Grey, wet. This is getting very tedious. 

   Helen is back. Her sad mission to Kirkmichael went well. It turns out that our rxcellent gardener had recently lost a dog himself. He had prepared a big-enough hole — Farouk was on the large size, as dogs go. And he stayed for the burial, although it was Helen and Archie who filled in the grave and constructed a temporary monument from the many stones available. 

   Knitting went fairly well, although the ordeal of starting the Second Clue of the MKAL shawl is not yet over. The knitting has been easier since I reached the second garter-stitch-in-the-round round. But I’m still struggling with the stitch count, and the question of whether the knitting is twisted around the needle remains to be solved. It will be a miracle if it isn’t.

    Once we’re past all that, I am hopeful that it will be straightforward. I am knitting four (mildly) lacy borders, edge inwards. So the stitch count will reduce as we go along.

   No visitors apart from Helen. C. will come on Sunday and report on Sicily.

   Wordle: my usual routine today. A green and three browns from my starters. A struggle — I kept thinking of Jean words and virtuously rejecting them. I finally thought of something, indeed was rather proud of it, but it was wrong. But information gained made it easy to score a four on the next line.

   Mark and Alexander had threes. Ketki and Rachel joined me with four. Thomas had an uncharacteristic five. The Americans, Roger and Theo, contributed two more fours.