Turkey-tail

Storm Arwen brought a day of strong winds to Peterborough, but there was very little in the way of damage, and we completely missed out on the snow that came in ts wake. I spent much of the day preparing food for a family meal marking the start of the festive season - a mix of Thanksgiving and Christmas fare with a turkey crown,  stuffing,  cornbread, creamed and roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, roast parsnips and cranberry sauce, followed by pumpkin pie. As a result of the weather and domesticity, no photographs were taken.

This morning I received a phone call from Chris to let me know that Lizzy's lateral flow test was positive. They'd both come round yesterday, to bring back bits from the wedding, and I'd spent some time close to Lizzy, looking at the wedding photographs on my computer screen. Fortunately (in hindsight) she hadn't joined us for dinner. We were supposed to be entertaining CJs parents today, but after reflection they decided not to come, despite the fact that all four of us had negative results on our lateral flow tests.

The calm and bright morning was spent dealing with the fallout from this news, and trying to source more lateral flow tests for the rest of the week. By the time I went out for my walk to Old Sulehay it was overcast again! The strong winds had brought many leaves down, but it was easier getting round the site, as the Wildlife Trust had cleared up most of the trees brought down by the Halloween tornado. This rather bright version of Turkeytail fungus seemed particularly appropriate for the weekend!

My walk wasn't entirely successful. I went off the path to investigate an old fallen ash and managed to fall into a bramble patch, so spent some time picking thorns out of my hand. Further on I was heading along a track to get a view of the neighbouring quarry and didn't notice the ankle height strand of barbed wire which felled me quite spectacularly - luckily I came to a halt before the steep rock face, though I wouldn't have gone far as this was also covered with bramble. I banged my left leg and jarred my neck a bit, but fortunately the ground was soft and I'm still fairly bouncy!