Sun and smoke

This weather is becoming unbelievable - another flawless day of cool air and warm sun dragged me from sleep that felt it could go on for another hour or two. There was the usual between-season question of what clothes to wear; as more than one of you remarked on my photo of Holy Trinity last week, it's a cold, damp building and takes a lot of drying out, so one has to factor that in when intending to spend over an hour there; there was also the fact that I was preaching and needed (a) to look fairly respectable and (b) to have a lapel suitable for clipping the microphone to; add to that the fact that I suddenly felt fed up wearing the same coats all winter ...

But it was lovely. The sun danced in the colours of the stained glass; there was a sense of anticipation that was voiced by one of the wardens at the end of the service when she gave our thanks and our gifts to three people who have born the brunt of carrying responsibility during the vacancy which ends this week with the service of collation of our new Rector. There was a great feeling of warmth - as Canon Paddy pointed out "we're a family!" 

It was heading towards lunchtime when we got home for coffee, after which we went shopping, briefly, to make sure I could keep food coming until my next proper shop. Later, Himself went off to practise the organ and I sat in the sun and read the paper while I waited for the sheets off our bed to finish washing. When they were done, I wrestled them onto the washing line where they more or less dried while we went a short walk before dinner.

The photo above shows the turning point in our walk, looking across to Bute through the wonderful gorse on the beach at the Ardyne. If you look carefully, you can see two plumes of smoke rising from the hills above Rothesay - presumably the wildfires that are becoming too common. There was more smoke off to the right as well, and some on the hillside opposite Dunoon which looked to be in the vicinity of Inverclyde Royal Hospital. 

Venison steaks followed by rum babas for dinner floored us both, and I barely saw any television as I drifted in and out of consciousness. And it's just become tomorrow ...