I took Miles skateboarding this morning and he was a running wild. So were quite a few of the other men, teenagers and some scooter kids who barely seemed to out of nappies! Good for them ! In the afternoon we went to see my Mum which we hadn't done for the last two weeks because she was very ill with the various flu bugs , bad flu bugs , may the researchers annihilate all of you , so didn't feel like being visited . We walked around Easby Abbey first and as we started saw what we thought was a Buzzard but with the new binoculars we could see enough detail to see it wasn't so we are going down the Goshawk or Rough Legged Buzzard line . Most of the path around Easby hadn't caught any sun so it was thick ice and impossible to walk on so we went around the edges . The Castle Walk in Richmond was completely out of bounds for the same reason . Sort of milky mellow quality to the late afternoon light today . Totally gorgeous !

A good day yesterday. I did a Baha'i stall in the center of Durham and the 17 mile drive in was lovely looking over to Weardale and the high Pennines with low mist filling the valleys and gills . Magical. The stall was good but very cold .

In the afternoon went back up to Durham with the family and had a nice 4 mile walk through the low afternoon sunlight from Shincliffe to Durham city Center and saw 13 Goosanders. Don't ask me why there are so many and they were separate sightings because we saw them in different parts of the river. Could be its coming up to breeding time . The new binoculars work well and Fiona was very excited . They are also handy for looking at rocks and landslips as well. Very exciting but mellow walk. Sometimes I think I suffer from Seasonal Over The Top Disorder. Its been to exciting a weekend what with tooting and hooting my way through the gig at Heighington with the appropriately named trio "High Risk Strategy! It went well but they had a singalong bit for the last set and my harmonica doesn't do singalong so I left. Bebop to Blues but no singalong. A nice night out and I will be playing with them again but without the singalong I hope!