A bit breezy ...

I don't think we found Storm Ashley as bad as we feared she might be - I suspect we are on the sheltered side of the Cowal Peninsula and missed the full onslaught of the wind and waves. I had a strange moment this morning; I'd finished washing the breakfast dishes and though I'd just stick my head out the back door to see how chilly it was before I decided how many layers to wear to church. It seemed calm ... and then suddenly it wasn't. A big gust of wind almost took the door out of my hand, and settled as if to say "that's me: I'm here now". For some reason - presumably the cradle of hills round the Bishop's Glen - it was calm up at the church, and I couldn't resist another burst of autumn tree photos - which is where the extra photo comes in. Everyone seemed very chatty as we all arrived - maybe we're all just like the kids at school; we always used to say they got the wind under their tails in wild weather and turned correspondingly wild themselves. 

The sermon was rather different today: Canon Paddy played the aria from Handel's Messiah "He was despised ..." while we meditated on the passage from Isaiah which is where these words come from and which we'd just had read to us. And I sat there and thought of the crucifixion of Palestine, and the rejection of their humanity, and felt I had to write something. It's not come yet, but ... There's so much hellishness in the world today, and we seem to be stuck looking inward. 

After we'd come home for coffee and chat about various church affairs, we had an amazingly hearty soup for lunch - the one I made yesterday, full of Italian pulses and beans - and realised that it was now truly wild and extremely wet as well and we'd probably not be going out again. I phoned a friend who lives on the Welsh Border and who'd been concerned about our forecast; turns out they've been suffering from floods and had just bought sandbags. I read the paper. I tried to write a bit. We decided against putting out the recycling for tomorrow's collection - it'd probably end up all over Dunoon. 

The main photo is one of a series I took, trying to catch the best wave as they pounded onshore at high tide. I can never believe how many people leave their cars parked in weather like this, nor even the folk driving past and trying to dodge the waves. At this point Western Ferries were still running, but they went off shortly afterwards, proving to us all that it really was windy. But I'd seen them earlier, ploughing southward into the wind and then turning north again to ride with it...(second extra).

Some day I must find more diversity in my photo-taking, but today wasn't the day. Dinner was late because I was chatting to #1 son on the phone, but it was the delicious left-overs from last week's venison casserole, so not very hard to put together. 

And here we go - another week to flash past while I'm not looking...