Edenic.

Tuesday was warm and sunny and the first day this year we've been able to sit outside for lunch. Our table is near the bird feeders and a mass of starlings, buntings and collar doves flit and hop around us as we eat. They clearly think we're part of the furniture. There is something innocently Edenic about lunching with birds. Later we consider going into town for an evening drink but come five o'clock the temperature tumbles and the thought of sitting outside becomes altogether less appealing.

'Puppy' has matured into a personable young lady but still retains the youthful enthusiasm and joie de vivre that warrant her name. This morning she opts to join us for breakfast. I open the front door and next thing you know there's a dog in the kitchen. From the enthusiasm with which our yoghurt pots are licked I'd guess these aren't on offer at home. After finishing we're stared at with an unblinking intensity that signals she'd like more.

The farmer and his son are back planting seed potatoes in the field outside the kitchen window. In the tractor cab the Jack Russell 'granny' is listening to Nick Robinson on the Today programme while sitting snugly and happily on the farmers lap. 

A Spanish tour group is gathering by the Martyrs Memorial. Five hundred years ago political passions here burnt Taliban bright. In fact there was enough passion and extremism to last a thousand years . This may explain the quiet Presbyterian orderliness of the town today. There is something to be said for staid politics .

A steady stream of foursomes heading outbound on the Old Course. A group of gentlemen from Ohio have opted to play without the help of  the local Caddies. Little do they know how treacherous the winds on the back holes can be even on a calm day like this. While waiting for the group ahead to move onto the next hole they limber up and go through calisthenic routines. They hold their drivers over their heads as if they're power lifting. I've never seen this before. It provides entertainment for a group of Italian tourists who, in between eating the bacon rolls they've bought from the coffee shop, applaud them. The Ohian gentlemen are far too serious to notice their Latin audience.

A Kimchi making course being advertised in the Asian super market. A sign of peak globalization ?

This played on the radio this morning . Simple but beautiful:https://youtu.be/7VRw9N9OlPo

The Tully Monster :https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/this-tully-monster-mystery-keeps-getting-weirder

Not my favourite part of London but it's getting better :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/a-walk-down-victoria-street

Focal dystonia. Had you ever heard of it ? :https://www.gramophone.co.uk/blogs/article/i-had-to-tell-my-wife-i-would-no-longer-be-able-to-earn-a-living-as-a-concert-pianist

Disrespect update:https://x.com/tashecon/status/1907364573612589425