the running wave

Doris, an ordinary, rather dumpy name to choose for a storm, but Doris turned out to be demonically dangerous and damaging.  The photo above, showing snow on the Pentland Hills, is as close as we got to Storm Doris, thank goodness.  A bit of a damp squib, here, in the end.  And this morning dawned clear and sunny so I had a little jaunt to North Berwick.  I caught the bus and enjoyed the trip, along the coast and through the pretty villages of Aberlady and Dirleton.  From the bus's high-up vantage point I could see over walls and into woods and gardens, where the snowdrops are abundant, and fields with dozens of curlew, poking about for worms with their lovely long curved beaks.   The parkland areas of North Berwick are looking springlike too.  Crocuses, and even a few unseasonably early, slightly moth-eaten primroses, braving a north facing slope. I did a little food shopping and then walked back into the town centre, via Melb...

My grandchildren were on half term last week.  We took a trip out to the see The Kelpies, two gigantic sculptures by Andy Scott, which stand 30 metres high, and were sited alongside the M9 in 2013.  I have passed them a few times, and last week finally found an ideal opportunity to go and see them, up close.  We did The Kelpies Tour, which was very worthwhile, and it also gave us the opportunity to go inside one of the horses's heads.  Lots more information about The Kelpies is to be found here  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kelpies  and if you are visiting Scotland, don't miss them.  They are rather wonderful.

There has been a miserable lack of sunshine in recent weeks.  I can't wait for some dazzling blue sky days again.  One of the things I love best about the sun are the shadows it creates.  On a particularly soggy cold Saturday February afternoon, here is a selection of some of the shadows I have seen and enjoyed on sunnier days.