Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...

The weather's been beautiful this week. The other day we climbed Corstorphine Hill. This lane is much more uphill than it looks.  

As ever, we paused at the top to admire the view - and catch our breath. The golf course is now closed to the likes of us, and full - well, not very full - of happy golfers.

On the way down I looked at this oak tree, which looked like this at the beginning of lockdown last March. I only know that it's an oak because I had plenty of opportunities to watch its leaves unfurling, fully opening and then withering and falling off over the course of last year. I would quite like not to have so many visits to it in the course of this year - there are other places it would be good to go, as a change. 

But though we're theoretically on course to loosen things up, there are serious spikes of Covid on the continent and I'm not at all confident that this won't have an effect on Britain. 

Meanwhile, it's spring in the garden, 

and at the Botanics, where we were yesterday with the Edinburgh family. 

There's lots of rhododendron loveliness. 

And grandchild loveliness too. 

Back in our garden, the new grass is coming on, though you couldn't say that it's a seamless match with the old grass yet. The bench is sitting at the back of where a five-foot deep hedge once was. I'm enjoying the extra space we now have, though there are fewer birds around, presumably because they liked sitting in the hedge. Guilt... . Our garden is a very odd shape and we used to have an arbour in the apex of that far triangle of grass. Now, however, I've found a place for the blue pottery ball that I've had for years. 

But in possibly good news, Daughter 2 has had an offer for her Edinburgh flat! It's not a fantastic offer - worth far less than flats in her block were going for before the pandemic. On the other hand, the potential buyer is a very nice young man (and we want someone nice and sensible for the sake of the lovely older lady through the wall) and since the flat's been on the market since July 31, Daughter 2's probably going to accept it - there are one or two details to settle. Even better, the nice young man wants the furniture too, since this is his first property (we told him that the buyer could have it) and we'll offer him the other contents (vacuum cleaner, mops, stepladder, iron, ironing board, crockery, cutlery etc). It would be nice and easy just to walk out and leave everything. Fingers crossed!