Fly away and home

We had a lovely - well, few hours, really - in Cornwall. DMIL was looking and seeming very well, if somewhat curmudgeonly about modern life (I forgave her) - otherwise full of good humour and very welcoming. We spent time happily chatting and doing puzzles - I was in excellent form with the crosswords, surprising myself more than anyone.

We went out to lunch on Saturday to one of our regular pubs. This one, in fact. We all of us felt like going to the sea, even though it wasn't quite the nicest of days. And they do good fish there.



Plus they even supplied a cat immediately adjacent to our table!



After returning DMIL for her afternoon zizz, we went to all the usual places.







There was a lot of this weed on the beach, making interesting shapes.



You should, by virtue of my having played around with Photoshop, be able to see that these are cormorants.



There were maybe half a dozen of them luring by the harbour entrance, because there was a shoal of fish there. And of course, being a Saturday afternoon, several fishermen on the harbour wall. One of them managed to hook not a fish, but a cormorant, and we stayed for ages in the biting wind watching as several men extremely carefully caught and disentangled the hapless bird from hook and line, not a particularly easy task. It was seen for several minutes looking considerably agitated in the harbour, and then it headed out to join the rest, who had been hovering in a rather anxious way just out in the open bay.

I took several other photos, but not surprisingly most of them are variations on a theme. I did take one indoors - DMIL has always picked the last of the summer's hydrangeas to dry for winter decoration, and this one was such a fabulous colour I couldn't resist it.



I also spent quite a lot of time knitting the border on the purple shawl and have only a very few inches left to do. There will be photographic evidence shortly!

And now, a busy few days before we leave for SOAR. Not just the washing, ironing and packing, but also socialising and even organising a little business - no details as yet, but I'm hoping a couple of new things will open up.

And tonight - The Time Traveller's Wife. I'm nervous! I really liked the book, and one can never just tell with a film!