Yesterday we went over to Dalton in South Lakeland to visit Fo's Mum. We only walked for 40 minutes in Ulverston where her Mum used to live because we got there late due to taking an interesting diversion ummm shortcut ! via Lunedale a Dale that runs out and up from Teesdale the head of which is actually a Pennine Pass dropping down into the Eden Valley. Nice yesterday but very nasty in snow! Its amazing that over the 90 miles to Dalton we saw rocks covering 250 million years of geological time from the Silurian in the Howgills and the Lakes to the Carboniferous in Teesdale and then red colored Permian desert rocks bottoming out the North East end of the Eden Valley . All the flora growing in the soil in these different areas are roughly similar but with notable exceptions that reflect the chemistry of the underlying rock . Grass is super bright green on limestone and a lot duller on Silurian rock . Even within Limestone country you get different shades of green because of a lovely sequence of rocks rustically named the Yoredale series which is limestone then shale then sandtone then back to limestone . because the shale erodes many times faster than the other two you get benches of erosion covered in glacial till that have grass on them in three different colors . It certainly makes the Dales areas very distinctive and actually unique in terms of global geology . Could be making a tall claim in that last statement but I think that's right! I do this from memory !

Veronica was in good health but had fallen over hurting her arm which was nothing serious . The lads spoke and engaged with her beautifully they're getting really good at keeping the conversation going with humor and zest . I had Veronica laughing quite a lot because even though she has vascular dementia and short term memory problems she likes short jokes and comments and fully understands them . Her laughter is always a reassuring reminder of how sharp she was once and in terms of the slightly wicked and pointed comments I made she responds totally normally that is she laughs her head off ! . It has made me think that as I used to do loads of playing music to old folk, mentally ill and mentally handicapped people as well as senile dementia patients and in one case to the terminally ill , to put in a humor routine as well . Song and laughter a really good side to life from the beginning to the end ! A nice afternoon and early evening out and the walk in Ulverston was very interesting due to a huge chemical plant opposite us on the other side of the canal which was very interesting and a flock of wild swans including a few of last years signets. Good weekend .