This afternoon with the family I had a nice 4 mile walk around Ripon in North Yorkshire. On the outskirts of the town the leaves were creeping red and brown and we went up to Ripon Cathedral to have a look at the outside of it as well as the inside. I am still amazed at the wonderful fossils which are on the flagstones on the floor of the high altar. After this we went up to the Spa Hotel where Fiona and I 22 years ago had our wedding reception on the sixth of August 1988. Walking through to the gardens at the back of the hotel brought back to my mind the happy faces of the many people who came to our reception but especially my good friends from the 1980s who graciously accepted to come to the reception even though a lot of them didn't actually believe in marriage!

We then went up to Ripon Cemetery and said prayers around Fiona's fathers grave. We said a prayer each and then stood in a line in front of his grave holding hands and said the Healing Prayer together. It was quite a moving moment and it has been a long time since we have been up to his grave. Humor came back very quickly when we had our biscuit break on a very long bench near the grave and the atmosphere was very peaceful with mellow grey skies and autumn. Lovely. On the way back to the car we went to see where Fiona lived as a child and young adult in a house called "Riga" the name of the capital of Latvia because Fiona's father was half Latvian and half German. A very nice mellow afternoon, followed by a tasty spinach curry that I had cooked before we went out early on because I did not want to cook when I got back and we also set up the rice to slowly cook when we were out. I seem to be going through a period of falling in love with my lovely wife again and again. Very strange but nice!