Stewart edits an ex-HMI publication called Taking the Register. He writes... The poem accompanies a recent photo of Lily, my grandchild, taken at 7 a.m. on one of those blue-sky mornings of which we have too few. She is looking over the River Dee which encircles the ruins of 14th century Threave Castle. The army of James II, marshalled in our front garden (!) smashed it to bits. Threave was the seat of Margaret, Lady of Galloway and a potential rival to James for the Scottish throne. Threave is larger than it looks; the tower is 30m high – about the size of a 10 storey modern block of flats. To visit, you ring a bell and the boatman rows you across.