It is my youngest son ( Clifford)  birthday weekend and we have  had a smashing time . Yesterday we did a Durham City walk ,  had a great coffee at the Coffee House and then went to the Naw Ruz, Bahai New Year Celebration,  at St Oswalds Church Hall. There were a whole load of Iranian Kurdish Muslims there as well and they were dancing there heads off with some Kurdish Iranian dancing . Really good and the food was  brill. Middle Eastern food is my favourite out of all the  grub we eat. Today, after taking Miles for a very energetic skate boarding session at RKade in Redcar we visited my Mum in Richmond who was frail but in good fettle. Clifford didn't feel like going to Newcastle for a twilight town walk and then feast at the Wok Inn so we've just wolfed Chinese Takeaway food whilst  watching Tears of the sun and swigging Diet Coke. A lovely weekend and I am grateful to God for my family  and friends  .

On the last day of the Bahai Fast I was out walking around the Durham Woods really early , down by the River Wear, and I spotted an Otter on the bank right next to me  5 metres . A very relaxed Otter it was 'cos it slowly slid into the water , rootled under some tree roots then  it's super cute face surfaced and it looked at me for about 5 seconds then dived back under the roots again. Toal magic. 200 metres down river I saw a pair of Mandarin Ducks and 3 more further down. It's never boring when you're walking ! I can't wait for the Bahai Fast next year because I'm looking forward to all the early morning walks . Well, I'll be at college or working next year but I'll do early morning walks on the weekends . A magic day !

Well, I got up before dawn for the 6th day of the Bahai Fast and no food or drink between dawn and sunset. I trucked off down to York and did a 7 mile walk up to and  around the Uni and on the   lake I saw 10 Goosanders a courting  trying to breed. Good odds for the males because there were two of them and 8 females. Weird how they congregate on that lake . Last year there was 30 of them and a better balance between the sexes. The males weren't getting anywhere  near the females so if they can't  mate at those odds maybe it's best they  stay single for this year!  I  got back to the family gang and we went to Durham City for a 4 mile walk. We had a good laugh at the cafe teasing Miles about his funny way of saying things when he was younger then stomped up to the Cathedral to listen to a choir and orchestra rehearsing some choral music. So , after a crash and  a cuddle with the good lady Fiona I'm now preparing meatballs and tomatoe sauce for the hungry hordes and we're are gonna watch "The Mist" some sci fi horror movie. Cool! I had a great feeling  of warmth and love for the whole of humanity today and particularly my family and friends . God bless the Hemsworth Chat  FB group that I have a lot of fun on . Great folk!  Smart and fun . The best !