Very low tide

A cold day with sunshine as well as clouds. In my study after our Saturday pancake breakfast, a book I bought in Geneva over twenty years ago caught my eye on a bookshelf. It's about biblical meditation and its written by Daniel Bourguet, a French protestant pastor, who became a hermit after a career as a biblical scholar. I'm not sure if I got around to reading it before but enjoyed reading the first sixteen pages. It's been a while since I last read anything in French. A refreshing change.

We decided to go out and enjoy the better weather, driving to Penarth for a snack lunch in Cioni's Italian family restaurant and a walk along the clifftop to Lavernock Point and back. As the full moon had  already sunk beneath the western horizon, the tide was exceptionally low, revealing reefs of sand and stones in the middle of the Estuary, and the visible shore line below us, more uneven than usual, sculpted by tidal currents. The coastal path was a stream of running water in several stretches, if not puddles and slicks of mud. It'll take days for water to drain from the adjacent fields and fall from the cliff edge to the beach forty metres below.  It'll take much longer if heavy rain returns and persists.

After our walk we called to see Fran as she was at home, and saw the collection of icons she has painted, now displayed in her studio. When you see them together it's possible to see how an icon with the same subject can be made with small variations illustrating different insights into its significance which arose during the preparation for painting. She's about to start on a new icon of the Trinity and we discussed the challenge this presents, in the light of Rublev's archetypal fifteenth century masterpiece. Is there another approach to the Mystery of the Trinity which doesn't make use of 'The hospitality of Abraham' story in Genesis? Or the Gospel story of Christ's baptism?

We drove home with the sun setting at quarter to six. It's wonderful to have reclaimed nearly two hours of daylight since the end of last November. Before leaving, we left a line of washing to dry outdoors, but we didn't anticipate returning so late. By the time we got back, the sun had set and heavy dew descended, leaving the washing no better than when it came out of the spin drier. 

After supper, I went for a walk in the dark for half an hour to complete my daily quota. Moonlight shone through the clouds, but the moon itself wasn't visible. Such a disappointment. I watched an episode of 'Bones' on my Chromebook while Clare watched an old episode of 'The Repair Shop' on telly. Then it was time for bed. As I entered the bedroom before switching on the light, the room was flooded with moonlight  The sky was clearing of cloud and the full moon shone brightly down  from above the house.