good walk in snow by delaval hall, this is my favorite tree, an oak possibly kept a bit small by its position by ploughwed fields or maybe not?

this is my ex- ray from knackered collarbone, its fairy much ok now just a little ache now and again and a bit of numbness in the wrist due to nerve damage.

I feel a bah humbug moment coming on, with me it's new year rather than Christmas, I pretty much hate new year it seems a very empty kind of tradition to me, just a few days after people have got all sentimental about baby Jesus they want to get drunk and sleep with people they neither know nor like, cynical: moi?? anyway I was pondering this as you do and remembered reading in a recent book a book I read recently that is, that some ancient culture's clever people used to debate all important philosophical questions twice, once sober; once drunk, I suppose some cultures considered inebriation to be getting onto a higher plane of experience, a spiritual plane or something but people now it seems don't believe that they just want to feel different to their normal experience so the question so why are people unhappily sober?? is life so empty that we ... actually I'm boring myself..........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
anyway, I like Allendale in the snow

had a really great day, one of the best of the year, in Allendale in deep snow on the hills; sun and fresh clean snow, only animal and bird footprints and mine. on the other hand I'm reading a scholarly book given by a friend with dictionary by my side, ( I have the dictionary by my side, not my friend and a dictionary by my side- just to be clear)already had too look up heuristic, solipsistic, aestival and cy.. what was it? cynosural, and another: what woz it??? yes: sidereal, not to mention quotes in Latin and Greek sans translation! I'm going to have to take it slowly..........

been trying a little op art, canny difficult to get nice clean lines, especially if the wife starts chopping vegetables at the same table you are painting on.

the birds aren't op art, I think they are starlings

but what had happened to the boy names custard?: no-one seemed to know.

i take far too many photo's,

shame this is out of focus but I still like it

this is my favorite tree , a little oak.

this is a contrail with shadow

i also like crows,

and clouds, this formation p[robably has a name but I don't know I do have two cloud books so I ought to chack it out, it is probably a kind of alto stratus, maybe cirro stratus, how do you tell?

just had a quick check and it might be altocummulus undulatus, then again............

and this is easy: evening cumulus

with a silver lining

although these last three are actually in reverse order of taking,