Robots

Today was such beautiful weather: warm, sunny and windless. So we went for a walk in the Botanics. Why waste such a lovely day?

The gardens are being prepared for the illuminated walks that happen in December. These baubles were enormous (the bigger ones came up to the top of my thigh) - it wasn't just that they were near the camera. I assume they'll be lit up.

This viburnum in the foreground smelt heavenly as well.

Ah, who wants to do the dusting when they can look at trees?

I think lovely weather at this time of year is the more precious because we know it can't last.

Possibly lovely autumn walks are more precious because I tend to think (in the autumn of my years) - how many more autumns...?

In Portobello, the part of Edinburgh where we used to live and would like to live again if we could just gird our loins and do something about it, someone has been making little toy robots out of scrap wood and leaving them in parks or by the beach as gifts for whoever finds them. You can read about them here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45098170; or just Google "Portobello robots".

This has been happening for several months and has caused a lot of local excitement and people who find a robot tend to be very thrilled. It often seems to happen early in the morning: I assume lots of dog-walkers come across them in parks. There are labels on them asking the finder to post a picture on the local Facebook Page; sometimes there's also a quotation from films or... often I have no idea. It's all quite fun, in this time of depressing news.

I just try to keep thinking about sunshine, autumn leaves, cuddles from grandchildren and the saga of the Portobello robots. I hope that someone will eventually sort the rest out.