Lots of swimmers

Since I featured in Mr A's blip, I'm getting my own back with a picture of Mr A chatting on the beach with a woman who later joined us in the water, after allowing her own dog to have a good swim. The dog didn't join us for another swim but stayed in the car.

It was a lovely swim in a largely calm sea with just a few mini breakers to keep us on our toes. Once you were out beyond them the sea was flat calm, and not ridiculously cold. Most people stayed in about 15 minutes and someone who was wearing a wet suit stayed in still longer. The Shandwick bay swimmers truly are a really great bunch of people (who have also driven the renovation of the car park in the last few weeks...it's now puddle free). Lots of excellent chats, including for Mr A who stayed on the sidelines (obviously...he's not a swimmer). There were several other accompanying partners around (most but not quite all of the swimmers are women).

I've added an extra as the light was definitely very photogenic today.

This lovely swim was interpolated in and amongst various other things. A couple of sessions in the garden, clearing stuff. It's a long haul to achieve anything substantial, but we are starting to think about plans now, which is nice. I think we can definitely have plants in the front garden bed by the summer, including ones moved from our balcony in Edinburgh, but also some insta colour from the garden centre. Mr A joined me for the second session of garden work. We have now removed two full brown bins of stuff plus three full bin bags from the various beds and it hardly seems like anything has changed. The front bed is choked with weeds and getting them out will be quite a labour. The fork and spade purchased yesterday have already come in handy.

We also went round to our neighbour across the way for tea and cake and met someone who lives next door to her. She's also great at making us feel part of the community.

Another great weekend up here. We always seem to be busy and yet it's still quite restful. Settling down for a last evening of relaxation and then we must head back tomorrow. A bit of sneaky time out of my working day will be stolen for the journey :-)