Essentially the Only One

From this evening in St. Charles county. The soybeans are starting to yellow - time, I suspect, for harvesting.The corn plants are well beyond that - time to cut, for sure!

On our first Monday in Scotland, my mother and I decided to drive the Road to the Isles from Fort William to Mallaig.

The chief reason for this trip was to stop in Morar and visit the Morar Hotel. This was a summer retreat for one of my favorite composers, Sir Arnold Bax, and is an area of great beauty.

So we took the twisty and in places very narrow and under heavy construction A380 to Morar and beyond to Mallaig. A trip we would repeat two days later by steam train.

Returning, we could glimpse Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis, with its head in the clouds as we approached Fort William.

I decided a photograph was in order, so I pulled into a roadside lay-by and scrambled down through the ferns to get a good view of the mountain over Loch Linnhe.

In front of me though, was the single line railway track, open and unfenced. I stood there a while wondering whether to scramble down the steepish bank and cross it there when, with very little warning, the train burst into view.

It sped by me, just a few feet from my nose, very noisy and very startling.

I felt very glad I had decided against crossing that track, and made my way back to the car.

We drove on a little further and found a more suitable viewpoint.

Then back home for a restorative cup of tea.