A kilt will have this effect.

While we've been away the potatoes have shot up and the poppies are flowering everywhere. Europe is facing a record breaking heatwave but here the temperatures struggle to reach the high teens in the afternoon and fall down to the low teens at night. 

The farmers sons are finishing off their journey with a trip to Disney World. Space Mountain is a teenage favourite and has been visited several times . The diner at the Howard Johnsons they've booked into makes ' great burgers ' which is high praise indeed. They are now about to head back to Boston by Greyhound bus to catch the flight home. Their mother  plans to pick them up on Monday morning. The lads have had a great time and avoided ( or at least not mentioned ) all the dangers that had so worried their mother. Even the immigration officials seem to have been welcoming or at least less hostile than imagined.  Visiting 'Mia' in Daytona has appeared in one of the younger lads infrequent texts but this, like many teenage comments, is as unexpected as it is imprecise. For a kilt wearing Scottish farm boy football, beer and Space Mountain might not have been the only highlights of his trip. 

Scottish fans are now supporting Norway. The lads would willingly stay on for the rest of the World Cup but there's a harvest to bring in and credit card bills to be paid. For the youngest son the small matter of choosing a university must be addressed. 

Down on the beach a man is getting ready to launch himself, and his paraglider, into the air. He politely waits until the lady with the Pomeranian has passed before turning on his engine.

He waves at us as he skims low overhead.

A large flock of Spanish tourists are already lined up outside the castle. I'd reckon that we're having more visitors than ever although this is based on nothing more than random observation. Perhaps cool weather tourism really is a thing ?

We stop to watch the eider ducks in the water below the cliffs. You know you've reached a 'certain' age when you do things like this. There must be a couple of hundred of the wee things bobbing up and down on the swell.

The mothers form a protective circle and carefully corral the ducklings away from the sharp rocks. This is no easy thing when there's a strong onshore wind driving them on. The life of an eider duck mother has parallels with that of the farmers wife. You can only do your best.

In town large shiny rental cars are arriving. Graduation week is almost upon us and proud parents are assembling from every corner of the globe. There's  a tangible sense of joy in the air and the town is never happier or more beautiful . Pride is supposedly a sin but parents - and their offspring -  can surely be allowed a little of it at this time of the year ? The municipal workmen have repainted the double yellow lines and refreshed the white paint on the roundabout by the cathedral. Traffic management suddenly becomes a municipal priority with so many visitors heading our way.

In Arkansas of all places :https://crystalbridges.org/

For the 'in' crowd. The trendiest of candies :https://crystalicioussnacks.com/

Post Covid some fresh thinking :https://blog.interceptfund.com/p/ending-respiratory-infections

Boston :https://unherd.com/newsroom/america-is-falling-in-love-with-scotlands-football-fans/