Life has been a little on the hectic side over the last few weeks, and so today was supposed to be a day of R&R.  However I started to do paperwork and Stevan decided he needed a workbench in his shed, and so began hammering and nailing spare bits of wood together, and before we knew it most of the day had disappeared.  So we decided to head off for a walk for a bit of relaxation.  Our easy walk is up to Lexie's Loch, and as we set off we realised it was pretty warm, and the dogs were eager to have a swim.  Lexie normally starts her walk with a little paddle in the burn near our house, but we have had so much dry weather that there is very little water in the burn at all - barely enough just to get her pads wet.  So as soon as we reached Lexie's Loch they were both straight in.  For some reason Lexie looks a little grumpy in this picture:



I'm not sure why as she loves her swimming.  Peggy was a little braver, swimming right out to where Stevan was cooling off:



The loch is looking so pretty at the moment.  Assynt is looking very green and fresh, and the heather is just starting to appear:



But probably most spectacular of all at the moment are the water lilies.  You can just see them on the bottom right in this photograph:



But looking at them closer up reminded me of a dish we used to eat in South Africa called Waterblommetjie Bredie. In effect a Bredie is a stew, but it is so much more than just a stew!  And this particular type of stew has waterblommetjies (water lilies) added.  It is delicious.  I wouldn't recommend going to your nearest loch to pick water lilies though!



But if you are determined to give it a try, you can get tinned waterblommetjies from here.  I hasten to add I'm not recommending this supplier - I've never used them!

Tomorrow it is back to work with a vengeance with the wrapping and posting of the club yarn.    But I'm sure we'll manage to get a bit more R&R from time to time!