Big Dutch skies and dreaming of summer

This has been a week of different horizons.

I spent much of the week in the Drenthe region of Holland – a land of flat landscapes and big skies.With little else to distract, my eye was drawn upwards to the the changing clouds somehow the skies seem wider and bigger – grey, white, blue and pink constantly moving.

Holland offers an interesting if different landscape to my usual horizon, and the unrelenting flatness takes some getting used to.

Coming home to Edinburgh, for once I properly took in the surrounding hills, funny how you only really appreciate something when it’s not around for a day or two.

I always enjoy my Friday commute to work crossing the Forth Bridge, two journeys are rarely the same. Likewise a favourite walk in the Pentlands always brings changing views and some small point of difference no matter how often I tread the same path.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder – in landscape as in everything.

After a long winter it looks as if Spring is eventually on its way, and two weekend runs in the Dell with friends has lifted my spirits – sun shining,wild garlic making its mark and trees bursting into bud.

I am no weather soothsayer, but maybe this summer will be a warm one, where I can cast off my long sleeved running tops and we will enjoy chilled drinks before sultry evenings around Barbeques with friends and family.

On that optimistic note, today, using blackcurrants found languishing in the freezer, I made a start on some home-made Cassis – likely to be ready in July – just in time for the heat wave.

Cheers everyone!