Our angel

An utterly peerless day today - not a cloud in the sky, hardly a breath of wind, ice on the car in the morning, warm in the afternoon sun but back down to 3ºC after the sun had gone. I was preaching in church today - really enjoyed doing it, taking time to look briefly about the disastrous consequences of the Adam and Eve story for women over the ages. There are days when I really enjoy preaching, and this was one of them. I also joined Himself in leading the Lent Prose as well as singing a Taizé song at Communion, so it felt very busy. But it seemed to go well, this entirely lay-led service, and there was a good turnout of people who stayed for ages afterwards. Even so, I took the time to take a few photos, one of which is this blip: the six-fingered angel in the graveyard. Its fingers ( I refuse to assign gender to angels) have become rather weathered over the years, but you may be able to count them ...

Afterwards we had Di in for coffee and a quick canter through the state of the nation, but had still time to go for a walk at Toward (because of catching the sun) in the afternoon. We saw two paddle-boarders tranquilly paddling along, and a clump of daffodils under a tree - my first this year. I'm adding an extra of the flat calm round the black rocks where cormorants perch, with Bute and Arran beyond and the dazzling light on the water just to show why on a good day this is the perfect place to be.

By the end of the afternoon everything seemed to hurt - maybe too much road walking? Anyway, I couldn't bring myself to do my physio but am instead heading to bed and two paracetamol in the hope that I feel sufficiently recovered in the morning to go to Pilates. Fingers crossed - at least they don't ache!