Where are the elves?

souter or soutar (pronounced soot-er) A souter is a cobbler or shoemaker: like these jobs, the word is now old-fashioned. The inhabitants of Selkirk, a town formerly known for its footwear industry, are sometimes referred to as Souters.

A tricky word to blip today... there are no cobblers near my house and I was happily homebound as I was working. Hmm. Well, some shoes and a hammer may have done the trick, I hope.

I didn't get up until the afternoon, but I have good reasons for this. Firstly, the Moondog gig was followed by a midnight organ and percussion recital in St Giles Church. Two disciples of Moondog played the instruments. One, Stefan Lakatos, played an instrument called the Trimbas, which was created by Moondog. It has a great sound. The music featured some pieces by Bach and some pieces by Moondog. Fantastic! So, that went on to early in the morning. When home, I had great difficulty getting my contact lens out of my eye. I realised it was stuck and I panicked a little. After much poking of the eye, I stepped back and heard a crunch - a dried up lens on the ground. I must have got the lens out on the first go, but I didn't see it - it must have fallen out. So, slightly pink eyed, but greatly relieved, I headed to bed around 5am.

I still have a pinkish eye today, but that's OK. I've learnt a lesson: don't leave the lenses in for too long, and check whether you can see properly before poking around in your eye for the lens. If you can't see, the lens isn't there!

It's been so sunny and warm here today. I worked outside in the garden while the guinea pig trio mowed the lawn and Whisky sat on my plants in the shade. I then planted some more tomatoes and some strawberry plants. I hope they do well.

Have a great week!