Bright leaves

A later-even-than-usual walk found us noticing the different light in Benmore Gardens this early evening, which is why I'm blipping some leaves highlighted against the dark of the surrounding trees. There were scents too, and bees, and lots of birds enjoying their tea - and one squirrel.

It's hard to find myself fretting about ticks as I walk through this most familiar of places . Suddenly everyone is talking about the rise in the tick population, and the apparent increase in the incidence of Lyme disease; the Observer had a feature on it for the third week in a row. Of course I know about the increased numbers, because they were never a feature of my Arran childhood holidays, hiding in the bracken, pushing through fallen trees and rhododendrons in the forest. I know all about them because they love me, the last incidence being that tick that attached itself beside my eye in the night. It won't stop me going here, or anywhere else lovely - but it's a thought. It's also a thought that if birds carry them, we're all for it, city-dwellers and all ...

A tiring day because I decided to tidy out the bottom of my wardrobe. Fluff everywhere, and belts I'll never again wear, and bags - hunners of them. And then there was yesterday clearing gubbins in the study... Enough.