Fireplace decorations as Twelfth Night approaches

Only 48 hours now before the decorations come down for another year so today's blip is a reminder of how lovely the house has looked over the Christmas period.

This is possibly the brightest it has been all day. The weather has been dank with drizzle and rain all day. Our Scottish relatives have had some great weather today it seems - they were out on a 13 mile walk around Loch Leven.

Spent most of the morning just doing stuff; researching and ordering things for the allotment including heritage tomatoes (Black Krim and Brandywine) which we had when visiting Susan's niece in California in September last year. Will be interested in seeing how they grow. Ordered some Brokoi seeds  - a tenderstem hybrid of broccoli and kale which is supposed to be fashionably expensive and popular in supermarkets at the moment.

We did venture out for a walk in the late afternoon, bundled up in wet weather gear. We called in at the allotment to see how the sprouts were doing and came away with a bag of them for dinner. There wasn't much waste on them when it came to peeling and they went down very well with Toad in the Hole and Red Onion gravy.