Three Walks... Still Stressing...

Gearing up for a major presentation and I can't seem to zen myself.  It's not even a major presentation grade-wise.  Just, you know, dignity-wise.  It's coming together.  Slowly.

In the meantime, I salvage my sanity by taking walks.

Aslan is on the move and the warmth is slowly creeping back into the world.  But this is Scotland, so warmth doesn't stick easily.  It's still chilly.  But I do like sunshine.

Dunbar's Garden Close is one of the first places I 'discovered' in Edinburgh.  It was a truly delightful find, just off the Royal Mile, and it feels utterly secluded, even on a busy day.

I sat on a bench with the sunlight hitting me full in the face, and enjoyed the green.

 Blue + green = JOY!

 Tucked away behind a wall completely covered in moss.  I feel like I'm in a Jane Austen novel for a moment...

 Not much else is green just yet, but it's coming... if Aslan would just walk a little faster...












I wasn't ready to quit my walk just yet and I wanted to get through a couple more chapters in my Scarlet Pimpernel audiobook, so I took the long way home.  Up some back stairs toward Calton Hill, I was rewarded with lovely views....

 The Robert Burns memorial is straight ahead.  Hey, I was just at your house, Rabbie!


I finally had to go back to my work, but I felt better.  Sunshine, movement, and some more photography with my lovely camera.

 

On Friday, a few friends decided to take a walk before Christian Union that evening.  The sun was shining once again, but it was a deceptive shininess.  The air was quite chillsome.

 We went to say hello to the swans!

 Now, you will be granted the pleasurable experience of seeing swans being... swanlike.

 I think this one is posing or something.

 Looking down his nose at us... or, well, his beak.

 See the swan in the background with its mouth open?  These bratty birds kept biting each other's butts.

 FREEDOM!

 Two swans being graceful and elegant and one being, um, awkward.

 As the sun set, it grew too cold to stand around, so we headed back and to CU, which always cheers me up.


Yesterday, I wasn't planning to go out at all because the weather took a dramatic turn (which, of course, made my head all kinds of achy) from clear blue skies to the greyest fog I have ever seen.


I was so struck by how thick it was (is this how vegetables feel in a pot of soup?) that I had to grab the camera and take a very quick turn around my neighborhood.

 It was late, but not late enough for it to be as dark as this.

 The lights look twice as ghostly in the fog, as do the towers.  I felt like I had wandered unwittingly into a gothic romance.

Quick check to make sure I wasn't wearing a fluttering white gown...

 The road up past New College and around to the top of the Mile.

 Poor flowers.  They are doing their darnedest to look cheerful and bright, but this fog makes them look pale and kind of tragic.

 See how creepy the fog makes everything look?  Even the fence was suddenly extra gloomy.

 For once, I didn't quite want to go through the mysterious gate.  It just looked sinister on the other side.

 The lamp featured in these two pictures had a normal white light, but every time I photographed it, it came out in eery green.


Creepy!

 And here we are at the castle!  No, seriously, it's there.

 They had torches at either side of the entrance to the castle.  That just made it even more foreboding in my mind.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!


Well, I didn't enter the castle.  It was closed, anyway.

 Back home again.  It was getting very dark.

This may not have been as cheerful as my sunny golden walks of days past, but it was certainly fascinating.

And now I should feel refreshed and ready to do some work, right?


Funny how it's not working...

Drat.