The full moon has passed; the sky was such a deep colour, with many, many stars twinkling. That day was beautiful too – no clouds in the sky and not a ripple on the loch.
Into this peace some of us dared to crash – engines roared as the fishing boats left the harbour and garden shed doors creaked open, lawn mowers were oiled and cajoled into life. At Heron’s Flight the hedge trimmer savagely chopped off the dead heads from the heathers. It was fun!
At the end of the afternoon we believed that spring had arrived early. Tomorrow we might be proved wrong. In the north west of Scotland there are very few consecutively good days, at this time of the year, anyway………..
I started writing this a few days ago and since then there has not been a dry day! The wind has reached gale force on several occasions and the sun has not put in an appearance.
I was in Inverness today to pick up Sam, who is here for the weekend. The Edinburgh – Inverness morning train broke down before the journey began. After a while another train arrived but there was no hope of Sam catching the Inverness - Plockton connection. Ruah and I drove to Inverness to meet him. The sun shone all the time we were on the east coast and, guess what? Yes, it was blowing and raining on our return to the west.
Our weather keeps us all guessing, but we are very seldom worried by it – unlike Queensland earlier on and Christchurch so recently. We in this country are so relieved that family and friends in both places have escaped relatively unscathed.
Moira, Colin and the family are all well. Sean and Daniel have started Tai Kwan Do classes and are getting rid of some of their boundless energy with that and of course their football training. Catriona is still dancing – ballet, jazz, tap. Moira and Colin manage to fit in work, as well as acting as chauffeurs to various venues in the city…..
Sam’s enjoying student life. He works hard. About once a fortnight he pops up at home, much to Mum’s delight especially! He has a good meal, while his laundry is done!
Ruah was put on a new eating programme recently. After 4 days of guzzling things changed!! So little Madam is now on a restricted diet, to lose the weight she piled on! She’s having at least one long walk daily and treats are out. We are still friends!
Very regretfully I have phoned Ian and Alison and said I would not be able to meet them in Paris at the end of April. My consultant surgeon says there is no chance of me running off on holiday so soon after surgery. I now know the op. will be sooner rather than later. If nothing else, this episode has taught me that one has to quickly realise that the wheels of the NHS grind slowly!!
I’ll be here all summer and look forward to meeting many of you.
Ann
