A sunny day

It was wonderful to wake up to sunshine this morning after the rain yesterday - and it was misty too, but by the time I had fed Xena and had breakfast myself it had lifted so I missed that photo opportunity.

We went out to some woods that usually has amazing autumn colours, but it was still very green - the autumn colours there still seem way off. I did like the light filtering through the trees, and when I took this image I planned to edit it in mono, but when I came to look at the image on my screen I realised I liked the warmth of the light so I felt it was best in colour.

After lunch D the house/dog sitter arrived for her trial visit. She was delighted to meet Xena who, in total contrast to yesterday, was so well behaved today. D thinks she is the best behaved puppy she has ever met! (just wait....those devil horns will come out at some stage) I showed her around the house, drove her into the village and pointed out where the supermarkets are, and then we had a walk in the woods. In the sunshine it was so beautiful, D thought it was just perfect! She will stay the night and go home tomorrow morning. It has been a good opportunity for her to meet Xena and learn how to do things in the house.

Gavin was due home late tonight - he flew from Helsinki to Copenhagen last night, and was due to fly to Stockholm after his meetings this morning but the flight was cancelled and so he could not make the meeting. Instead he booked an earlier flight home which is good as he can now spend more time with D. 

All this flying around makes me think of the Swedish principle of flygskam (flight shame). I recently read an article about it, but as it says in the article, not everyone can sail to New York on a zero-emissions yacht, and while the Swedes have long holidays and affordable trains, with many families having access to a Swedish summer house, Britain has rather short holidays and a flight to Spain is cheaper than a train to Devon. Flying is often necessary - for many immigrants around the world it is the only way to visit their families. And of course it is very necessary for many businesses. I guess we have to hope they can produce the electric plane engine sooner than later!