Thursday

[ellarien]

Today I actually got to see the skyline in the icon, which is always a good thing; also sheep and bracken and rocks, heather (not quite out yet) and bilberries. Those last are like little tiny blueberries that grow wild on the moors, and we picked a few ounces of them to make a crumble. These walks are multisensory experiences; the sound of running water over stone, birdsong, wind sighing through grasses; the crunch of gravel, squish of mud; scents of aniseed and new-mown grass. There were a few butterflies, too, and I got a good shot of a tortoishell on a thistle.

Yesterday we went to the Botanical Gardens, and that was good too; the restoration is just about complete, and the place looks lovely from almost any angle. Big yellow trumpet-flowers in the glasshouse; roses in bloom; cyclamen and waterlilies.