Heron

Today was quite an ordinary day - Granddaughter-the-Elder and I went to the Botanics, as we often do - and yet I want to record it for myself because such normal activities are so precious and, I know, so fleeting. I'm very lucky to have two grandchildren living in Edinburgh. We had lunch outside and then she had a chocolate ice cream from the booth conveniently located just to the left of our table. There was a lavender bush, covered in bees, just beside us. "My ice cream," she said meditatively, "smells of bees. And tastes of wasps." Wasps appear to be delicious.

And then she spent a long time rolling down this slope and climbing up it again and rolling down it again... .

After that we strolled through the Chinese garden

and saw this heron sitting hopefully on a rock beside the very fast-flowing, man-made little waterfall. Not a good choice, heron.

And she walked through the grass among the autumn crocuses (but it's NOT autumn yet!).

And stood on stones.

And shuffled very slowly back to the car along this tiny wall, hand-over-hand on the railings. My parking ticket was just about to run out but I could see that there wasn't a parking warden hovering.

Such a golden day. Such a good companion.