Taking a break

End of school today (and I'm not chancing even waterproof mascara for the ceremony), then one child off to France this afternoon, the other starting a holiday job next week, and I'm heading north for a week to see my Dad and to breathe the Speyside air. So I'm taking a blogging break, and when I come back I might indulge myself by enjoying other blogs for a bit rather than being on photo opportunity alert.

The Albertine rose in the shot above symbolises this time of year for me. It grew in my parents' garden, and now I have it in mine. At my primary school we would take in flowers for the teacher on the last day of school - as happens the world over. It was rather coals to Newcastle, as everyone had whopping gardens by Edinburgh standards, and no shortage of their own flowers. Still, it was the thought etc, and in those days no-one would have dreamt of BUYING anything. On the last day of Primary 2 I remember very clearly standing at the classroom door waiting to go in, holding my bunch of Albertine roses with their stems wrapped in silver foil. I remember the polished herringbone parquet of the corridor, the brown varnished wood of the classroom door, the bare grey floorboards of the classroom. The room was suddenly huge and echoing, with all our artwork taken down the day before. And I was suddenly conscious of the moment, aware of myself standing there with my bunch of roses, and aware too that I would never live this moment again.

So I'm taking a break to immerse myself in just enjoying the moment.