Just home from a very wet garden party at Holyrood. I had spent most of Monday night selecting an outfit to wear with John and our 14 years old grandson chipping in with ever so helpful (? ) comments / advice
( as in
" Gran why are you wearing that ols tablecloth as a skirt?"

or " Oh well I suppose, as it is a gardening party you really need to have giant flowers crawling all over you, the only thing missing is a gaint dragonfly on your hat"

or " Why is that old bint wearing batwing sleeves with a tear up her silky skirt - said " tear" being a very fashionable designer slit showing off the gorgeous detail and shimmer of the skirt lining)

In the end the outfit was chosen by John. It did blend well with our family tartan
( Ancient Muted Hunting Cameron )

After all that the order of the day was raincoats and brollies. Can you imagine negotiating your way through 8000 brollies ? Even worse when you are vertically challenged and don't have the advantage of walking along a red carpet with the brolly held over you by a protective minion , helpful person.

Still it was an interesting day for people watching, so many wonderful outfits and the men in kilts of all tartans looked wonderful.

The caterers coped so well in the tea tents , no very long waits and so pleasant in coping with such large numbers. Well done you people!!!

Food very nice, tiny but tasty sandwiches and lovely pastries, all very delicious indeed. Have to say that John , in his usual style ,remarked that they looked just like the big party pack you get from Farmfoods.

Anyway we did have a lovely time and met two groups of people whom we knew, one group I haven't seen since my days of involvement with the Gaelic choral world. Snapper will probably know them as well, from Glasgow Islay Society.

So here is a photo taken on my brand new smart phone by a fellow guest in the only dry spot , other than the tea tents, inside the the Abbey in the corner where a section of the roof still gives some shelter.