bird. Losing it, I expect. And then I watched Night Sleeper and didn't doze off once - that happened when the news came on.

'Nuff said...

Extra from church this morning ...