The garden opening at Tillypronie

The skies were mostly blue over Aberdeenshire, praise be, and the scent of azaleas was sweet in the clear air. Despite the dawn forays of rabbits and deer, the borders were blooming, and all seemed well with the world (although the single duckling on the pond caused some concern; hopefully, its mother was just out of sight, ready to return after everyone else had gone home). There were homemade scones and strawberry meringues in the tea tent, and a television on the side so that we could watch the river pageant in London, and admire the fortitude of all those who stood or sailed in the rain. It's a long way from the Thames, up here in the Highlands, yet is it too whimsical to believe there were unseen threads that somehow connected us? A sense of how the past and the present merge together, perhaps, with a gentle hope of what is still to come...