We twa hae paddled

Harry (aged 5) and I (aged 67) spent two hours paddling in the burn yesterday afternoon, climbing trees and picking up rubbish. The water was surprisingly warm and the spring flowers growing all along the bank - celandines, daisies, dandelions, ladies smock and primroses made an extraordinarily pretty scene reminiscent of Botticelli's Primavera, rumoured to be the inspiration for Catherine Middleton's wedding dress. A friend sent me the link to the Boswell Book Festival May 20-22 at biographer and diarist James Boswell's stately home in Auchinleck, Ayrshire. The festival has the theme of biography, and I will go along to hear Alistair Moffat speak about his new book on Scottish DNA. We at Moffat Book Events are meeting today (Thursday April 21, in case it says something different on Google's header) to review Love and Marriage our inaugural event last Saturday. We want to establish ourselves on a secure and sustainable footing for the benefit of booklovers and local businesses and in the interests of having fun where it matters most ie where we live. A propos, I see that a lingerie shop is opening in Well St, Moffat where our Zacharry's shop used to be, and after us, Moffat CAN. A successful book event must have partners, and we are looking forward to working with many in Moffat - House of Colour, Moffat Let's Live Local, Manse Furnishings, Pocket Mountains, the new walking books publisher in the former Jenny Wren shop, Savour the Flavours....