Another poster delurking.
@Crown, thinking about you and looking forward to hearing from you when it's all done.
@Seafour, I'd just like to tell you how much you've inspired me to make the most of every day, and that I'd like to join you on the bus, if that's all right. I know lots of the kind of songs people like to sing on coach trips, and I know Benny Hill's "Ernie" all the way through...
Also, I thought you might like to join me on my walk with the dogs this morning. You took Bonnie, the Dachshund/JRT cross - she can be a little sod sometimes, but I didn't think that would faze you, somehow.
We had quite a sharp frost last night, so the lane looked really pretty with white edges on all the fallen leaves and those little spiders webs in the hedges highlighted. The air smelt really clean and crisp, and although it was cold, we didn't really need more than thick jumpers and bodywarmers.
When we got to the top of the road we walked around the edge of the field. It's been left fallow over winter, so the dead grass and wildflowers are quite tall, and where the sun had melted the frost they were covered in a million little droplets that turned into tiny rainbows at the right angle. There are still a few flowers about, mostly corn marigolds, and the soil smelt of mushrooms.
On the way back we walked along the path between the Scots pines and the field with the cows in, their breath steaming in the cold air. They were making a lot of noise because they were expecting the farmer to give them some more hay and root vegetables - all their food is stacked in the next field, and they're only seperated from it by a strand or two of electric fence. I dread to picture the scene of devastation if they ever do break through...!
We had to keep an eye on Bonnie - she's pretty good off lead, and scared of the cattle, but impossibly nosy and small enough to fit under the fence, and she would love to have had the chance to investigate/roll in/eat a cowpat. Bleugh.
We got back just in nice time for coffee, and although both dogs were soaked, Bonnie is easy to dry - she sees it as another form of fuss. The one I was walking, not so much - you take your life in your hands going near his legs with a towel. It's easier just to throw a large towel over him and leave him to it; by the time he's fought his way out of it he's pretty much dry.
I hope you enjoyed that. And if it comes across as rude, or patronising - I can only apologise. It wasn't meant to, and please ask MN Central to delete my post.