Sunlight and a Blustery Day

One comes to cherish the sunlight when most days are overcast. After a succession of cloudy, drizzly days, there is something truly exhilarating about throwing open the curtains to let beams of sun pour into the room.
Today was windy and almost warm. I doffed my sweater and Smart Wool socks in favor of a t-shirt, windbreaker, and plain old white socks (I had almost forgotten how those feel!). Some Texans may call 56 degrees Fahrenheit cold (though Minnesotans might call it warm), but it sure felt like spring to me. The daffodil and crocus blooms were spread wide as though embracing the very sunlight.
As is often the case, however, in the middle of the joy and beauty, ran the small, still note of sadness. I have good friends here, but not all of my friends. I wonder what my parents and sister and Minnesotan friends are doing now and how things are with the rest of my fellows at Baylor. I think that they would have liked to have seen this too.
But I suppose these pictures will do for now.

The view outside of my window this morning. A blessed sight to see.

A view from the West Sands out to sea. This is the beach upon which they filmed that famous scene from Chariots of Fire. Unfortunately, the soundtrack for the movie is not playing at all times, or else I might have run myself.

Landward of the dunes looking toward St Andrews. That tall tower is the steeple of St. Salvatore's, the university chapel (I think I might have mistakenly told some of you otherwise earlier this semester).

Looking down the road running next to the Old Course. You can see the mountains far off in the background.

A little path to the beach through the dunes. I rather like pictures of roads, if you haven't already guessed.

This obelisk is a monument to the Reformation martyrs of St. Andrews. The initials of the first, Patrick Hamilton, appear amongst the cobblestones near the entrance to St. Salvatore's chapel, marking the spot where he was burned at the stake. After the names and dates, this epigraph appears at the bottom of the inscription: "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance".

In a few days I shall be on the road to London, where our entire group will spend a week. Following that, some of us are travelling to Paris and  then to Florence before heading back to St. Andrews the day before classes start. My next post is likely to appear at the end of those two weeks, detailing our adventures with photographic evidence.