Growing lighter ...

It doesn't feel it in the morning, I have to say. Lighter, I mean. I found getting up so hard this morning, snuggling down again under the duvet after drinking my tea, even drifting off ... and then of course I cursed myself for making the morning shorter when I had plans. I did manage to put in an hour of preparation for my forthcoming set of poetry workshops - prep which not only included making the beginnings of a Keynote presentation, but also reading up some background and reminding myself of the details of the first poem I'm doing. I'd done some audience research first, trying out my first thought on my pal Di in a FaceTime call.

I felt after lunch that I was losing my mojo as far as exercise goes - is it always like this on the cold grey afternoons when it keeps raining on and off and the fire is warm? However, we grimly dragged ourselves out (waterproof jackets, but the winter Rohan trousers!) to Benmore Gardens, thankful that the ice had gone to be replaced by a sludge of dead leaves and mud. And of course we both felt better once we were halfway up the hillside, and better still when we sat for a moment in the Andean Shelter on the top of the gardens and were almost immediately joined yet again by the robin who seems to lurk waiting for company. Remind me to take some wild bird seed in my pockets next time!

Blipping the moon again, rising above some of the tall trees for which the garden is so well known. It was 4.17pm when I took this, so it is growing lighter - at least when the sky clears!