Shedding the veil....

Thorny Lane, Bishop Wilton, East Yorkshire

A rare event today, I didn't get up till 0900, by which time the sun had already risen, and the veil of mist over the Vale of York was beginning to lift. I slipped out without waiting for breakfast to do a circuit around the village, while there was still a little mist left.

One of the strange effects of blipping is that, like quite a few other people here, I have developed a bit of a thing about old barns and sheds. Time was, I would never take a second look, and I have walked past this old corrugated iron one on numerous occasions without registering it was there. As this is Wifie's home village, she was more aware of it than I was, it's been here since she was a wee dot. In the hedge behind me, there used to stand the Lightning Tree, that had been struck and blackened in a storm one day - there is no trace today though.

I have spotted several other old barns to come back for another time.

I hadn't intended to blip today, just to go for a walk. But here we are back at home now after our flying Xmas visit, and well, I couldn't resist.

Yesterday we drove in the morning from home to BW, through white landscapes with trees and hedges glittering with hoar frost. Katya and Eduardo provided Xmas Dinner again, with assistance from kitchen elves Anna and Cheryl, and a magnificent meal it was too. If it is possible, Katya's culinary skills seem to get better every year, and the range of scrummy trimmings and vegetables more diverse and numerous. It was a meal that made you wish you had an infinite capacity for eating. that it might ever end. And I do have an exceptional capacity anyway. Thank you so much, K & E, for your wonderfully generous hospitality.

Tomorrow we head for Derby to see my sister and family and to catch up with my Dad. They are having their Xmas dinner on the 27th, so this will be our second magnificent spread in 3 days.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday.

Apologies for the appalling pun.