The best time ...

What a lovely day this has been! Perishing cold right now, mind, under that clear sky, but there's not a breath of wind to disturb the stars ... And have you noticed how it doesn't start getting light till after 6am? (I think - I was very asleep last night!) and dark before 7pm even under a clear sky? (I suppose that's what equinoxes are all about, of course). One of the many photos I took today was through my kitchen window of the single last bloom on the rose Josephine Bruce, holding on for almost a week after I thought its heavy head would scatter scarlet through the garden. 

My morning was far from poetic or picturesque, however, as there were several things needing attention. Not the least of these was the washing and reproofing of our Paramo cagoules ready for the winter, an annual ritual that takes two full-length cycles in the machine and should ideally be done when they can be hung out to drip. I also cleaned some irritating black stuff from round the kitchen sink, wrote several emails and went to the chemist for prescriptions. And - triumph! - I managed to find out about what's happening about my "urgent" appointment at Inverclyde RH about my eye, which is still red and sore and makes my head ache. Apparently there's an appointment in the post.

After all that it was good to go out to Benmore Gardens and be soothed by the amazing colours of this time of year. We even climbed to the top of the garden by the steepest route so's we could climb on the sunny side of the hill, and were rewarded by a totally silent vista from the refuge as the sun slanted over Glen Massan - not even a bird sang. And on the way down I had to keep photographing all these amazing colours, which is why I've put a bunch of them into a collage for today. I love the gardens in all weathers, but this is definitely my favourite time of the year, with the precarious beauty made all the more poignant by the knowledge that the next bout of wet weather will destroy it all.

I've just slept through almost all of Ludwig. I'm lost. Anyone care to summarise?