Ive been following my hero Stephen Fry on Twitter and he posted this pic of himself about to go swimming with seals. He’s looking darn sleek these days.

My Little Sister Jane reached 50 today and we held a little surprise tea party for her at our Brother James’. Jane and Clare and Paul and James and Becks and Hector and I and our Mum.

Fi at 50 in 2007 and, 15 months later, Jane at 50 in 2009. Each taken at 5.15pm on actual birthdays. Similar as Sisters? Oh yes!

Jane and her Daughter Clare… Clare and her Dad, Paul.

And these to pictures are at Clare’s request…..

H’s niece Nicola has won a major title… what a fantastic achievement
“Britain’s Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke win Women’s World Bobsleigh title
British girls Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke won the Women’s World Bobsleigh Championships on Saturday at Lake Placid in the USA.” A helluva achievement.

Read BBC Report HERE

See YouTube film HERE

What a lovely couple of days. Its kept me sane during a distinctly unpleasant and distasteful time at work.

Ross came to stay and its was good to have him fill up his room again (its half term) and Lolly also came over with her boyfriend, Lee, (our first time meeting him) – who is smashing. She brought belated Xmas gifts and WHAT gifts. A fantastic plush cushion to DIE for (velvet and silk applique) and the most gorgeous pink, rose patterned, Hunter wellies! A really lovely evening and a little toddle to the pub. Then on Friday evening Fiona and Chris came over and as ever a lively, funny, vibrant, warm, happy and gentle evening with comedy, BIG conversations and trivia too. If Chris called me a ‘silly Bint ‘once he called me it a dozen times. Joyful.

Chris and I were up early – like me he is an early riser and after a cuppa we left Hector and Fiona sleeping while we went into town for logs and kindling. Later I went off for a couple of hours and took a few pics… only a couple of miles away. H has galliantly spent some time sawing up wood and chopping sticks and generally hanging out in the garage. A delightful couple of days.

Pure white silvered gulls against dark clouds near Culgaith.

Superbly laid hedge… signs of agriculture in front of the Pennines… fabulous morning sky….

Yesterdays stunning golden sunrise…..

Clare (little Sis’s little girl!) at championships last weekend. Great action pic.

Weeks, nay months, in the planning, choosing, demolishing, building and decorating and at last we have our lovely, warm and toastysome AGA Little Wenlock Stove in place and burning logs. Its FAB!

If we hadn’t gone out for some fresh air and into the Lakes I’d have gone bonkers! Sunday afternoon and a much needed drive out to somewhere where H had never been before and I haven’t been to for years. Haweswater. A lake,yes, but in fact a reservoir that drowned a village over a hundred years ago. In the 1990′s during a drought the skeleton of the village was visible and you could even walk into it. Spooky and dreadfully sad.

Its very bleak there and there is no community around the shores, unlike natural lakes. The sun came out and the natural amphitheatre on the south west side that is the home to Golden Eagles was a rich golden colour above the dark water. Above us on the snow covered mountains we could, with the use of the camera zoom, just make out the specks of people moving through snow. A really lovely view and an afternoon that I enjoyed immensely.

This very high res pic you can zoom in on is fabulous. Find Bush and Cheney to see the grumpy awld codgas very much in the shadows of the brightness of Obama.

The world’s highest-res Earth-imaging satellite zooms in on President Obama

Another trip to the optician and on the way home……

Wow!

A trip to B&Q and on the way got this shot…… it was in the distance to the East, but I had the zoom lens on and was also able to crop it to this.

Has been a long week. It seems like H has been away for AGES. He’s back now so thats great. The weather has been odd all over the UK. Big problems in heavy snow. After Monday it didn’t snow here really but it has been awfully cold – minus 7 in a morning. Today has been glorious – clear and clean and cold and beautiful. The pond at the office was gorgeous – so, as the light changed with the sun moving across the sky I took photos in the changing light. The bright white snow on the ice, the poking stiff reeds, the blue of the tree shadows and later on; the thaw beginning at the edges.

Earlier in the week on the way home….Looking East to the pink Pennines and West to the setting sun.

I’m apparently suffering from Posterior Vitreous Detachment – and that DOES NOT mean that a load of glass has fallen off my bum! It me eyes y’know…. Like the rest of me they are starting to suffer the ravages of time and getting a bit worn out.
Anyroadup – the result is I have spots before the eyes (floaters) and in one eye some bright flashing lights. Irritating and disorientating but not painful. The optician was great and after an hour of tests was able to reassure me that it wasn’t a detached retina – a pretty darn serious affliction.

With blizzards, the UK closed due to snow everywhere, a forced day off (office shut) and builder arrived to do the work. This is what it looks like by mid morning! YIKES!

I tried out the new playground and its snowing HARD!

Lounge cleared ready for the builder.
Snow flurries UK-wide – worse to come overnight apparently.
Hector has set off for a working week in the great Metropolis of London He’s taken with him blankets, sleeping bag, shovel and torch – in case of iffy conditions in snow on the roads
Frank is at the cattery – to be out of the way for the building work.
I took my life in my hands on a busy A road to get pictures of a large flock of gulls in a newly much-spread field. I post-prodded one…. I really like the result – the movement of the gulls is highlighted and the textures more vibrant.

and the original