Bartimaeus

On the plane, one man was already in the window seat. I was in the middle and Mugs on my right. Both of us were knitting. I finished a mitt and was trying it on. The man said he was intrigued and was wondering if I was going to add fingers. I said no it was finished and they were fingerless gloves so you could have warmer hands but still have fingers free to handle things or use a touch screen or, indeed, knit. I did have another one to do though. Mugs was knitting a much larger and more complicated item, a jumper in two colours. She is considerably more skilled, neater and faster than I am and romps through projects at an amazing speed. If I am making something with a tricky part to the pattern, I sometimes wait until I am with her so she can guide me through it.

Throughout the day we had continued a correspondence with Marion. She had kept us informed of her journey and we did they same. Once we had landed Mugs communicated with Roland who had come to meet us.

There was a slow moving queue at passport control but he had found where we would emerge and looked very pleased to see Mugs. She is usually the cook in the house, but he had got together a curry and other dishes from the freezer so that all that was left was making rice, so we were quickly fed.

In the morning I was heading back to Edinburgh but hadn't booked a bus yet. My timing was sorted by Mugs having a yoga class so we walked into town together and I booked the bus on my phone while sitting in Union Terrace Gardens in the sunshine and I had plenty of time to catch the bus.

Back in Edinburgh, Bryn had left, but Nye and I cooked together. He is quite good at thinking of ideas - just as well as I was all out of the way of it - but does enjoy doing it jointly, and it works well. Chopping side by side or just chatting.

The next day, Shane was cycling and I went to visit my sister. Unexpectedly her son messaged to say he was on his way, just as we were about to head out for a walk. We waited for him together, all ready,  looking out for him arriving and suddenly it rained very heavily. We weren't so sure the walk would be a good idea, but it stopped just as he arrived and he was unsurprisingly up for going up a hill with us. We were so glad we did. I might have avoided it, afraid of slipping but the ground was already dry and we had a clear view. The Pentlands looked great and rather  inviting. 

We could see well out to North Berwick, but we could see Fife was in rain. A rainbow was a delight to us all.

I was very glad Dave had got me up there, since I would have chickened out. I would probably have gone to the canal and would have got caught in the rain, so that was another reason to have waited a bit, not to mention the wit and repartee.

The rainbows were so good that we all took photos and they changed while we were there. 

On Saturday I was on a bus to Perth. There was a wool event there and Mugs was going. I have in the past gone to the wool events before with Mugs or Rhona. I hadn't  been sure in advance when I would be around and Rhona was too busy with attending a baptism and had been focussed on knitting a christening shawl.

The tickets were sold out so I  couldn't go but I said I would meet Mugs for lunch when she was done. I don't know Perth well but with the help of a young couple who had sat beside me with their baby on the bus, I found my way. They were getting off at the same stop, and pointed me in the right direction. We had a good Scottish lunch of stovies and oatcakes. Mugs showed me a huge haul and she had plans for all her skeins. It would take me years but she won't take long using these up.

We then went to the Art Gallery. Mugs let Marion know that we had met up again. It won't be long before Marion is going to be able to meet Mugs again too. We love to keep in touch but actually being together is best.

There were lots of enjoyable pictures, a nice wee gallery. We were both intrigued by this piece made from a carpet runner - a stream with carpet fish. From above they are quite camouflaged. I liked the ripples in the "water".

The next day was our last in Edinburgh. We had been invited to Kenny and Helena's for dinner but first Shane was cycling with Kenny. Nye had a plan for me to do something with him. He and Bryn had picked brambles up the very hill I had climbed the day before. He had then frozen them to wait for me to make jam with him as he hadn't done it before. I hadn't ever made bramble jam either, so recommended he read a recipe himself but we would shop for apples and make it together. I was happy to advise on alternative apples when the type in the recipe was not in the shop. We did a good share of apple preparation with me peeling them and passing to him to chop. I was amazed how much jam it made. 

We got six jars and it smelt so good. He suggested we take a jar with us back to the boat. We would be away in the morning so it was packed warm. It was nice to take a bit of Edinburgh away with us.