Happy New Year ...

Rather than another past-midnight blip, I'm writing this before I go to assemble a delicious dinner of left-overs. I took that photo an hour ago, in my freezing back garden; as far as I can tell now the aurora has more or less faded. I was alerted to it by a post from a friend near Inverness and popped outside, carefully extinguishing the kitchen lights, into my bitterly cold back garden - and found that I could see the colour with the naked eye, though much less vividly than with the camera. Dead thrilled, but ...

Today has been good, though it could have felt dismal. No family, friends back in their own house, rain, gloom, sudden cold. But we managed to get one son on the phone for a cheery word; I put on a ton of washing that there was no chance of drying (it's sorted now - it was just a moment of despair); I looked at the weather forecast and saw that things were about to improve. By the time we'd had some strong coffee (elevenses as twelvses) the rain had stopped ...

And we were going out. Not for yet another dreary walk round town, but out to the north of Dunoon, to where the hills were white and the sky paler than over us at that point. Benmore Gardens had forbidding signs up about dangerous weather and not entering, so we didn't, not there. We walked alongside the rushing Eachaig river and turned sharply up a forest road, climbing steadily till we arrived at the top of the gardens, which we then used for our descent. My extra - the first of the allocated 100 - is of the Andean chapel against the backdrop of the while hills above Glen Massan. 

We met some people on our way down, including two chatty men with whom, inexplicably, I ended up having a brief conversation about tumble driers, pulleys in the kitchen, and laundrettes.We parted amid great jollity. 
By the time we got home it was 3 o'clock, and lunch was not going to happen. Instead we ate Christmas cake and drank much tea, and felt relaxed and contented. We managed to get hold of our younger son for a brief festive chat, then phoned old friends on the Welsh Border whom I would dearly love to see again, but who live where transport is problematic other than by car. And they're older than us by a good few years ...

And then the Aurora. It's awesome, even before I turned the camera on it. If I were an ancient, I would declare it a sign of something important for the coming year. I shall instead make a metaphor of it, connected to the clear sight given to one who uses the correct way of looking. And that, chums, is what more and more of us need to do as the world goes crazy around us. 

Notwithstanding all that, I'm off to drink some cheer and assemble the dinner, and will end by wishing this entire lovely community a good year to come. Here's tae us; wha's like us? Dam' few and they're a' deid!