Walking in the sun

It's been glorious weather recently - too hot for serious walking really, at least for weedy Scots. (In the 20s! or mid 70s!). But on Monday we took a load to a charity shop in Stockbridge. We're forever doing this but still seem to have far too much Stuff. Still, we will continue trying to purge our possessions, at least a bit, and try not to acquire too much else for the offspring to deal with once we're gone.

Then we had a walk along the river bank.

The pink campion was particularly pretty.

And then yesterday was Mr Life's birthday so because everyone else was busy, we took ourselves out to lunch at Swanston. Then we went for a walk up the hill, past the village.

Swanston means Sveinn's tun (enclosure or farm) and first appears in documents in 1214.

I don't imagine that it was as tidy as this in 1214.

The gorse, or whin, was a blaze of colour

Edinburgh isn't far away - there it is, with the hill, Arthur's Seat, sticking up and the sea in the background. But if you turn your back on it, you could be deep in the country.

It was hot, though, so after a bit we turned back and went back downhill to the car.

He's 71 now. His father died at 64, his mother at 71 and two months. I was always keen to get him past 64 (success) and now I want to get him past 71 and two months (and I'm fairly confident). After that, it's all a bonus.