Day out

If we're friends in other spheres, you may already be aware that today is my birthday. And if you've marked that fact, thank you for helping to make it a happy one.

R made me a special breakfast to start my day, and gave me some well-chosen presents along with my cards. We then went off to Compton Verney to see a couple of art exhibitions, and (because by this time it was at least two hours since I'd last gorged on sugar) eat some extremely good cake. The park was looking stunning in the flat, misty light - the lake is always photogenic, in my opinion, but this photo is already one of my favourites out of all the images I've made of it over the past few years. It makes me wish that I was artistically talented: I can imagine a stylized reduction of this scene as a woodcut.

We spent about an hour and a half in the house, and to my great surprise, by the time we emerged the sun was out and the landscape was brilliantly lit. If you're interested, I've put a post on my Facebook page that contains images from both our "to" and "from" walks through the park, and I think the contrast is quite interesting.

After Compton Verney we went through to Stratford for a late lunch, and then did a little shopping before returning home. This evening I'm sorry to say that I missed the third-last rehearsal for Campden Festival Chorus' concert on Saturday, not for any birthday-related reasons, but because the village is still quite icy, and as the thermometer dropped to -7°C I realised that I was simply too nervous to attempt the drive. Back in the day I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it - but in my youth I was a pretty reckless driver, I'm rather ashamed to say. Now I'm neither young nor reckless, and just the thought of ending my birthday in an icy ditch was all it took to persuade me of the wisdom of staying safely at home on the sofa.