The calm before the storm

Today felt like a bit of a day off. A day off from the frenzy of packing (ok, so 4 boxes is hardly a frenzy). We took advantage of a break in the rain to go for a walk from Hailes Castle. Aside from some grumpy cyclists who seemed to object to our being on the road at all (despite our stopping as far in on the left as we could without being on the wall) it was a pretty lovely time.

Hailes Castle is always quiet, so the kids (I mean of course Mr B and Conor) could cut loose with some sword battles while me and Katherine sat quietly watching the swallows flying in and out of their nests and taking photos of moss. On an overcast day like this, the macro lens really comes into it's own, though I should have taken a tripod really to enable more than a millimetre thickness of depth of field. We had a quick walk down by the river too and saw a treecreeper and a kingfisher - though not with enough time to get a decent shot of either. Conor amused himself by whacking all the wild rhubarb and angelica as he raced by - which looked a lot of fun for him but certainly set up lots of flies for whoever was next by.

This is a cornfield shot I've had in mind for a while. I'd imagined a more dramatic sky behind it but I think any Scottish blippers might have noticed if I'd tried to cheat on that one by introducing a blue, fluffy cloud sky. If cornfields are boring you by now, you can have a blue flower, some alien lichen, a grasshopper on a thistle, or an acrobatic slug.

Mr B made a very hot curry tonight. So I think I might go and eat some more yoghurt just now.