leaves

Sarah, Chris, Jess and I went for a lovely walk this morning along the River Nith, from Friars Carse to Robert Burns' farm at Ellisland. Here are Sarah and Jess enjoying the piles of beech leaves in a field next to the hotel.

Burns wrote many of his songs and poems at Ellisland, including "Auld Lang Syne" and "Tam o'Shanter", and this poem for his wife Jean Armour:

Of a' the airts the wind can blaw 
I dearly like the west, 
For there the bonie lassie lives, 
The lassie I lo'e best. 
There wild woods grow, and rivers row, 
And monie a hill between, 
But day and night my fancy's flight 
Is ever wi' my Jean. 

I see her in the dewy flowers - 
I see her sweet and fair. 
I hear her in the tuneful birds - 
I hear her charm the air. 
There's not a bonie flower that springs 
By fountain, shaw, or green, 
There's not a bonie bird that sings, 
But minds me o' my Jean.