Sunday Pics and this and that.

[curiouswombat]

It seems like a long time since Christmas and New Year - D-d flew back to York on Monday, I went back to work on Tuesday, and now things are so much back to normal that that could have been a month ago!

It was my mother's 84th birthday on Wednesday - we bought her a new, sensible, watch as her old one was becoming unreliable. This was obviously a hit because when my sister was up on Saturday she was actually wearing it, rather than keeping it in the box!

D-d has just been on the phone - she is planning her 'gap trip' for the summer - she has 11 weeks between finishing at college and starting her training contract and intends to spend much of it in Australia, not only visiting her grandparents and aunt, but having a look at the rest of the country too. She is going to go to buy her main air ticket on Wednesday - so her mind is well into summer whilst I am still deep in winter, still putting the Christmas decorations away. I think this might be a reflection of our different ages.

Talking of putting away the decorations - and there is a picture of me doing just that under the cut (how exciting!) - I also took a picture of my glass vase of baubles and lights as melegyrn was asking about it.

Most of the pictures, though, are of the walk I took before lunch in one of our local glens.



So, firstly, for Melegyrn, this is the big glass vase filled with red and gold baubles and some LED lights



I would be inclined to leave them there all winter - but D-d insists that they really are Christmas decorations and must be taken down.

One of the very important jobs, but one I rather like, when putting away the decorations, is carefully wrapping all the glass tree ornaments. Here they all are on the coffee table waiting to be bubble-wrapped and packed into their box -



There are 20+ assorted crystal twists and drops in that pile on the right, honestly, including the 6 in the separate box (a gift from dougalsservant) - all bought one or two at a time, or given by friends. I didn't get around to counting the assorted glass angels, snowmen, nativity scenes and so on - but I think they, too must be running into their 20s - again all bought in different places, at different times, or gifts - then there are the golden angels, the crystal and gold wire snowflakes - and Archbishop Sentamu! All now packed away for 11 months.

So - it is still cold, but the only snow for the past two weeks has been up on the hills. Down at sea level it is bright and clear -



I decided, after church, to work up an appetite for lunch - so I went for a walk in Groudle Glen and took a few pictures. The glen is quite steep, with a very busy little river running through it.









I liked this tree root - perhaps a bit small to be a hobbit hole...



It is quite a steep glen, which is why it is easy to take pictures of tree roots. I left the car on the roadside and the road, in a very short distance, is a long way above the glen although the road is level. It goes across the arches you can see in this picture.



This is taken at the bottom of that path -



Yes, it really does say to the trains! If you look in this picture, that I took from the road about 1/4 mile away from the glen, you can just make out the rail-lines -



The glen runs steeply from left to right of that picture, down to the sea. The railway is the Groudle Glen Railway - miniature trains that go from a point half way along the glen out onto the cliff side and along to place where a natural pool was, in the 1920s and 30s, adapted to house captive performing sea-lions! People went on the train to save them walking.

The trains have been restored and now run along the track purely for the joy of going on the train. But I didn't bother going to the 'station' as they don't run in January. Maybe in the summer...



Oh - and in other news, Shaka wasn't very well after Christmas; he had a nasty cough and a wheeze, and was very sleepy. So I took him to the vet who diagnosed bronchitis and gave him a couple of injections. The cat has perked up well - but I took him back for his follow-up appointment a couple of days ago and Edric (our vet) declared Shaka to be in very good condition for a 16 year old cat, but still a little wheezy, therefore he will need to take oral medicine for a further 10 days.

Edric laughed when I told him my plan to make sure the cat took the medicine - but it works very well... Well, if you were a cat and someone kept giving you small portions of smoked salmon you'd eat it without question too, wouldn't you?

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The glens are real hidden gems - the streams cut deep gulleys down to the sea around much of the coast.

Shaka seems to be improving, and he is certainly enjoying the treats!