Confirmed in the good old Roman way.

On Sunday, we went to see Frangelita being confirmed. It was an interesting experience for me ( now a thoroughly lapsed Catholic) as the Mass was sung - mostly in English but a few of the more beautiful prayers in Latin.
Long ago, as a church-goer, I knew all the responses and all the prayers and hearing them in Latin, I found that I still knew them.
Since those days, the liturgy has all been changed to English and though I attended Mass a few times after the change, the English never 'took' for me. The Latin is beautiful. 'Sanctus', 'Hosannah' and 'Kyrie Eleison' have a lovely flow which 'Holy', and, (what?) 'Hooray' (?!!!) and 'Lord have mercy' just can't match.

On the other hand, the newer 'kiss of peace' (usually just a handclasp) is a nice and meaningful addition in which I still enthusiastically join. I have absolutely no quarrel with saying 'peace be with you' to all the people within reach.
Otherwise, it was pleasant to be among people who were there not to rant about their religious beliefs, but just to witness the affirmation of a number of people to try and live according to a set of beliefs which are at least an attempt to encourage some kind of spiritual responsibility.

And Bill the Bish kindly mentioned that he was available for photo opportunities after the service. Very helpful :)There he is with one of the newest confirmed members of his flock :) Doesn't she look suitably modest and cheerful :) (considering what a glamour-puss she usually is)

Later, we were having lunch in an Italian nearbye and we saw Fr John, in company with Bill the Bish, heading lunchwards we supposed. And a little later still, we saw them returning - maybe a little less steadily. This seemed entirely suitable to us :)

Ah well. Back home, next day, the old oak seemed to be having a spiritual moment all to itself :)
Some cherry blossom for I - I thought it might be nice to have some flowers for the new flat...it's a little tree and might live in a pot on the roof terrace

Some ducks for Mel (I know you couldn't ever have enough duckies Mel and I have reason to believe that these two would bring a half dozen ducklings with them)

And a sky moment to share with Sorrow:)
In a day or two there may be news about the camera :) I am an excited bunny!
Also a knackered bunny. Had three early mornings in a row and Oh look! It's quite a late night already.
I shall go and emulate a log. Peace be with you one and all :)

Decisions decisions

Ok, I'll buy it.
If lovely 4tographer will sell it to me and if I can check that different lenses will do the things I want. (got lovely other photographer friend coming over next week and I hope she'll bring all her stuff and give me lots of useful advice)
Right. got to get on with dinner now or we won't be eating till tomorrow morning :)

Been a bit preoccupied

It's getting there though.

Happy Sunday :)

Todays mission, should I choose to accept it

Was the hand washing.
Among my many pet hates, the hand washing of large woollen items (usually belonging to Barney) ranks very highly indeed. So, we have between us, nearly enough woollies of the hand washing variety to last a whole winter. And come Spring, I suddenly feel guilty about the big heaps of apparently abandoned old woollies, to accept that it has to be done, TODAY! No! not later today, not before I do anything else tomorrow but NOW!
So I did. It's unbelievable how much water there is in a heap of wet woollies (a whole winter's worth anyway). So as a by product, the utility floor gets washed, the spin dryer gets an airing and the washing baskets, the spare washing up bowl and most of the area around the washing machine (and also around the bath because the bath is the only place in the house big enough for the washing of one woollie, never mind lots) get cleaned too.
I expect there are washing machines that don't do whatever it is to woollies that mine does and which makes them slightly too short and somehow changes the texture from nice to nasty. Mine is not one of those and so some of our woollies aren't as nice as they used to be.
The whole exercise is yet another way of reminding me about stitches in time (but we don't mention those around here). I do have a gadget on which to dry woollies flat. Two of them. So another by product of the hated hand washing day is a festooning of the house with draped woollies. And since a lot of them were discovered at various times my my wicked little black and white cat, as they dry, cat hair floats around the house, catching the light and getting in my mouth.
Anyway, as I knelt beside the bath, squeezing the first twenty gallons of water out of the soggy things, I thought about mangles. (Wringers to you Mel :).
I thought, I wonder who invented them. Was it a woman, pissed off with the whole business of squeezing (not wringing) and hauling wet wool around? Was it a kindly husband, concerned for his wife's struggles? Or a fisherman! Unmarried and with no Mum to do it for him. Or a person with a curious and inventive mind who suddenly saw a different way of doing the job without, themselves being involved.

Perhaps a shepherd?

I googled mangle and got no answer. But it was invented 'some time in the 18th Century'.
That's a huge lot of water and wool being squeezed and shovelled around and hauled before anyone found an easier way to do the job!
Come to think of it, I expect the washing of woollens always got done at the end of winter. By whole households all heaving bowls of water and big heaps of wet wool and hanging it all in the wind and then jumping out of the way of the spray!
Oh but then I don't suppose they had so many woollies as we do. On the other hand, the families would be bigger so there might be a minimum of anything up to ten or twelve even at the rate of one woollie each.
Well there you go. I've run out of thoughts about hand washing and I'm hungry. Also slightly satisfied, though I wish I'd done it a week or three ago when I needed the turquoise and blue woollie. (to wear with the turquoise and blue earrings with pearls on the ends)
Better make tea.
I wish you all a very productive and enjoyable Wednesday evening - the sun's shining again here, hope yours is too :)

A farewell to tooth

But not apparently to any arms!
I went to the dentist yesterday - just a check up. He wobbled my poor semi detached tooth and declared it officially unattached and ready for demolition.
Oh! Well ok. I've treated it ever so carefully and it still rattles about like ....Actually I can't think of anything that rattles quite like a detached tooth. And every so often I inadvertently bite something hard and it lets me know exactly how detached it was until it made contact under pressure. Ouch!
And I can have a 'cover' fitted to my existing plate. And it'll only cost £44 (about the same price as a nikon battery then). So no loss of arms or legs.

And he cheerfully assured me that all the pain and misery and terror and MONEY invested in the dreaded, unmentionable treatment from she who cleans and polishes with unholy glee and unnatural thoroughness was well spent. He says he can see no reason why I should ever lose another tooth. As long as I keep this up.
I think mutinous thoughts about quality of life and wonder whether the damned things wouldn't all be better off, out! And then I could have a nice set of falsies and whip them out and terrorise people with them when I get even older and grouchier and more eccentric (As I plan to do).

(no photos, it wouldn't be respectful)

I hope you can teach an old brain new camera

Dogs and tricks - couldn't care less.
Grandmothers and eggs - no problem, I cook mine. (Eggs, not grandmothers).

But buttons and functions and stuff! Ooh dear me that's hard. I got very cross today - Why, why wasn't it doing three different exposures????? Oh! because I told it to do something incompatible that's why. And I can't remember how to stop it.
And why won't it do the press button, focus, reframe and take picture with original focus thingie? It refocuses so quickly I can't stop it!
And where is the colour menu?
??????

S'ok. I did my brain training game yesterday. I'll get my head round it any minute!
Barney bear phoned me to say there are foals in the fiekd by his barn :) that turned out to be an interesting subject to practice on! And the sun's out and it's getting warm. hot even! Golly!
Fast babe with Mum
Slightly less fast babe
Just like Dad babe (both mares are grey Arabians and both babes are this wonderful bright chestnut -I imagine two sisters and the same Sire)
Tired babe (no wonder after all the rushing about :)

O. K. !

Today I can play with it :)

It's a bit different! For a start, I didn't fit the lens properly (no I did read the manual, it's just that I didn't want to force anything so I didn't click it into place properly)
So I took a lot of pictures under the impression that the lens didn't have the function that makes it work on auto focus and therefore became convinced that I'm just no good without the antishake thingie!
Also, it's been a grey, flat, day with no sun to speak of so there's nothing much to take pictures of.
After a bit. I read the other manual and thought "Oh, the lens does have an auto thingie".
Refitted it and suddenly we've got Whirrrr! Click!! Zooom!
:)

But it will be a while before I can work out how to make it do more of what I want.

We played for a wedding barn dance the other day and the Groom was Barney's ex apprentice so we were invited to the whole thing. I have to say that eating a wedding breakfast* at four in the afternoon (What is that all about?) and then doing toasts and then playing with the band makes for a very long day.
They were a lovely couple though and there was a delightful baby and balloons and a strange piano that played all alone and by itself - the ultimate lonely image I thought - and the food was great, though I wish I'd refrained from finishing the enormous syrup pudding!
I'm not really a weddingey person but Aaaaw :) They were sweet and the best of good luck to them :)

*Breakfast? At four in the afternoon??? Just as well we had a real one at ten in the morning is all I can say!

Zoom, click, snap, whirr

Well not quite yet.
I've collected the beautiful camera (so clean and shiny and in the box you wonder if it's actually been used - certainly it doesn't look as though the manual has been read). I've got the battery on charge, I've studied the parts of the camera in the manual and I've fitted the neck strap!
Right. Well a flat battery really ought to be recharged overnight. So maybe I'd better practice putting the camera back in its box. Or maybe I could just have a go at fitting the lens and then find the bag I've got earmarked for the camera. And read a bit more of the manual. and practice putting the camera in the bag and getting it out and.....
Goodness! the excitement is almost too much already!
I hope the lens comes with a cap. I'd better go and look.
***
Unbelievable! It's 10.15 pm and I still can't play with the camera!
***

Well, during the battery charging I went to the pub (to join Barney, who had gone earlier) and on the way home I had to stop for a few minutes. then I got an indignant call from Barney who'd gone out without his keys and wanted to know why I wasn't back yet.*

And if you know where to look, you can see our house :)
I noticed it the other day, just over there :)
And after all that, it still wasn't time to play!!!


*Well actually he knew exactly why I wasn't back yet :)

WTF????? - *!+*%!!*

But really, WTF'nH do they think they're playing at?

Target practice, that's what. The b****y army playing war games.

Nothing lives on the picturesquely named Cape Wrath, somewhere so far north of the border that most of us don't know where it is.* Well if anything ever did, it won't be doing now.
Cape Wrath, according to Nicholas crane (Coast) is currently being used by the army, navy and air force to get together and practice their live bombing techniques on the rocks. All together see, there isn't anywhere else on the British Isles where they can all play together.
So last night we were treated to the sight of lots of aircraft, boats and people all pointing weaponry at a large (fairly unprepossessing ) rock and attempting to blast it to bits. (POW! POW! KABOOM! BIG SPLOSH! oops, missed BOING!)
This, despite the fact that the innocent rock remains in one place and presumably doesn't fire back, is supposed to be giving the military the edge it needs should we ever have another Falklands type war. And gives the boys an unparalleled opportunity to hone their skills and all that. Oh and it's really hard and testing and punishing for them because of the inhospitable weather.

Well, let's not mention coastal erosion, carbon footprints or the war (any of the wars). Let's not consider that these days, it seems more likely that the lads will be needing to hone skills in very different climes.
Let's just...Oh I can't be bothered any more. I resort to effing and blinding and spluttering. and having turned the air blue, I shall now go and seek warm water since we are being blasted by cold winds and my person is blue from the knees down (cat flap is letting in the wind).

***

What time do you call this? I've been waiting for hours!

View from my (clean) kitchen window
Gorgeousness :)



*It's at the far northern tip of the Scottish Mainland and used to be a major stopping point for Vikings, on their way from Scandinavia to everywhere else.**
**What with global warming and rising seas, it's possible it may be needed again by travellers - if there's any of it left that is.

GOOD MORNING :)

Time to come out and play!

Up and Down day

So, for the next four or five or forty days, you may get nothing from me but a litany of woe and a diary of how the computer is doing with my backing up of photos. And some alarming typos as I get more and more bored and irritated.
But I do have news, all very mememe but very exciting for me nonetheless :)

One of the lovely Newbury Flickr group has a spare DSLR camera. You know how I was saying a while ago how I needed one to play with to see if I really want to spend money on one? Well this lovely, kind and understanding person offered to lend me his old Nikon D80 to try out.
Coo! And Wow!!! And what a generous person :)

So you may also get a flood of photos from the window next to the computer.
Meanwhile, as I said, I cleaned windows yesterday. It's a measure of how rarely I do this that I've got aches in new places (in a good way though). But what with the clean windows, they ought to be very, er, clean photos! I'm constantly stopping in my tracks to look through them. The windows that is. It's quite an enlightening experience :)
But this morning the water was off. Fortunately, Barney Bear discovered this just before using it all up so there is enough for my coffee :)
On the other hand I have to make my second visit to the Hygienist this afternoon. (Of that I will say nothing except GaaaH!)
I wonder when the water will come back. I wonder if there's enough left upstairs to clean my teeth (GaaaH!). I wonder if I have time to clean another window or two :) I wonder when the lovely photyographer will contact me about hi camera :) ))

And look what I found in my clean window! A ripple :)
I don't know what the bee found but he wasn't a very patient model :) Buzzing about all over the place he was!

(I let him out quite quickly though) I just realised what he found though! A big smear. I shall have to go an remove it!

One should never get confident where machinery is concerned

Yesterday it was making promises it clearly had no intention of keeping. 4 days??? Huh! More like twenty.
It's taken to informing me that "the file is no longer there". Lies, all lies. the files are all there, waiting to be copied. the machine is just pretending it can't see them. I'm tempted to offer it binoculars so it can't keep doing this Nelson "I see no files" thing at me.
The only way to sharpen up its perceptions seems to be to disconnect the new drive and reconnect it and then suggest, ever so politely, that it tries again. It's behaving like a small, square, obstinate child. As long as I keep holding its hand and copy/pasting folders one by one it keeps doing it. If I suggest that it might like to copy/paste four or five files or maybe a whole folder full of folders full of files it suddenly says Oh look! a chicken! Or at any rate "I see no ships I mean files"
Heaven save me from semi educated computers.
Well in order to stay close to it and keep connecting and disconnecting, I've resorted to doing housework. I've cleaned windows, done the rest of the kitchen and dashed upstairs with washing. I've nearly copied all of January 2007's photos onto the new drive.
The dog has been tied up outside all day since I can't be doing with pathetic dog faces as well as obstinate computer messages.
Oops! In 2 minutes 10 seconds I need to be back, holding it's hand.
Did I mention it's been a glorious April day?

It may be time to see my helpful computer man again. Can he find out how to make this system work sensibly I wonder? Is it worth 30 quid to find out?

Later you may get a pic of what I saw when I'd cleaned the windows (not as interesting as anything the Butler might have seen I'm afraid)
Meanwhile, it occurs that Picasa isn't being used by the bits of the machine that are doing the copying. So, slowly, (cos it's not too good at multi-tasking if the truth were known) I can send you a picture.
1 minute and 35 seconds to the next copy/paste.
More later - maybe :)

10 days and 14 hours

until the computer has finished copying all of H drive to the new hard drive.

Oh, now it's 7 days and 3 hours - oops, 4 days and 20 hours- -oops - 5 days and 20 hours -
oh no, just a mere 4 days and 18 hours - 23 hours - 17 hours - 20 hours - 18 hours.
I wonder sometimes if this machine really knows what it's doing or if it's just trying to confuse me. Both maybe :) It seems to be getting through roughly one hour every five minutes now it's settled down to a steady rate of - whatever it thinks it's doing. This works out at about 9 hours!*
So some time tomorrow I may have all my pics duplicated on two hard drives. Meanwhile, I am getting a lesson in the wisdom of 'doing a bit of it now' instead of 'doing it all at once, some other time when it's more convenient'.
A good lesson. (please don't mention stitches in time - I still hate sewing. some time I'm going to get to grips with my sewing machine and spend time making, mending and generally being adventurous with left over clothes. Which reminds me, Elder Sister and I discussed clothes we couldn't quite bear to throw away even though we can't wear them either any more. She beat me on skirts over silk shirts by a good margin** :)

Meanwhile, over on the other machine, Norton has nearly run out so I'm seriously considering getting AVG instead. Which has the huge virtue of being free and also (I'm told) doesn't slow the computer down so much.
So I've saved the uninstall instructions and looked up AVG and bookmarked it all ready to embark :) But is it a good idea to have both computers doing large and mysterious things, very slowly, at the same time?

Hmm. I think I'll go and hang the washing up. That's something I can understand easily.
Of curse, while the machine is doing its thing - or not doing it (still stuck at 4 hours 13 minutes) I can't access any pictures. Let's hope it does a quick spurt.

*except that now it seems to have got stuck on 4 hours 13 minutes. Oh well. At this rate, Norton will have run out before this machine has finished so I'll have to do both things at once anyway.
**Which is to say, she has more unwearable skirts in her cupboards than I have unwearable silk shirts in mine :)

Immoderation

No, not 'in moderation'
I don't really do 'in moderation'.

Either too much or not enough, that's me.

So there was a new rubbish bin to be fixed and therefore a cupboard to be cleaned out and somehow this led halfway round the kitchen so I didn't practice my fiddle at all and then the Bear cooked so I looked at photos and ate too much and drank too much and now I've got back ache.
Question is, have I got time to hang up the washing before I fall asleep. Bleh!
I'd better go and hang the washing up.

By the way, the moon is out :)

Maybe I won't get the washing dried tonight. Or maybe it's too cold to go and look at the moon.

*shrug*
More stars:) The Scilla were out.
Grizedale Forest, wet, late and beautiful as the sun went down :)
An unexpected valley on the way home from somewhere - the long way home :)
And while I was considering which way to go next, it thundered and lightened and went all stormy. I love weather.
Later, nearly home, there were raindrops on a feather.
Who cares about moderation :)
Sleep beautifully. The cats, the dog and the Bear are. Now I will too :)

Catapulted

from one happening to the next is what I've been!
Two days with Eldest and Northern Girl and Marmite, all busy and bouncy outings, sunshine and rain, two days with Elder sister and her son, quite sleepy and serene nostalgic outings, sunshine and snow, one mad evening at a Jethro Tull concert in Oxford (coo! That was fun and made us feel alternatively, our age and our youth), one early morning arrival of a very small person and a day in her company, all busy and bouncy and full of questions and irrepressible, one evening out with the local Flickr group (also fun and more of that later) and oops! one more early morning waiting for Gorgeous babe to wake up and start busily bouncing again :)
Phew!
Sadly, since I've been back from the North, there has been the most wonderful photography weather and light - but really, GB couldn't be hanging around while I take pics. On the other hand it's very nice having her here in the sunshine :) And she is sunshine enough herself, being the best behaved and sunniest person of her age that I know!

There may be a pic of her later but while she sleeps (I don't remember her ever sleeping in beyond 7am before but maybe I tired her out yesterday!) I can be here :)
So, when I was in Lancaster, the Lakes and mountains only a roof top view away, the light was cold and clear and changing all the time. No snow :(
No problem :) It's nice just being there and they look after me so well. It's always a pleasure visiting because they are a wonderfully secure, calm and energetic partnership. And of course I love them :)
So I took a few pics of magnolia in the City Centre and set off for Manchester. It snowed a bit on the way - typical, there I am trundling along the motorway, nowhere to stop and snow clouds sweep across the looming hills, tempting me to detour! But I didn't because you never know what will happen on these motorways. Could be I'll suddenly find myself in a several hour traffic jam!
Not this time though and as I swooped* across the huge flyover that goes past Old Trafford** or whatever it's called, I could see the snow capped Pennines, brilliantly sunlit in the distance. Elder sister's house is within spitting distance of those very hills and having made very good time getting there, I was tempted. And I admit it, gave in without a moment's hesitation, and set off hillswards looking for a view. Which I didn't find. Instead , I found myself at the foot of a very very inviting path leading up a deeply*** satisfying hill at the top of which stands a marvellous, strange, white, conical, pointy thing called White Nancy. This does indeed overlook the hills but as I parked the car, it began to snow again. Oooh!
Off I scrambled, clutching camera (wrapped in a plastic carrier bag) and passing a quite large number of people descending - presumably to escape being snowed on :)
There they are and there is the pointy tip of White Nancy :) With a bobble on top!


So I got my snowy pictures and enjoyed being blasted by the wild Northern winds in high places to boot! (wish I had been wearing boots 'cos then I would have gone right to the top but it didn't seem sensible to leave the good path in my little soft shoes :)
Goodness - Gorgeous Babe is still asleep! I think maybe I'd better wake her up or her Mum won't get her to bed tonight :)
Wake up!!! It's a lovely morning :)
Hope you too, are having a lovely morning and sunshine and birds singing :)
xxx

*The motorways always make me feel as though I'm swooping. I know you can't really do this without wings but hey! It's the thought that counts
**Home of Man United Football. not my thing but most awfully English and iconic
***that would be highly satisfying wouldn't it...being high :)

HI! You absolutely lovely people,

I'm back. So, so delightful and welcoming to find all your comments waiting :)
But we went out last night to see Jethro Tull in Oxford and today (any minute) I have Gorgeous Babe arriving! So no time yet to do anything here. But I will tell you that there was snow :)

Later later - hope all's well, missed you lots :)
xxx

Upload and be merry

For tomorrow we may have no internet. Well I definitely won't. Elder Sister don't have stuff like that and her son has security issues. Also, I have 'how do you get this thing to work in an unfamiliar environment' issues. And he's a Mac user which means neither of us could make each other's thing work.
So todady, Eldest and Northern Girl and Me (and Marmite)*Went to Grizedale Forest.** Now I am accustomed to ambling, sometimes backwards and sideways while walking since my main aim is to see everything and then take photos of it. Eldest and Northern girl and Marmite have a completely different kind of modus operandi. More along the lines of lets walk to the top of that mountain and then march briskly (pausing only to throw things for Marmite and check that there are no sheep*** round the corner) on and away across the hills and dales and through the forests.
To be fair, they were extremely tolerant of my unfitness and slowness and long pauses to take 15 photos where only one will come out right. Also, it's possible I would never have got as far as Grizedale on my own, since as we drove towards it, we passed some quite beautiful landscapes, lit dramatically in the rainwet sunlight and backdropped with astounding clouds and rainfall. Me, I would have parked the car every ten seconds, jumped out and run backwards along the road waving the camera.
Still, I can't complain about seeing distant, almost ghostly hills


And quite fairytale-like woods.

Which I may change when I get home since I'm not confident about the colours on the laptop.
So now, unaccustomed as I am to long, fast walking (Ok, not very long, rather slow walking for about two hours on a mild, very beautiful day) I will take my battered feet and aching back and twisted knees to bed. Pausing only to have a fag and a cup of tea. and to lock the doors, put books on the chair***** and give Marmite his peanut butter-,smeared bedtime toy.
Sunday tomorrow. Let's enjoy it :)

*Isn't he the sweetest looking dog ? :)
**Beautiful. Sort of West of Windermere but you have to go a long way South first to avoid Morecambe Bay and various mountain ranges and uncharted valleys.
***Marmite has an unfortunate and quite unrequited passion for Sheep. In the Lake District, where sheep are important (think of those rare breeds which know how to find their way around the mountains and the storms and the raging torrents****) Dogs which get too involved with sheepM in the wrong way, get shot.
****Apparently, the Lakeland Sheep have an understanding of how to live on the fells and how to survive weather and where to go to find grass and stuff which they teach or somehow pass on to their offspring. It's a bit like Salmon traveling the Atlantic and still Knowing how to find their Scottish spawning grounds.
*****Marnite isn't allowed to sleep on the chairs. *sh

Well I got here ok :) And Eldest's internet and my laptop remember each other so how about that :)
I swooped past Abingdon (Hi Beep) and Oxford (Hi Fran) and away up the M40 and the M42. The sun shone and it was all very good apart from the leftover tail back from am earlier accident on the M6. Later, amazingly swiftly, I swooped past Manchester (Hi elder Sister, see you in a couple of days) and Preston and Chorley (Hi Barney's cousin). Round about then I could see the cloud over my destination (remember, a cloud above Lancaster) but it wasn't till I was almost in sight of Lancaster that the rain appeared. The Pennines looked fantastic in the distance - like a beautiful woman, they can wear any weather and look as though that's how they are supposed to be.
And now, after a great Chinese takeaway, I am feeling very satisfied and comfortable and being kept company by Marmite. Tomorrow we may go into Lancaster and then if I'm very lucky we might go to Grizedale in the Lake district. Perhaps even to the Sculpture park :) I haven't asked yet but that would really be something. Oh and the Met office is promising a cloud with a raindrop and half a sunshine on top. Which sounds good to me:) Looks as though the snow will wait till I'm in Manchester.
Well I don't know if there are any photos to show you. I didn't have any on the laptop so unless I have some good stuff on the camera there won't be any.
Nope! Loads of entirely random and not very interesting snaps. I was rather concentrating on getting here :)
And now I have a dilemma. I could go and get the tripod and take a photo of the night time shadows in the tiny garden. but it's very cold and of course I could go visiting. and the garden will still be there tomorrow. So of course will you :)
I know. I'll go to the loo.
And then, after a last ciggie in the (eldest's) garden I shall go to bed. I tried visiting but after three visits everything started taking too long to respond and Oh look, it's about to happen here too.
So maybe it's not just my internet connection that's gone wobbly. Since I am using a different connection and am hundreds of miles away from my usual one as well as using the laptop instead of the pc.
I shall say goodnight and see if I can publish.
Goodnight:)
Never say I don't keep my promises :

Where the North wInd blows

I'm off up North again :) This time to the West side of the country to visit Eldest and his Northern Girl and (my) Older Sister.
Hoping to have time for a quick ramble in the Pennines and maybe a wander round lovely Lancaster City. I suspect I may also see some more snow :) If I'm really lucky, I may see it while rambling. And Lancaster being a small and wonderfully greystone place, seeing it there would be pretty good too. Failing that (there's a cloud over Lancaster at the moment and a drop of hail and some raindrops forecast for Saturday) then I will hope for something interesting in Manchester :)
So I'm currently packing, in my usual 'take everything I might ever need just in case' fashion and there's a huge heap of absolutely essential things on the dining room table :)
The rest is in my bag upstairs - except the boots, the tripod, the bungy bag, the brolly, the hat (Oh! mustn't forget the hat - there's wicked cold winds up there), the kitchen...nonono I don't need that, I won't be doing any cooking...but I will need the rubber gloves and the apron....

Ok. Now I need the glasses which I just packed at the bottom of the extra bag!
Enough of this.
I forgot to show you these sweet babes

And these chirpy blue tits
And what with all the packing and forgetting things, it would be wise to consider water

Ah! Peace.
I wish you all a peaceful weekend and the best possible weather :)