Under high clouds of Cirrus Intortus twisting their ice crystals away thousands of feet up we headed for our weekly outing to the Durham Woods. There was plenty of blue sky to illuminate our way and birds were singing like mad but we could see few of them.

Halfway through the woods Clifford suddenly stopped and whispered "Dad, there is a Deer  over there" and indeed his sharp eyes had spotted a Roe Deer with its back to us . Really exciting! I was  sure there would be another one nearby because they are often in groups  and indeed there was just behind it. Magic. Because quite a few people walk and run through the Durham Woods the wildlife is familiar with human beings.

It got even better 100 m further on. I heard a Nuthatch whistling but could not see it and just to the left there was a familiar thwack of something hard banging against a branch which could only be a woodpecker. The Greater Spotted had made its appearance! It had its back to us and unusually was  stationary indicating a lot of insects and grubs in the tree. More magic!

Last week in the woods quite close to Durham Cathedral we saw a fork in a tree had become split and I said  it was about to fall and then proceeded to walk underneath it and stand there because it was a good spot to look at the birds. This had the lads laughing their heads off. I am contradictory ! Anyway, today about a ton and a half of tree had fallen sometime in the past few days and I was  glad I was not standing there when it did. Going out into the English countryside these days feels slightly edgy what with all the landslides and trees falling down. Good fun.

Fiona was a bit wasted with her sinusitis but game enough to do a 4 mile walk which is what I love about her. She has pluck! However, riding back in the car she was asleep within 5 min.

When we got back Miles was still beavering away at his mathematics, goodlad, and Fiona and I had a crash and a cuddle listening to "Old Ideas" by Leonard Cohen. At the back end of this very mellow day I am about to get the food going to feed the hungry hordes. God bless family life and God bless my friends.

Another blog catch up. Last Saturday 9th of  February, the whole family went for a walk around the Durham Woods. Joviality was the spirit under the light puffy cloudy cumuli and open blue skies of the beautiful North East of England. We stopped for Fiona to take a photo next to the River Wear on the hairpin bend section where Durham Cathedral stands nicely fortified. I gathered the lads in for the photo. Fiona took it amongst some laughter and giggling over I don't know what, but as we were about to move off and I still had my arms around the lads Clifford stated rather solemnly, "Dad, I don't feel comfortable with your hand on my ass". Well, we all fell over laughing because I did not know I had my hand on his ass! The trouble was I had my skateboard wrist protector on my right wrist reinforced with a thin bar of Teesside steel and a glove on  so I could not feel a thing!

The rest of the walk was just as joyous and deteriorated accordingly. I put this down to having Miles with us. He comes out on the Saturday walks  only once a month now. He prefers to work Saturday and Sunday afternoons  to get more into his mathematics and to train himself up for weekend work when he goes either into Secondary School teaching or teaching at a University. Right from  our children being born we have trained them to achieve what they want to do, as well as meet the needs of society. Ooooo goodness that sounds very responsible and mature for this ageing doggy but that's what I did and continue to do so. Even with   17 and 21-year-old sons I am still surprised at the  bits of guidance I give them based on the training ideas I got from the the Psychology Degree I did at York University in the 1980s and the Baha'i Faith . First and foremost of course I train myself!

Wow, behind on my personal blog. Friday the eighth over a week ago Fiona and I had a great trip down to York to see Sarah Horn and James Cudworth play at the Basement in York. There were three other bands on as well and  the Buffalo Skinners were  excellent.

We had our usual romantic time in the Cross Keys and I was struck by the thought that it was almost 30 years ago that I first went there and if somebody had said to me then that 30 years on I would have spent 24 of those years raising children and being a husband to a beautiful and smart wife I would have just said "No chance!". I like  being wrong particularly about my own limited views.

For a Friday night in York it was fairly quiet but I was stunned by how many people were around compared to 20 years ago. Things change and York has become a bit more like Newcastle in its nightlife. No bad thing. I had a quick 20 min walk around to stretch my legs and the River Ouse was milky and almost still in the frosty night with a faint mist which could not be seen in York but I knew it was there because we could see it forming as we travelled down in the twilight through the Vale of York.

It was great seeing my friend Joanne Horn and husband Geoff who love going to folk events as well as seeing their great musician daughter Sarah play. A very nice evening.