Looking back ...

No, not a retrospective, but right now I feel I'm looking back at Tuesday from a distance, because it's 2am on Wednesday. Ah well ...

First of all, I have to say that summer returned today (shhh). I put a washing on and headed out to the Post Office, happy because I felt sufficiently confident that it wasn't going to rain to go without a jacket. The photo above belongs to that walk, along the path that runs parallel to Argyll Street between the edge of town (as delineated by Morrison's) and the Co-op. It feels like a glimpse of the town's past, as the mature trees screen the traffic on the other side of the substantial wall and the burn runs in a deep gully in the middle of this, separating us from The Glebe and - on the other side of the old bridge that you can just see behind the rhododendron - one of the local primary schools. In fact, I could hear the unmistakable sounds of playtime as I passed ...

I hung out the washing when I got home, and later experienced the strange joy of taking in completely dry articles that had been blowing gently in what became really warm sunshine. Various other vaguely domestic tasks took me till lunchtime, followed by a seat in the sun where I actually dozed for a while before doing a little relatively ladylike gardening.

I was unwilling to welly into the garden too enthusiastically as we had a new friend coming to dinner and there was cooking to do - including a new (for me) recipe for mashed celeriac. (The secret lay in frying it first in olive oil, then simmering the whole shebang with cardamoms and herbs from the garden). We had venison fillet, new potatoes, honey and lemon roasted carrots, followed by strawberries with lemon soft biscuits and yogurt and it was all rather delicious and there are left-overs ...

We talked till after midnight, which is why I'm so late. I love having the chance to get to know each other better over food. And wine, natch. 

And then apart from Himself, we don't have a dishwasher ...