Stretching oneself

The strange, sticky weather is slowly receding, the humid southern air replaced by a westerly airflow with a consequent sharpening of edges - horizons, wits ... Well, I can hope! But really the best thing about today was being able to resume Pilates classes after a longer summer break than usual because of our teacher's problems in finding a suitable venue. But today we all piled into our temporary home, the church hall just along the road from where I live, where in my time I've attended Mother & Toddler Group, sent my sons to Playgroup, even been to church services there when our church was being re-floored, to say nothing of Christmas Fairs, Harvest Suppers, quizzes ... and voted, once upon a time, before they moved the polling station for our ward. "Nothing too demanding", Lorraine told us, as we stretched and bent and balanced - and grunted and gasped as we rediscovered our abs. It was great - good for the body (beginning to ache now) and the spirit (we laugh a lot).

It was tempting after that just to say we'd been exercised enough (Himself's class was after mine) and doze in a chair with the papers, but the sun was shining, the showers more or less stopped, and we went out. We decided not to get the car our - the council seem to have decided to resurface the road onto which our back lane gives, and there might have been delays/mess/raised manholes - so we merely walked along the East Bay to Kirn and back. The rocks along stretches of the shoreline there are fascinating, pushing up in parallel ridges with bright yellow lichen on top, but I couldn't resist this gang on the rocks at the water's edge - a convocation of cormorants? - clearly and more or less strictly separated from the seagulls who were on the next outcrop. We also saw a surprising number of divers offshore (avian, not human) and a wonderful rainbow that gradually stretched itself right over the Firth to the far side. We had to dry a bench and sit down for a bit in Kirn; we were both feeling we might just collapse.

I've just poured a whole lot of chicken stock over the kitchen worktop after boiling the remains of the bird we've had the past two meals - but I brought the stuff that didn't spill up to the freezer and left Himself doing the mopping up. 

After all, I wouldn't want to stretch myself ...