Today was just lovely.  We woke to a beautiful, sunny day, and we set off to Ullapool to meet up with family that we've not seen for many a year.   This picture was taken in 1964:

helen-helen-barton-1964

That's me on the right (and yes, I still stand like that sometimes), and on the left is another Helen - daughter of my Dad's cousin, Irene, so I'm not sure what that makes Helen and I - second cousins?  Well we recently made contact and I was delighted to discover that Helen now lives in Inverness which is a mere 2 hours drive away.  So today we all met up in Ullapool.  It was an absolute delight to see them all, and here we all are:

reunion

Stevan managed to escape the photo by being the photographer.  That's Irene on the left, with Helen behind her, then me, then Helen's daughter Lauren and her partner Mike.   As you can see Helen and I have hardly changed at all.  It was a scorchingly hot day today, and the sunshine was so bright, so we're all squinting somewhat.  We met up in the lovely front gardens of The Ceilidh Place.

Ullapool was very busy, and there was quite a festive air about the place.  The Rotary Club were having a "do" on the pier, and there was bunting and ice cream everywhere.  There was even sponge throwing at poor volunteers being held in place in the stocks, but I didn't feel it fair to photograph them undergoing the torture of wet sponges.

festivities

Once back on the road home, we quickly left the hustle and bustle of the busy town behind us and were soon surrounded by the peaceful Assynt landscape once more.

peaceful

Lovely day!