Toiling Upwards

This is the lane up to our gate. 
As you can see, it's a bit of a mess. We'd filled in a lot of the holes with whatever stones, rubble we could, but the rain has washed it mostly away. After it's rained, it's too slippery to drive up (and pretty scary to slither down), but thankfully, we can go round the back of the castle and come down to our gate on a slightly smoother bit.
I was laughing the other day, though, after seeing the extremely high-tech (and expensive) gate system that some other foreigners have; we've paid nothing and it's far harder to get through our gate than through theirs. Not so good when we want people to come, mind you.

Anyway, this was on a walk we did this morning, determined to get out before it rained again. Don't tell anyone, but I went in my pyjamas, with a coat over the top. Which I am still wearing - at 19:37, taking a leaf out of my grandson's book. I will put fresh ones on after my shower before bed.

Mike is carrying two bits of firewood. Again, I know wood fires are terrible, but it's the only heat source we have, and it's free, sorry! At least our electricity all comes from solar panels - which won't have charged up much these last days.

Gratefuls:
- FTs with various folks - we had our first Christmas card today - from Roger & Angela, for those who know them
- the two LED candles we got from Lidl - you can put them on a timer and you can blow them out, amazing!
- that Mike can have the time he needs to recover properly without pressure to go back to work, or whatever

Oh, and this brilliant podcast on the art of gathering, that Jan talks about on her Blip, definitely worth the listen. We listened while I cut Mike's hair.

Back again, with another PS - this article on Thanksgiving, great perspective, and what a great American idea - to give thanks in the midst of difficulty and suffering.