Fresh woods ...

Dunno about the "pastures new" - it was more a case of muddy tracks and tussocky hillsides, and even Milton might have had a job making a poetic monody out of them - but I was certainly enjoying a new walk with my pal this afternoon when I took this photo of a stand of silver birch trees high above Glen Finart, to the north of my more usual stamping grounds. I shall add an extra of Di pointing out where we might have gone on if we'd worn boots instead of trainers, and perhaps had a pole or two to ensure we didn't slither into that burn ...

This, of course, because Mr PB has been put on strict instructions to rest his knee, having phoned our surgery this morning and had almost half an hour's conversation with one of our two GPs, which I think is rather amazing. (He's also been given some interesting-looking pain relief, but has yet to investigate its effect). My Pilates teacher was having a holiday today, so I had the luxury of pottering round a bit, making a couple of phone calls and doing my Duolingo Italian exercises at a sensible time before lunch.

I thoroughly enjoyed my foray into the hills, and the vista down the glen towards Ardentinny and the sea, though I was very much aware of how early the sun leaves the village at this time of year - they'll not see much of it till the spring. My Fitbit tells me we hiked about 10 kilometres, so not bad going over rough ground. As a coda to that, I've just ordered some new trainers online - the pair I had on today, though still serviceable, are getting very worn in the heels. I tell myself that it's a cheap hobby really ...

As a footnote (hah!) - a theologian friend, having read my blip entry for yesterday, sent me a link to a piece about names in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. Seems that there's a likelihood that some of the big players in the early church were known by more than one name, and that Euodia might have been Lydia...

But not Jenny, and certainly not Jessie.